I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3558

To provide for greater accuracy in the 2000 decennial census of population,

and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 30, 1996

Mrs. MEEK of Florida (for herself, Mrs. COLLINS of Illinois, Ms. ROSLEHTINEN, Mr. HILLIARD, Mr. DIAZ-BALART, Mr. DELLUMS, Mr.

DIXON, Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD, Ms. WATERS, Ms. BROWN of Florida, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. JOHNSTON of Florida, Mr. BISHOP,

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Ms. MCKINNEY, Mr. RUSH, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Mr. FIELDS of Louisiana, Mr. JEFFERSON, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr.

WYNN, Mr. CONYERS, Miss COLLINS of Michigan, Mr. CLAY, Mr.

THOMPSON, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. PAYNE of New Jersey, Mr. FLAKE, Mr.

OWENS, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. TOWNS, Mrs. CLAYTON, Mr. WATT of North

Carolina, Mr. FATTAH, Mr. CLYBURN, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Ms.

EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. PASTOR, Ms.

ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. TORRES, Mr. FRAZER, and Ms. NORTON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, and in addition to the Committees on Ways

and Means, Agriculture, Commerce, Economic and Educational Opportunities, and Banking and Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such

provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

A BILL

To provide for greater accuracy in the 2000 decennial census

of population, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Decennial Census Im3 provement Act of 1996’’.

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

5 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that—

6 (1) the Constitution requires that the number

7 of persons in the Nation be enumerated every 10

8 years in order to permit the apportionment of Rep9 resentatives among the several States;

10 (2) information collected through a decennial

11 census is also used to determine—

12 (A) the boundaries of congressional dis13 tricts within States;

14 (B) the boundaries of the districts for the

15 legislature of each State and the boundaries of

16 other political subdivisions within the States;

17 and

18 (C) the allocation of billions of dollars of

19 Federal and State funds;

20 (3) the Constitution requires that those enu21 merations be made in such manner as the Congress

22 ‘‘shall by law direct’’;

23 (4) in the 1990 decennial census, the Bureau of

24 the Census used a combination of mail question25 naires and personal interviews, involving more than

26 350,000 enumerators, to collect the census data;
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1 (5) while the census cannot count everyone, the

2 extent of the undercount varies by race and geog3 raphy; for example, the Bureau estimates that the

4 1990 decennial census failed to count 5.7 percent of

5 blacks and 1.3 percent of all others;

6 (6) a number of lawsuits were filed challenging

7 the accuracy of the 1990 decennial census, and in

8 March 1996 the Supreme Court unanimously upheld

9 the Secretary of Commerce’s decision in July 1991

10 not to adjust the initial enumeration in the 1990 de11 cennial census by using a postenumeration statistical

12 survey;

13 (7) on February 28, 1996, the Bureau an14 nounced that, for the 2000 decennial census, it plans

15 to use a combination of mail questionnaires and per16 sonal interviews in each county until it has collected

17 data from 90 percent of the households in the coun18 ty, whereupon it would conduct interviews with re19 spect to one-tenth of the remaining households in

20 the county and use the information obtained from

21 those interviews to make estimates with respect to

22 the remaining nonresponding households;

23 (8) certain witnesses testified, at a hearing held

24 by the Committee on Government Reform and Over25 sight of the House of Representatives on February
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1 29, 1996, that the Bureau’s proposed sampling tech2 nique may increase the disparity in the undercount

3 among either geographic areas (such as between

4 rural and urban areas) or racial or ethnic groups

5 (such as with respect to African Americans and His6 panic Americans, as compared to other groups);

7 (9) the planning, conduct, and analysis of a de8 cennial census often requires close to a period of 10

9 years;

10 (10) the Bureau estimates that the proposed

11 sampling technique will cost about $500 million less,

12 over that period of time, than the $4.4 billion that

13 it estimates would be spent over that same period if

14 the method used in the 1990 decennial census were

15 to be used (instead of such sampling technique) in

16 the 2000 decennial census; and

17 (11) the Chairman of the Panel on Census Re18 quirements in the Year 2000 and Beyond of the Na19 tional Academy of Sciences testified at the February

20 29th hearing that there is a trade-off between cost

21 savings associated with using a sampling technique

22 on the one hand, and adverse effects with respect to

23 sampling variability, public perception, and political

24 consequences, on the other.
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1 (b) PURPOSES.—It is the purpose of this Act to pro2 mote the accuracy of the 2000 decennial census, and pub3 lic confidence with respect to the data obtained therefrom.

4 SEC. 3. REQUIREMENTS.

5 The 2000 decennial census shall be conducted in ac6 cordance with the following:

7 (1) DIRECT CONTACT MUST BE ATTEMPTED.—

8 The Bureau shall attempt to contact every household

9 directly (whether by mail or in person), and may use

10 sampling as a substitute for direct contact in a par11 ticular census tract only after direct contact has

12 been made with at least 90 percent of the house13 holds in such tract.

14 (2) GREATER USE OF NON-FEDERAL RE15 SOURCES.—The Bureau—

16 (A) shall seek to make more effective use

17 of State and local government offices, as well as

18 appropriate local groups, in order to reduce the

19 undercount; and

20 (B) shall include, as part of its report

21 under section 141(f) of title 13, United States

22 Code, next due after the date of the enactment

23 of this Act, a description of the measures it in24 tends to pursue to carry out subparagraph (A).
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1 SEC. 4. MEASURES TO FACILITATE THE RECRUITMENT OF

2 TEMPORARY EMPLOYEES.

3 (a) EXEMPTION FROM PROVISIONS RELATING TO

4 REEMPLOYED ANNUITANTS AND FORMER MEMBERS OF

5 THE UNIFORMED SERVICES.—Public Law 101–86 (13

6 U.S.C. 23 note) is amended—

7 (1) in section 1(b) and the long title by striking

8 ‘‘the 1990 decennial census’’ and inserting ‘‘the

9 2000 decennial census’’; and

10 (2) in section 4 by striking ‘‘December 31,

11 1990.’’ and inserting ‘‘December 31, 2000.’’.

12 (b) PURPOSES FOR WHICH COMPENSATION SHALL

13 NOT BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT.—Compensation for serv14 ices performed by an individual appointed to a temporary

15 position in or under the Bureau for purposes relating to

16 the 2000 decennial census (if the position is so designated

17 by the Bureau, in writing, at the time of such individual’s

18 appointment) shall not be taken into account for purposes

19 of any of the following:

20 (1) Any State program funded under part A of

21 title IV of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 601

22 et seq.).

23 (2) Medical assistance provided pursuant to

24 title XIX of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396

25 et seq.).
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1 (3) The Food stamp program, within the mean2 ing of section 3(h) of the Food Stamp Act of 1977

3 (42 U.S.C. 2012(h)).

4 (4) Any program for housing assistance admin5 istered by the Secretary of Housing and Urban De6 velopment or the Secretary of Agriculture.

7 (5) Assistance under—

8 (A) the school breakfast program under

9 section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966

10 (42 U.S.C. 1773); or

11 (B) the school lunch program under the

12 National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et

13 seq.).

14 (6) Assistance under the special supplemental

15 nutrition program for women, infants, and children

16 under section 17 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966

17 (42 U.S.C. 1786).

18 (7) Assistance under title II of the Job Train19 ing Partnership Act (29 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.).

20 (8) Any Head Start program under the Head

21 Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9831 et seq.).

22 (9) Assistance provided pursuant to the Low23 Income Home Energy Assistance Act of 1981 (42

24 U.S.C. 8621 et seq.).
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1 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

2 For purposes of this Act—

3 (1) the term ‘‘census’’ means a census of popu4 lation within the meaning of section 141(g) of title

5 13, United States Code;

6 (2) the term ‘‘Bureau’’ means the Bureau of

7 the Census; and

8 (3) the term ‘‘census tract’’ means a statistical

9 subdivision as defined by the Bureau for purposes of

10 the 1990 decennial census.

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