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Summary of Department of Commerce Rule Delegating Decision

to Census Bureau Regarding Census 2000 Methodology

Scenario Result on Corrected Data

1. The Committee recommends the release of

corrected data and Census Bureau Director

agrees.

Corrected data becomes the P.L. 94-171 data suggested

for use by the states for legislative redistricting. By law,

uncorrected data is simultaneously released.

2. The Committee recommends the release of

corrected data and Census Bureau Director

disagrees.

The uncorrected data will be designated as P.L. 94-171.

By law, corrected data is simultaneously released.

3. Both the Committee and the Census

Bureau Director agree that the corrected data

does not improve the uncorrected data.

The uncorrected data becomes the P.L. 94-171 data and

the corrected data may or may not be made available for

academic review.

On September 28, 2000, the Secretary of Commerce issued a rule delegating to the Census Bureau

Director the final decision as to whether or not to use a statistical correction to account for errors in the

2000 Census. The rule concerns census data that will be used for federal, non-apportionment purposes.

The rule was published in the Federal Register on June 20, 2000 for a 45-day public comment period.

During that time, four former Census Bureau Directors whose service spanned Republican and

Democratic administrations, Vincent Barabba (1973-76 and 1979-81), John G. Keane (1984-89), Barbara

Everitt Bryant (1989-93), and Martha Farnsworth Riche (1994-98) expressed support for the rule. The

final rule (RIN: 0607-AA33) was published in the Federal Register on October 6, 2000, effective

November 6, 2000.

The rule directs the Executive Steering Committee for Accuracy and Coverage Evaluation Policy

(ESCAP or the Committee), which consists of 11 senior decennial census experts, to make a ìuseî or ìdo

not useî recommendation regarding corrected data. The rule states that ìbased on their years of

experience and expertise, [ESCAP members] are best suited to bring their professional judgement and

integrity to bear in reviewing all the available dataÖin making a recommendation on their findings to the

Census Bureau Director regarding the use of the statistically corrected census data.î Informed by the

ESCAP recommendation, the Director will then make the final decision.

The Census Bureau plans to make its determination regarding the corrected census data in mid-February

2001.

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Links:

The final rule can be found at:

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=2000_register&docid=fr06oc00-10

Comments made by the public on the proposed rule before it was finalized can be viewed at:

http://www.census.gov/dmd/www/Feascom.htm

When the rule was initially published, it was accompanied by several supporting documents, including the

Census Bureauís ìStatement on the Feasibility of Using Statistical Methods to Improve the Accuracy of

Census 2000î and a document describing the ìLegal Obligation to Produce Statistically-Adjusted NonApportionment Census Numbers.î These and other documents related to the rule can be found at:

http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/presskit.html

The U.S. Census Monitoring Board, established by Congress in 1997, is a bipartisan board that monitors the 2000 Census.

 The findings of the board are reported every six months to Congress. Web: www.cmbp.gov