Union Calendar No. 225

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1645

[Report No. 103–401]

A BILL

To amend title 13, United States Code, to require

States.lating to the incidence of poverty in the Unitedpublish, at least every 2 years, current data rethat the Secretary of Commerce produce and

NOVEMBER 20, 1993

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Commitordered to be printed tee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and
IB

Union Calendar No. 225

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1645

[Report No. 103–401]

To amend title 13, United States Code, to require that the Secretary of

Commerce produce and publish, at least every 2 years, current data

relating to the incidence of poverty in the United States.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

APRIL 2, 1993

Mr. SAWYER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Post Office and Civil Service

NOVEMBER 20, 1993

Additional sponsors: Mr. BECERRA, Mr. BEILENSON, Mr. BERMAN, Mr.

BROWN of California, Mr. DIXON, Mr. DOOLEY, Mr. DORNAN, Mr. EDWARDS of California, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. FAZIO, Mr. FILNER, Mr. LANTOS,

Mr. LEHMAN, Mr. MARTINEZ, Mr. MILLER of California, Ms. PELOSI,

Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. STARK, Mr. TORRES, Mr. TUCKER, Ms.

WATERS, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. MCKEON, Mr. CUNNINGHAM, Mr.

ROHRABACHER, Mr. MCCANDLESS, Mr. FROST, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE

JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr.

HUGHES, Mr. FOGLIETTA, Mr. VENTO, Mrs. CLAYTON, Mr. PARKER, Ms.

KAPTUR, Mr. SHAYS, Mr. COLEMAN, Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas, Mr.

ROMERO-BARCELO ́, Mr. BRYANT, Mr. OWENS, Mr. SWETT, Mr. TEJEDA,

Mr. HAMBURG, Mr. WYNN, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. DARDEN, Mr. JOHNSTON

of Florida, Mr. DELLUMS, Mr. UNDERWOOD, Mr. FARR of California,

Mrs. MORELLA, Mr. HOCHBRUECKNER, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. FINGERHUT,

Ms. ENGLISH of Arizona, Mr. BARRETT of Wisconsin, and Mr. FISH

NOVEMBER 20, 1993

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on April 2, 1993]
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A BILL

To amend title 13, United States Code, to require that

the Secretary of Commerce produce and publish, at least

every 2 years, current data relating to the incidence

of poverty in the United States.

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Poverty Data Improve5 ment Act of 1993’’.

6 SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds that—

8 (1) more than $20,000,000,000 is provided to

9 State and local governments each year, under various

10 Federal programs, based on data relating to income

11 and poverty status;

12 (2) the infrequency with which such data are col13 lected diminishes their reliability and usefulness for

14 public policy purposes;

15 (3) the relative lack of intercensal data can pre16 vent Federal funds from reaching those populations

17 that are in greatest need, as reflected in the dramatic

18 and often unforeseen shifts in the way Federal funds

19 are reallocated following each decennial census;

20 (4) the more frequent collection of data relating

21 to income and poverty status would allow policy-
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1 makers to target scarce program funds more effec2 tively and in a more timely fashion; and

3 (5) the cost of producing the data needed to

4 achieve the ends described in paragraph (4) would be

5 small compared to the amounts that are distributed

6 based on such data.

7 SEC. 3. REQUIREMENT.

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter IV of chapter 5 of title

9 13, United States Code, is amended by inserting after sec10 tion 181 the following:

11 ‘‘§ 181a. Data relating to poverty

12 ‘‘(a) The Secretary, to the extent feasible, shall produce

13 and publish for each State, county, and local unit of general

14 purpose government for which data are compiled in the

15 most recent census of population taken under section

16 141(a), and for each school district, data relating to the

17 incidence of poverty. Such data may be produced by means

18 of sampling, estimation, or any other method that the Sec19 retary determines will produce current, comprehensive, and

20 reliable data.

21 ‘‘(b) Data under this section—

22 ‘‘(1) shall include—

23 ‘‘(A) for each school district, the number of

24 children age 5 to 17, inclusive, in families below

25 the poverty level; and
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1 ‘‘(B) for each State and county referred to

2 in subsection (a), the number of individuals age

3 65 or over below the poverty level; and

4 ‘‘(2) shall be published in 1996 and at least

5 every second year thereafter.

6 ‘‘(c)(1) If reliable data could not otherwise be pro7 duced, the Secretary may, for purposes of subsection

8 (b)(1)(A), aggregate school districts, but only to the extent

9 necessary to achieve reliability.

10 ‘‘(2) Any data produced under this subsection shall be

11 appropriately identified and shall be accompanied by a de12 tailed explanation as to how and why aggregation was used

13 (including the measures taken to minimize any such

14 aggregation).

15 ‘‘(d) If the Secretary is unable to produce and publish

16 the data required under this section for any State, county,

17 local unit of general purpose government, or school district

18 in any year specified in subsection (b)(2), a report shall

19 be submitted by the Secretary to the President of the Senate

20 and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, not later

21 than 90 days before the commencement of the following

22 year, enumerating each government or school district ex23 cluded and giving the reasons for the exclusion.

24 ‘‘(e) In carrying out this section, the Secretary shall

25 use the same criteria relating to poverty as were used in
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1 compiling the then most recent census of population taken

2 under section 141(a) (subject to such periodic adjustments

3 as may be necessary to compensate for inflation and other

4 similar factors).’’.

5 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of sections

6 for chapter 5 of title 13, United States Code, is amended

7 by inserting after the item relating to section 181 the

8 following:

‘‘181a. Data relating to poverty.’’.