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103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1645

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

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

2 State and local governments each year, under var3 ious Federal programs, based on data relating to in4 come and poverty status;

5 (2) the infrequency with which such data is col6 lected diminishes their reliability and usefulness for

7 public policy purposes;

8 (3) the relative lack of intercensal data can pre9 vent Federal funds from reaching those populations

10 that are in greatest need, as reflected in the dra11 matic and often unforeseen shifts in the way Federal

12 funds are reallocated following each decennial cen13 sus;

14 (4) the more frequent collection of data relating

15 to income and poverty status would allow policy16 makers to target scarce program funds more effec17 tively and in a more timely fashion; and

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

19 achieve the ends described in paragraph (4) would

20 be small compared to the amounts that are distrib21 uted based on such data.

22 SEC. 3. REQUIREMENT.

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

24 title 13, United States Code, is amended by inserting after

25 section 181 the following:
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1 ‘‘§ 181a. Data relating to poverty

2 ‘‘(a) The Secretary shall produce and publish for each

3 State, county, and local unit of general purpose govern4 ment for which data is compiled in the most recent census

5 of population taken under section 141(a), and for each

6 school district, data relating to the incidence of poverty.

7 Such data may be produced by means of sampling or any

8 other method that the Secretary determines will produce

9 current, comprehensive, and reliable data.

10 ‘‘(b) Data under this section—

11 ‘‘(1) shall include, for each State, county, local

12 unit of general purpose government, and school dis13 trict referred to in subsection (a), the number of

14 children aged 5 to 17, inclusive, in families below the

15 poverty level; and

16 ‘‘(2) shall be published in 1995 and at least

17 every second year thereafter.

18 ‘‘(c) If the Secretary is unable to produce and publish

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

20 local unit of general purpose government, or school district

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

22 be submitted by the Secretary to the President of the Sen23 ate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, not

24 later than 90 days before the commencement of the follow25 ing year, enumerating each government or school district

26 excluded and giving the reasons for the exclusion.
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1 ‘‘(d) In carrying out this section, the Secretary shall

2 use the same criteria relating to poverty as were used in

3 compiling the then most recent census of population taken

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

5 as may be necessary to compensate for inflation and other

6 similar factors).’’.

7 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of sec8 tions for chapter 5 of title 13, United States Code, is

9 amended by inserting after the item relating to section

10 181 the following:

‘‘181a. Data relating to poverty.’’.

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