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. ROS-
LEHTINEN, Mr. HILLIARD, Mr. DIAZ-BALART, Mr. DELLUMS, Mr.
DIXON, Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD, Ms. WATERS, Ms. BROWN of Flor-
ida, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. JOHNSTON of Florida, Mr. BISHOP,
Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Ms. MCKINNEY, Mr. RUSH, Mr. JACKSON of Illi-
nois, 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) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Govern-
ment Reform and Oversight, and in addition to the Committees on Ways
and Means, Agriculture, Commerce, Economic and Educational Opportu-
nities, and Banking and Financial Services, for a period to be subse-
quently 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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Decennial Census Im-
provement Act of 1996’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that—
(1) the Constitution requires that the number
of persons in the Nation be enumerated every 10
years in order to permit the apportionment of Rep-
resentatives among the several States;
(2) information collected through a decennial
census is also used to determine—
(A) the boundaries of congressional dis-
tricts within States;
(B) the boundaries of the districts for the
legislature of each State and the boundaries of
other political subdivisions within the States;
and
(C) the allocation of billions of dollars of
Federal and State funds;
(3) the Constitution requires that those enu-
merations be made in such manner as the Congress
‘‘shall by law direct’’;
(4) in the 1990 decennial census, the Bureau of
the Census used a combination of mail question-
naires and personal interviews, involving more than
350,000 enumerators, to collect the census data;
(5) while the census cannot count everyone, the
extent of the undercount varies by race and geog-
raphy; for example, the Bureau estimates that the
1990 decennial census failed to count 5.7 percent of
blacks and 1.3 percent of all others;
(6) a number of lawsuits were filed challenging
the accuracy of the 1990 decennial census, and in
March 1996 the Supreme Court unanimously upheld
the Secretary of Commerce’s decision in July 1991
not to adjust the initial enumeration in the 1990 de-
cennial census by using a postenumeration statistical
survey;
(7) on February 28, 1996, the Bureau an-
nounced that, for the 2000 decennial census, it plans
to use a combination of mail questionnaires and per-
sonal interviews in each county until it has collected
data from 90 percent of the households in the coun-
ty, whereupon it would conduct interviews with re-
spect to one-tenth of the remaining households in
the county and use the information obtained from
those interviews to make estimates with respect to
the remaining nonresponding households;
(8) certain witnesses testified, at a hearing held
by the Committee on Government Reform and Over-
sight of the House of Representatives on February
29, 1996, that the Bureau’s proposed sampling tech-
nique may increase the disparity in the undercount
among either geographic areas (such as between
rural and urban areas) or racial or ethnic groups
(such as with respect to African Americans and His-
panic Americans, as compared to other groups);
(9) the planning, conduct, and analysis of a de-
cennial census often requires close to a period of 10
years;
(10) the Bureau estimates that the proposed
sampling technique will cost about $500 million less,
over that period of time, than the $4.4 billion that
it estimates would be spent over that same period if
the method used in the 1990 decennial census were
to be used (instead of such sampling technique) in
the 2000 decennial census; and
(11) the Chairman of the Panel on Census Re-
quirements in the Year 2000 and Beyond of the Na-
tional Academy of Sciences testified at the February
29th hearing that there is a trade-off between cost
savings associated with using a sampling technique
on the one hand, and adverse effects with respect to
sampling variability, public perception, and political
consequences, on the other.
(b) PURPOSES.—It is the purpose of this Act to pro-
mote the accuracy of the 2000 decennial census, and pub-
lic confidence with respect to the data obtained therefrom.
SEC. 3. REQUIREMENTS.
The 2000 decennial census shall be conducted in ac-
cordance with the following:
(1) DIRECT CONTACT MUST BE ATTEMPTED.—
The Bureau shall attempt to contact every household
directly (whether by mail or in person), and may use
sampling as a substitute for direct contact in a par-
ticular census tract only after direct contact has
been made with at least 90 percent of the house-
holds in such tract.
(2) GREATER
USE
OF
NON-FEDERAL
RE-
SOURCES.—The Bureau—
(A) shall seek to make more effective use
of State and local government offices, as well as
appropriate local groups, in order to reduce the
undercount; and
(B) shall include, as part of its report
under section 141(f) of title 13, United States
Code, next due after the date of the enactment
of this Act, a description of the measures it in-
tends to pursue to carry out subparagraph (A).
SEC. 4. MEASURES TO FACILITATE THE RECRUITMENT OF
TEMPORARY EMPLOYEES.
(a) EXEMPTION FROM PROVISIONS RELATING TO
REEMPLOYED ANNUITANTS AND FORMER MEMBERS OF
THE UNIFORMED SERVICES.—Public Law 101–86 (13
U.S.C. 23 note) is amended—
(1) in section 1(b) and the long title by striking
‘‘the 1990 decennial census’’ and inserting ‘‘the
2000 decennial census’’; and
(2) in section 4 by striking ‘‘December 31,
1990.’’ and inserting ‘‘December 31, 2000.’’.
(b) PURPOSES FOR WHICH COMPENSATION SHALL
NOT BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT.—Compensation for serv-
ices performed by an individual appointed to a temporary
position in or under the Bureau for purposes relating to
the 2000 decennial census (if the position is so designated
by the Bureau, in writing, at the time of such individual’s
appointment) shall not be taken into account for purposes
of any of the following:
(1) Any State program funded under part A of
title IV of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 601
et seq.).
(2) Medical assistance provided pursuant to
title XIX of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396
et seq.).
(3) The Food stamp program, within the mean-
ing of section 3(h) of the Food Stamp Act of 1977
(42 U.S.C. 2012(h)).
(4) Any program for housing assistance admin-
istered by the Secretary of Housing and Urban De-
velopment or the Secretary of Agriculture.
(5) Assistance under—
(A) the school breakfast program under
section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966
(42 U.S.C. 1773); or
(B) the school lunch program under the
National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et
seq.).
(6) Assistance under the special supplemental
nutrition program for women, infants, and children
under section 17 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966
(42 U.S.C. 1786).
(7) Assistance under title II of the Job Train-
ing Partnership Act (29 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.).
(8) Any Head Start program under the Head
Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9831 et seq.).
(9) Assistance provided pursuant to the Low-
Income Home Energy Assistance Act of 1981 (42
U.S.C. 8621 et seq.).
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.
For purposes of this Act—
(1) the term ‘‘census’’ means a census of popu-
lation within the meaning of section 141(g) of title
13, United States Code;
(2) the term ‘‘Bureau’’ means the Bureau of
the Census; and
(3) the term ‘‘census tract’’ means a statistical
subdivision as defined by the Bureau for purposes of
the 1990 decennial census.
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