I
105TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 776
To provide for greater accuracy in the 2000 decennial census of population,
and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 13, 1997
Mrs. MEEK of Florida (for herself, Mr. ACKERMAN, Mr. BISHOP, Mr.
BLUMENAUER, Ms. BROWN of Florida, Mr. BROWN of California, Mrs.
CARSON, Ms. CHRISTIAN-GREEN, Mr. CLAY, Mrs. CLAYTON, Mr.
CLYBURN, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr.
DELLUMS, Mr. DIAZ-BALART, Mr. DIXON, Mr. FATTAH, Mr. FILNER,
Mr. FLAKE, Mr. FOGLIETTA, Mr. FORD, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts,
Mr. FROST, Mr. GREEN, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. HILLIARD, Mr.
JACKSON of Illinois, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. JEFFERSON, Ms.
EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Ms. KILPATRICK, Mr. LAFALCE,
Mr. LANTOS, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Ms. LOFGREN, Ms. MCKINNEY,
Mrs. MALONEY of New York, Mr. MENENDEZ, Ms. MILLENDER-MCDON-
ALD, Mr. MILLER of California, Mrs. MINK of Hawaii, Ms. Norton, Mr.
OWENS, Mr. PASTOR, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. RANGEL, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD,
Mr. RUSH, Mr. SCOTT, Mr. STARK, Mr. STOKES, Mr. THOMPSON, Mrs.
THURMAN, Mr. TORRES, Mr. TOWNS, Ms. WATERS, Mr. WATT of North
Carolina, Mr. WEXLER, Ms. WOOLSEY, and Mr. WYNN) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Government Re-
form and Oversight
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 1997’’.
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) in August 1992, the Bureau concluded that
the 1990 decennial census had failed to count four
million persons or 1.6 percent of the population;
(6) the extent of the undercount varies by
group and by the part of the country involved; for
example, the undercount in the 1990 decennial cen-
sus was—
(A) 4.4 percent for African Americans, 4.5
percent for American Indians, 2.3 percent for
Asians or Pacific Islanders, and 5 percent for
Hispanic Americans; and
(B) 3.1 percent for New Mexico, 2.8 per-
cent for Texas, 2.7 percent for California, and
2 percent for Florida;
(7) in 1993, the Bureau concluded that legisla-
tion providing that pay for temporary census enu-
merators in the 2000 decennial census not be used
to reduce benefits under Federal assistance pro-
grams would make it easier for the Bureau to hire
neighborhood people as temporary census enumera-
tors in low-income neighborhoods;
(8) 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;
(9) 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;
(10) certain witnesses testified, at a hearing
held by the Committee on Government Reform and
Oversight of the House of Representatives on Feb-
ruary 29, 1996, that the Bureau’s proposed sam-
pling technique 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 Hispanic Americans, as compared to other
groups);
(11) the planning, conduct, and analysis of a
decennial census often requires close to a period of
10 years;
(12) 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
(13) 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) PURPOSES FOR WHICH COMPENSATION SHALL
NOT BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT.—Section 23 of title 13,
United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the
following:
‘‘(d) Compensation for services performed by an indi-
vidual appointed by the Secretary to a temporary position
for purposes relating to the 2000 decennial census (if the
position is so designated by the Secretary, in writing, at
the time of such individual’s appointment) shall not be
taken into account for purposes of determining either the
eligibility of any individual for or the amount of benefits
payable to an individual under any Federal, State, or local
program financed in whole or in part with Federal
funds.’’.
(b) 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.’’.
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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