Appropriations Update
Another Continuing Resolution (CR), extending current funding for all federal agencies through March 11, became law on February 18— just hours before the previous CR expired. The Further Additional Extending Government Funding Act (H.R. 6617) passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 272 – 162 on February 8. The bill stalled temporarily in the Senate, but eventually passed on February 17 by a vote of 65-27.
The CR contains only one anomaly, providing emergency funding for water contamination from the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility in Hawaii. The Census Bureau did not receive a funding anomaly, so the new CR would continue to hold the Bureau at FY 2021 funding levels through March 11.
Census Bureau officials confirmed that 2022 Economic Census operations should not be disrupted by the CR. The Economic Census reaches peak operations in 2022, but the Bureau has made necessary adjustments to support the survey through the duration of the proposed CR.
The Data Ingest and Collection Enterprise (DICE) program is the largest Census Bureau program most adversely affected by the CR extension. DICE, an initiative to re-engineer current business processes and technology solutions to update and streamline data collection operations, has instituted a hiring freeze. Further, the program is delaying the development of key technologies because of the CR. The Bureau believes it can rectify the impact of these delays if a final FY 2022 appropriations bill is enacted by mid-March. However, if another longer CR is necessary after March 11, there may be long-term adverse impact on the DICE program’s development schedule.
The Biden Administration is expected to unveil its FY 2023 budget request sometime after the State of the Union address on March 1.
Policy Update
The End Prison Gerrymandering Act
Rep. Deborah Ross (D-NC-02) introduced the End Prison Gerrymandering Act (H.R. 6550), legislation that would require prisoners to “be attributed to the last usual place of residence before incarceration” for purposes of a decennial census.
Starting with the 2030 Census, H.R. 6550 would require decennial headcounts to, “with respect to an individual incarcerated in a State, Federal, county, or municipal correctional facility as of the decennial census date, attribute such individual to such individual’s last usual place of residence before incarceration.”
The bill also would change where prisoners are counted specifically for purposes of apportionment and redistricting of Congressional seats. “If the tabulation of the number of persons in a State” in the decennial “includes an individual incarcerated in a State, Federal, county, or municipal correctional facility who is treated as a resident of the State because the tabulation attributes the individual to the individual’s last usual place of residence before incarceration,” the state would need to “treat the individual’s last usual place of residence in the State before incarceration as the individual’s place of residence for purposes of congressional redistricting.”
Census Bureau News
American Community Survey 5-year estimates, according to a February 7 release, will be unveiled on March 17. In a separate release, the Bureau announced that embargoed subscribers will have access to the statistics at 10 a.m. on March 15.
The Census Bureau will release the first set of results from the 2020 Post-Enumeration Survey (PES) along with additional results from the 2020 Demographic Analysis (DA) estimates on March 10.
On February 8, the Census Bureau released a new report that examines older householders’ sources and amounts of income and how much each source of income contributes to total income.
The Census Bureau announced the beginning of data collection for Phase 8 of the Small Business Pulse Survey (SBPS) on February 14.
On February 3, the Bureau released a report regarding the living arrangements of children under the age of 18.
Census Bureau Director Robert Santos released an introductory blog, “Thinking Differently About Perpetuating Excellence.”
The “Voting and Registration in the Election of November 2020” report released on February 17.
Census Bureau Data Releases
2020 County Business Patterns data were released on February 8.
On February 14, the January 2021 Business Formation Statistics (BFS) were released.
New data from phase 3.3 of the experimental Household Pulse Survey (HPS) was released on February 16.
On February 24, the Census Bureau released findings from the Educational Attainment in the United States: 2021 table package that use statistics from the Current Population Survey’s Annual Social and Economic Supplement to examine the educational attainment of adults age 25 and older by demographic and social characteristics, such as age, sex, race and nativity.
Detailed construction data from the monthly Building Permits Survey (BPS) was announced on February 24.
On February 24, the Census Bureau released new data from Phase 8 of the Small Business Pulse Survey (SBPS), which measures the effect of changing business conditions during the coronavirus pandemic and other major events such as hurricanes on U.S. small businesses.
News You Can Use
Below are several articles posted on The Census Project home page in February 2022. For a complete listing, go to: https://thecensusproject.org/recent-media/.
Plan to Cut Languages Used on California Ballots from 25 to 7 Draws Criticism
CalMatters
February 26, 2022
Parts of Rural America Are Adding Adult Population and Diversity, Census Shows
The Daily Yonder
February 23, 2022
Pennsylvania, North Carolina Redistricting Court Decisions Don’t Provide Major Partisan Wins
The Wall Street Journal
February 23, 2022
Black History Month: Census Bureau Looks at Nation’s Black-Owned Businesses
Williamsburg Yorktown Daily
February 23, 2022
Doorbells, Satellite Dishes: How Cities like San Jose Search for People the Census May Miss
The New York Times
February 23, 2022
New Census director has faith in quality of 2020 numbers
Associated Press
February 21, 2022
Navajo Nation sues San Juan County over new redistricting map
KOAT
February 20, 2022
1 in 10 Black people in the U.S. are migrants. Here’s what’s driving that shift
NPR
February 20, 2022
The U.S. census sees Middle Eastern and North African people as white. Many don’t
NPR
February 17, 2022
What the Census Bureau actually bought with a $657M PR campaign
Federal News Network
February 15, 2022
Bill to grow congressional district’s Black population fails
Associated Press
February 14, 2022
Release of the 1950 census is coming. Genealogists, get ready | Tracing Our Roots
NJ.com
February 12, 2022
International Migration to the U.S. Plummeted Last Year, Census Finds
Associated Press
February 7, 2022
Supreme Court permits Alabama congressional map lower court said could dilute Black vote
USA Today
February 7, 2022
Amid Slowdown, Immigration Is Driving U.S. Population Growth
The New York Times
February 5, 2022
U.S. Hispanic population continued its geographic spread in the 2010s
Pew Research Center
February 3, 2022
Census Bureau Reports Little Change in Homeownership Rates
Mortgage News Daily
February 3, 2022
A new Supreme Court case could make it nearly impossible to stop racial gerrymanders
Vox
February 1, 2022
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