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Commerce Department Rule on Census Decision Making Authority
On September 28, 2000, the Commerce Department issued a final rule
delegating to the Census Bureau the final decision as to whether to issue corrected
Census data following the 2000 Census. The draft rule was proposed on June 14,
2000. At that time, in addition to the release of the proposed regulation the
Commerce Department and the Census Bureau released two other documents. All
three documents were published in the Federal Register, and placed on the Census
Bureau Web site for review. The rule was subject to a 45 day comment period. The
final rule can be found at:
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=2000_register&docid=fr06oc00-10/
1. Rule delegating to the Census Bureau professionals the decision as to
whether to use modern statistical methods in the 2000 Census.
The Secretary issued a rule delegating the final decision as to whether to
correct the 2000 Census counts to Director of the Census Bureau with the
recommendation of a committee of Census professionals. A similar delegation of
authority was made for the 1980 Census by the Carter Administration. The
delegation was rescinded by the Reagan Administration, which resulted in
Commerce Secretary Mosbacher overruling the professionals at the Census Bureau
in 1991 and not using corrected Census data from the 1990 Census. This was the
only time a political appointee overruled the Census Bureau's decision on this issue.
The Secretary took this action to avoid even the appearance of political influence in
the final decision making process.
2. Description of the Legal Authority of the Secretary.
In June, the Commerce Department also released a Legal Memorandum
outlining the Administration's legal interpretation of the Census statute (Title 13)
and Supreme Court cases affecting the authority and responsibility of the Secretary
of Commerce under the law. This Memorandum states the Administration's view
that the Census Act requires the Secretary of Commerce to use the statistical
methods known as sampling if he deems them feasible for all purposes under the
act, except for the apportionment of Representatives in Congress among the States.
This means that all Census products, including the information sent to the States in
the Spring of 2001 to be used for legislative redistricting (P.L. 94-171 data) and
Census products used by Federal agencies for the next ten years to distribute funds,
would have to be based on statistically corrected Census data.
3. Finding by the Census Bureau Director describing why the use of statistical
methods is feasible.
Finally, in June the Census Bureau Director released also a document,
outlining the history of this issue and describing in detail why he and the
professionals at the Census Bureau believe that the use of modern statistical
methods is not only technically feasible but operationally feasible and would provide
the most accurate information to the country. Most importantly, their use is the only
way to correct the historic racial differential the Census has contained since 1940.
This differential lead to 8.4 million Americans-- mostly Blacks, Hispanics, Asians
and American Indians, and the rural and urban poor being missed in the 1990
Census and 4.4 million mostly affluent whites being counted twice.
For more information on the rule and supporting documentation, go to:
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/presskit.html
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