By Steve Christol
Daily Bruin Contributor
Municipalities across the nation, including the city of Los
Angeles, continue to challenge the U.S. Department of Commerce and
its decision to ignore the estimated 3.3 million people not
accounted for in Census 2000.
This undercount, estimated by the Census Bureau, could be used
to adjust data from the census to make it more accurate in
providing states with guidelines for congressional redistricting
and allocation of government funds.
Los Angeles City Attorney Jim Hahn said he supports using the
undercount to adjust the results of the census.
Last week, Commerce Secretary Don Evans ruled against the use of
the undercount in adjusting the results of the census and called
Census 2000 “the most accurate in history.”
Evans’ ruling came after the U.S. Census Bureau’s
recommendation that there was not sufficient time to adjust the
results of the census before April 1, the deadline set by federal
law to release the data to states for redistricting purposes.
If the undercount is used to adjust the data, it could have an
effect on programs intended to help economically and socially
disadvantaged minorities by assuring that federal funds are
accurately allotted to those programs and in the right proportions,
according to reports published by the Associated Press. Minorities
make up the majority of the 3.3 million people not counted for in
the census.
The Census Bureau began releasing data to states last week as
the April 1 deadline approaches, in spite of efforts by L.A. City
Attorney Hahn and others to adjust the numbers to make up for the
estimated undercount of 3.3 million. California is scheduled to
receive its results from the Census Bureau next week.
In a lawsuit seeking a temporary restraining order against
Evans, Hahn contends that Evans’ refusal to release the
adjusted data violates the Census Act.
Hahn, a leader in the move to use the undercount to adjust the
census data, filed the lawsuit in February on behalf of Los
Angeles, along with other cities and counties across the
country.
“The Census Bureau, by its own admission, missed counting
3.3 million Americans” in last year’s census, Hahn said
in a statement. “That is a totally unacceptable situation. In
Los Angeles, vital political representation and an estimated $325
million in federal and state funding allocated on the basis of
population is at stake, and we will take every legal action we can
to assure the most accurate count of city residents.”
But it is not clear that adjusting the census would actually
help. Kenneth Wachter, professor of demography at UC Berkeley, said
he opposes the use of the undercount to adjust the census. He said
racial differentials of last year’s census compared to those
from the 1990 census, and demographic analysis of last year’s
census both show that Census 2000 was accurate. He said the use of
adjusted data would make relatively little difference in the
outcome of the census and in fact, make it more prone to error.
The 3.3 million people not counted in Census 2000 constitute 1.2
percent of the nation’s 281 million people. This number is
down from the 1.6 percent, or about 4 million in 1990, when the
last census was conducted.
Many supporters of adjusting the census, however, still believe
that the number of people not counted for is too high to be left
unadjusted. They argue that federal funding, which amounts to about
$185 billion, will be disproportionately allocated if the census
results are not adjusted.
According to supporters, minorities who are already economically
and socially disadvantaged compared to the white majority will
therefore not receive funding for programs designed to help
alleviate social and economic problems.
“Census Bureau professionals saw the need to use sampling
methods to make up for the discrepancies of the raw numbers. We
strongly urge President Bush and the Congress to allow the Bureau
to finish their evaluation of the numbers, and offer the nation the
most reliable data available, “ said Stewart Kwoh, executive
director of the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, in
a statement.
The census data, however, could result in weakening minority
groups’ chances of receiving federal funds even if it is
adjusted because of changes in the methods of conducting last
year’s census.
Census 2000 was the first U.S. census to offer the option to
people to claim more than one racial background. On the census, for
example, someone who was half-white and half-American Indian could
claim to be either “American Indian and Alaska Native,”
or “American Indian and Alaska Native” and
“white.”
In the 1990 census, if more than one category was checked off,
only the first one was counted. Census 2000 also offered 63
different racial categories for people to choose from as opposed to
only five offered in 1990, thus widening the scope of the new
census.
With reports from Daily Bruin wire services.