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House Bill Aims to Make Responses to the American Community Survey Voluntary
On March 3, 2011, Representative Ted Poe (TX-2) introduced a bill (H.R. 931) to make participation in the American Community Survey voluntary by removing the legal penalty for not responding to the survey. The bill has 14 cosponsors and is before the House Judiciary Committee. Last year, Mr. Poe sponsored the Republican National Committee resolution to eliminate the ACS or, barring that, make it voluntary.
A Census Project e-mail indicates: “The Census Bureau conducted a test…, at the request of Congress, on the effects of changing the ACS response from mandatory…to voluntary. [The report finds that] mail response to the ACS would drop dramatically, thus increasing costs by around $60 million a year (and that was in 2003) to ensure continued reliability of ACS data for all areas. Conversely, without that additional spending (a huge amount in this budget climate), the quality of ACS data would drop dramatically, especially for ‘harder-to-count’ populations and communities.”
APDU members are encouraged to write their House Representatives regarding their views on H.R. 931. It would be particularly valuable for APDU members to write their representatives who serve on the House Judiciary Committee, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s subcommittee overseeing the Census Bureau, or who are H.R. 931 co-sponsors.
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Census Bureau’s FY2012 Budget Proposes to Eliminate U.S. Statistical Abstract and Five Other Programs
The Census Bureau budget for Fiscal Year 2012 submitted to Congress proposes to terminate six programs: Statistical Compendia ($2.9M), Population Distributions ($1.2M), the Consolidated Federal Funds Report ($0.7M), Current Industrial Reports ($4.0M), and Foreign Research and Analysis ($1.5M). Total proposed savings are $10.3 million, about 1 percent of the Census Bureau budget. Statistical Compendia include print and online versions of the U.S. Statistical Abstract, State and Metropolitan Area Data Book, County and City Data Book, USA Counties, and Quick Facts. The Population Distributions program publishes items such as the Census Atlas of the United States and Population Change in Central and Outlying Counties of Metropolitan Statistical Areas: 2000 to 2007.
The APDU board will consider sending a letter to House and Senate appropriators requesting the retention of programs strongly supported by APDU members. By Wednesday, March 30, please e-mail your views to info@apdu.org. Members are also encouraged to e-mail their congressional delegation regarding their views.
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Call for Presenters: 2011 Consumer Expenditure Survey Microdata Users’ Workshop
July 27-29, Washington, DC
Beginning in 2006, the Consumer Expenditures (CE) program at the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has hosted a free annual workshop designed to give microdata users of all levels experience in using the data. As part of this program, the BLS is inviting CE data users to present and discuss their CE-related research. The BLS encourages works in progress as well as new and novice users.
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Census Bureau Reports Decrease in State Government Tax Collections
State government tax collections decreased $14.3 billion to $704.6 billion in fiscal year 2010, the U.S. Census Bureau recently reported. This compares to a $65.8 billion decrease in 2009. This new data come from the 2010 Annual Survey of State Government Tax Collections, which contains annual statistics on the fiscal year tax collections of all 50 state governments, including receipts from licenses and compulsory fees. Tax revenues also include related penalty and interest receipts of the governments. The news release is available here.
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Committee on National Statistics Requests Proposals for Redesign of Consumer Expenditure Surveys
The Committee on National Statistics (CNSTAT) has issued a Request for Proposals to produce a research report laying out redesign options for the Consumer Expenditure surveys (CE). As part of a multi-year process to develop and implement a redesign of CE surveys, BLS has contracted with CNSTAT to conduct an independent review of the design options available and to make specific recommendations for redesign. CNSTAT is seeking proposals for design options from organizations with experience in designing complex data collection methods. Proposals are due May 6, 2011. For more information, email Carol House, Senior Program Officer, or call 202-334-1573.
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Notable Data Publications
Each week, the APDU Data Update identifies recent statistical data releases of interest to APDU members.
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Calls for Comment
APDU maintains a list of open calls for comment on proposed federal data collections (http://www.apdu.org/advocacy.asp). We periodically alert APDU members to newly added calls for comment. Over the last several weeks, calls for comment on the following proposed data collections were published in the Federal Register (with due date):
Census Bureau
- American Community Survey 2011 Office of Management and Budget Clearance Pre-Submission Notice (May 9, 2011)
- 2012 Economic Census Covering the Mining Sector (May 16, 2011)
- Annual Wholesale Trade Survey (May 23, 2011)
Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) Program (May 23, 2011)
Office of Vocational and Adult Education, ED
- Measures and Methods for the National Reporting System for Adult Education (May 23, 2011)
Institute of Education Sciences, ED
- National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2012 Wave I (LTT Reading and Mathematics) (April 21, 2011)
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Data Users Advisory Committee Meeting
March 25, 2011
8:30 AM – 4:30 PM
Postal Square Building
2 Massachusettes Ave., NE Washington, DC
More information: Kathy Mele, 202-691-6102
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Census Scientific Advisory Committee Meeting
April 7-8, 2011
U.S. Census Bureau Conference Center, 4600 Silver Hill Road
Suitland, MD 20746
Register online
More information: Jeri Green, Committee Liaison Officer,
301-763-6590
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The NBER’s Innovation Policy and the Economy Conference
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