Travis County Commissioners Court
May 26, 2009,
Item 3
3.
consider and take appropriate action on request from u.s.
census bureau for a resolution and appointment of a complete count committee.
>> last time we discussed this item, which must have been a couple of months ago.
>> March 24th.
>> March 24th, we are told.
and we promised to do a resolution.
we have not done one yet, we have one before us today.
maybe we ought to read this so our many, many fans out there will know what we're doing.
it reads whereas the u.s.
census bureau is required by the united states constitution to conduct a count of the population every 10 years, which provides an historic opportunity for Travis County to help shape the foundation of our society and play an active role in american democracy.
whereas Travis County is committed to ensuring every resident is counted and more than $300 billion per year in federal and state funding, if allocated to communities and decisions are made on matters of national and local importance, based on a census -- based on census data, including health care community development, housing, education, transportation, social services, employment and much more; whereas census data determine how many seats each state will have in the u.s.
house of representatives, as well as the Texas legislature; whereas the 2010 census creates hundreds of thousands of jobs across the nation; whereas every census bureau workers takes a life-time oath to protect confidentiality and ensure that data identifying respondents or their households not be released or shared for 72 years, and whereas a united voice from businesses, government, community based and faith based organizations, educators, media and others will allow the 2010 census message to reach a broader audience, providing trusted advocates who can spark positive conversations about the 2010 census; now, therefore, be it resolved that we the Travis County Commissioners court will support the goals and ideals of the 2010 census and will disseminate 2010 census information to encourage participation, will appoint a complete count committee, will ask its affiliates and membership to partner together to achieve an accurate and complete count and -- will encourage the Travis County community to participate in events and initiatives that will raise overall awareness of the 2010 census and increase participation among all populations.
and I move approval.
>> second.
>> good morning.
>> lovely, thank you so much.
and -- Commissioner Eckhardt and judge Biscoe I have met already.
hello to other Commissioners on the court.
my name is yvonne espara I represent the united states census bureau.
i represent Travis County but wilson, bastrop and lee county.
everything that judge has read for all of us to hear I am very thankful that we do have Travis County on board as a partner with the united states census bureau.
we are talking about $300 billion distributed every year for 10 years based on the results of a census.
imagine that if nobody in Travis County participated in the census next year, what kind of dire straits we would be in as a county.
so your job at this points on is to ensure that everybody does fill out that census form.
think of all of the things that we have to consider, where to find the funding, a lot of that does come from the federal government and citizens and residents of Travis County don't really know that.
so citizens and residents do need to know, the money comes to our community, but you can only get those moneys and qualification if you participate in the census.
please be the ones to advocate for us and on our end we're going to do a lot, a lot in Travis County.
you should see me probably every day coming through the summer, fall and spring delivering this message.
i want to give you some key dates to remember.
next year, April 1st is census day.
that's when your census form is due.
census forms are going to be mailed out to most of Travis County mid March.
you will receive it in the mail.
we are expecting you to put it back in the mail or come to one of our center that's we set up as a census reception spot.
we will be working with the community to do that.
i'm looking forward to working with all of you.
see you soon.
a lot, as I already mentioned.
we're going to have fun.
thank you so much for your support.
>> one thing that you did mention last time that you were here were here , the form itself had been -- is not -- is not as lengthy as it has been in the past as far as the number of questions and I guess that still holds true.
a shorter version, is that correct?
>> that's correct.
>> [multiple voices]
>> as you will recall from times before, that census form was pretty long, a lot of questions, you had to pull out a lot of paperwork to do.
well, we decided as a census bureau that we only need to know 10 questions.
we only need those answered.
everything else, as far as income details, job details, mortgage details, those more intimate details, those are actually going to be passed on to the american community survey.
because that kind of data helps communities out on a yearly basis.
what we need to know at the national level are 10 key answers to 10 questions that we're going to put on that census form.
that's all that we really need to note how to distribute $300 billion every year to you.
>> okay.
>> those inclined to provide a lot more information I guess can just flip it over and write on the back.
>>
>> [laughter] that's right.
feel free to visit our website for any kind of information or questions that you may have about the census www.census.gov.
>> thank you, I just wanted to express my hope as a constitutional enthusiast that we pay attention to the constitution and not load this up, I appreciate the form being shortened right now.
but it's -- it's not short enough.
and the major problem that I have is this decision to go back and decide to add more to compensate for people who supposedly didn't bother to participate, who dreams up these numbers?
and who can say that that's anywhere close to being accurate as it's called for in our constitution to be accurate.
it should be to the person.
so I just have obviously a little -- a little -- problems with what's happening lately and specifically this one.
the executive branch control of the census.
this one-time only it's never been like this.
it's unconstitutional, it's dangerous.
and we need to raise objection to how the executive branch is, I believe, overextension -- overstepping its bounds to make sure we get the proper number, make sure we get people who are counted all of that.
it's problematic, I would hope that we would stick to what the constitution says that's my basic idea.
>> now, the law does require that all u.s.
residents, really, complete the questionnaire and send it in.
>> that's correct.
article 1, section 2 of the u.s.
constitution mandates that every person who resides in the united states as of -- as of April 1st on every year ending in 0 shall be counted.
so that means that there isn't any kind of legal requirement or any kind of status requirement and certainly no class requirement to participate in the census.
what's important to communicate that all persons, whether they be documented or undocumented or whatever opinions that they have about their government should still participate in the census to ensure that there's a complete count and in that complete count there is an accuracy with our quality assurance and then those numbers get delivered down to our governors.
and hopefully they will pay attention to those numbers and ensure that every single person that resides in their state shall receive the moneys that they need for their communities.
>> so that confidentiality protection is supposed to guard against immigration issues being used against certain residents, too.
>> it's a very cumulative process for us.
title 13 of the u.s.
code mandates that all of us, including myself, swear to confidentiality on any kind of process towards collecting information.
in that -- make sure that we also cover our bases as far as immigration and naturalization because of a huge mess that's out there in the community is that we're going to use this personal data as an advantage against people who are truly just wanting to continue to thrive in this country.
that is absolutely not the case.
title 13 requires us to protect any personal information that's provided on that form, that we not discuss it with any other federal agency, or any other organization apart from the u.s.
census bureau.
our own data centers will be the ones who provide the quality assurance and then all those numbers will be delivered on president obama's desk on December 2010.
even then all of our strategies are in place to ensure that all we're going to do is aggregate and make sure that those numbers are presented to the president as they should be, as they are delivered by all residents of the country.
>> okay.
any other questions or comments?
>> could you give me that address again?
say that again.
>> the address, the e-mail address again please.
>> www.census.gov/2010census.
>> now, we do not have our complete count committee completed.
we have identified a chairperson.
but we will have it back on either next week or the week after with the list of committee members.
>> sure.
that is absolutely fine and let me also help in the process, do keep in mind that I have been working with I ever single entity within Travis County and many community based organizations.
i probably have some folks already -- already willing to help.
>> okay.
>> you spoke before the city council in manor here a little bit ago, didn't you?
>> that's correct.
>> right.
>> I don't know if you will recall when -- who was there for the big push initiative environmental initiative, you also made your presentation to the city of manor.
>> correct.
>> so what you are saying is that you -- as far as the committee is concerned, they can be picked from the entities that you have visited, the organizations that you have visited that will comprise basically of the membership.
>> I would like it to be as comprehensive as possible.
really all we need to say is that we have a committee via resolution and that we do appoint a chair.
from that point the chair can really decide who those key individuals are, but we want to focus on those who have advocate and enumerate communities that we have identified as an organization.
>> ah okay.
>> so we don't necessarily want to just have persons who are in a position -- in a decision making position, but perhaps more active, a little more community engaged, maybe more grassroots.
that would be a much more preferable approach so that we do engage all members of the community as opposed to people who have select powers over a given community.
>> okay.
thank you.
>> thank you.
>> all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
>> yay.
>> thank you very much.
>> thank you.
>> should I give you the resolution for safe keeping?
>> we would love that.
this should evidence Travis County's support of the next census.
>> thank you.
>> thanks so much for your work on this.
>> don't worry, it's going to get more and more better.
>> more better, more better.
>> more money more better, right?
>> [laughter]
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, May 26, 2009 2:00 PM