Alabama has a lot at stake in the 2020 Census, here’s how it’s preparing
Alabama has a lot at stake in the 2020 U.S. Census — from a seat in the U.S. House of Representative to a vote in the Electoral College, as well as federal funds — depending on participation levels and what the results indicate. Which is why, Gov. Kay Ivey on Monday signed an executive order establishing a state-level committee designed to prepare Alabama for maximum participation in the 2020 U.S. Census. The Alabama Counts! 2020 Census Committee Ivey established the Alabama Counts! 2020 Census Committee that will serve as an advisory group made up of public and private statewide organizations to recommend and implement strategies for raising awareness of the 2020 census. As mandated by the Constitution, the U.S. Census Bureau conducts a count of the United States population every 10 years. Starting April 1, 2020, each Alabama household should receive a postcard from the Census Bureau encouraging them to complete their census form online or by phone or to call a number to request a paper form. The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs serves as the state’s liaison to the U.S. Census Bureau. Governor Ivey named ADECA Director Kenneth Boswell as chair of the Alabama Counts! 2020 Census Committee. The committee will be divided into subcommittees designed to reach all areas of Alabama. Those subcommittees are: Government, Education, Faith-based Groups, Community-based Groups, Economic Development/Industry, Health Care, Rural and Outreach. Executive Order 715 tasks the committee with developing a Census Action Plan by Aug. 1, 2019 and taking steps to implement the plan leading up to April 2020. “Governor Ivey and I understand how critical it is that we do everything in our power to ensure Alabamians are ready to be counted in the 2020 Census,” Director Boswell said. “This committee and its subcommittees will bring some of the best and brightest from all sectors of Alabama together to help the state over the next year and a half.” The subcommittee chairs will serve as the group’s executive committee and will work with ADECA and the Governor’s Office over the next several weeks to form membership of their subcommittees. The executive committee and its subcommittees will meet regularly in the coming months to develop and implement outreach and education plans targeted to all aspects of Alabama. The committee and ADECA also will work closely with Alabama’s two partnership specialists from the Census Bureau. The following people will serve as subcommittee chairs: GovernmentU.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt/Paul Housel, District Director for Rep. Aderholt Education: Eric Mackey, Superintendent of Alabama Department of Education and Jimmy Baker, Chancellor of Alabama Community College System Faith-based Groups: Bishop Kyle Searcy, Lead Pastor of Fresh Anointing House of Worship in Montgomery and Rev. Jay Wolf, Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church Montgomery Community-based Groups: Ron Gilbert, Executive Director of Community Action Association of Alabama Economic Development/Industry: Steve Spencer, President of Economic Development Partnership of Alabama Health Care: Dr. Scott Harris, State Health Officer at Alabama Department of Public Health Rural: Paul Pinyan, Executive Director of Alabama Farmers Federation Outreach: Kenneth Boswell, ADECA Director and Chair of the Alabama Counts 2020 Census Committee Federal funds A recent study by George Washington University indicates the U.S. government returned more than $1,567 to the state in 2015 for every Alabamian counted in the census. More than 100 federal programs use data collected during census counts as part of their formulas to distribute billions of dollars in federal funding to the states. Those programs include Medicaid, Medicare Part B, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Highway Planning and Construction, and Title 1 Grants to Local Education Agencies. Census-derived data also is used to allocate seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and in legislative redistricting. “The stakes are high for Alabama in the 2020 U.S. Census, and our success depends greatly on our ability to help Alabamians understand the importance of completing and submitting their census forms,” Ivey said. “For that reason, I am forming this committee a full 20 months before the April 1, 2020 census count to bring leaders of many statewide public and private groups together to ensure every Alabamian knows the importance of doing their part and participating in the census. When we all do our duty, we ensure that the state gets our fair share of funding for dozens of critical programs and ensure we maintain fair representation in Congress.” Preparing for the 2020 Census ADECA has worked for the past year to help Alabama’s counties and municipalities update the address lists that will be used by the Census Bureau in 2020 to account for new development and other changes. Participation in the process for 2020, known as the Local Update of Census Addresses, more than doubled from 2010. In total, 280 Alabama municipalities and 58 counties are registered to participate in the update process. That represents a 104 percent increase in municipalities and a 128 percent increase in counties over 2010 in which 137 municipalities and 25 counties registered to participate. ADECA has established a page on its website with information about the upcoming census that will be updated as the Alabama Counts 2020 Census Committee gets up and running. The page is available at www.adeca.alabama.gov/census.
Judge lets challenge to census citizenship query go forward
A federal judge ruled Tuesday that a legal challenge to the 2020 census can go forward, saying there was an appearance of “bad faith” behind the Trump Administration’s disputed decision to add a question about citizenship. U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman made the ruling at a hearing in federal court in Manhattan after citing contradictory statements by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross about the rationale for a plan to send a census form to every household that asks people to specify whether they are U.S. citizens. The move has fueled worries among Democrats that it will discourage immigrants from participating in the survey, thereby diluting representation for states that tend to vote Democratic and robbing many communities of federal dollars. A coalition of about two dozen states and cities have sued the U.S. government in New York to block the plan, calling it unconstitutional. Ross, who oversees the census, had originally said he wanted the citizenship question asked for the first time since 1950 at the behest of the Justice Department so it could better enforce the Voting Rights Act. But in a court filing, Ross later said he came up with the idea in consultation with various government officials before seeking DOJ support for it. Furman ruled from the bench that lawyers for the states and cities had “made a strong showing of bad faith” by the federal government, and could begin deposing officials over how the decision was reached. He told them to start with lower-level officials first, then consult him if they want to question Ross. The judge also put off a decision on a government request to throw out the suit, but called it “unlikely” that would happen. In a statement, New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood hailed the ruling as a major step toward upholding the government’s “solemn obligation to ensure a fair and accurate count of all people in this country.” There was no immediate response to a message seeking comment from the Commerce Department. Brett Shumate, a deputy assistant attorney general, argued on Tuesday that the plaintiffs were relying on a “speculative chain of inferences” to support the suit’s claim that adding the citizenship question would result in an “undercount” of people. The government has ways to ensure an accurate census, he said. The commerce secretary “has those procedures in place and plans to count every person in America,” he said. In court papers, the plaintiffs have said that the Census Bureau’s own research suggests that participation by Hispanics and other immigrants would decline if there’s a citizenship question. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
AG Steve Marshall testifies on Capitol Hill in support of Alabama census lawsuit
Attorney General Steve Marshall testified before a U.S. Congressional Committee on Friday that the Census Bureau‘s “unlawful” decision to include illegal aliens in the 2020 Census will cause Alabama to lose a seat in the U.S. House of Representative as well as a vote in the Electoral College. Marshall told the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice the decision “plainly undermines the rule of law.” “Alabama is set to lose one of its seven congressional seats and one of its nine electoral votes – a seat and a vote it would not lose if illegal aliens were excluded from the apportionment base,” Marshall told the subcommittee. “Not only would this skewed result rob the State of Alabama and its legal residents of their rightful share of representation, but it plainly undermines the rule of law. If an individual’s presence in our country is in violation of federal law, why should the states in which they reside benefit from their illegal status?” Marshall further noted the Census has previously included illegal aliens and that the result has been an unlawful distribution of additional U.S. House seats and electoral college votes to states with higher numbers of illegal aliens. “The irony, of course, is that illegal aliens cannot vote; therefore, they are not the ones who gain from being included in the apportionment base. In a state in which a large share of the population cannot vote, those who do vote count more than those who live in states where a larger share of population is made up of American citizens.” Alabama is not alone in suffering a potential loss in federal representation if the 2020 Census count includes illegal aliens. Ohio is also predicted to lose a U.S. House seat while Montana would fail to gain a seat it would have otherwise acquired. Attorney General Marshall and Alabama 5th District U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks filed a lawsuit last month challenging the U.S. Census Bureau’s counting of illegal aliens. Watch Marshall’s testimony below:
No LGBTQ category included in Census proposal for 2020 count
The U.S. Census Bureau is not proposing a separate count of LGBTQ Americans for its 2020 Census. The category had been sought by gay rights advocates. The bureau counts Americans according to race, gender and other characteristics. In its proposal to Congress, the people-counting agency is not asking for a separate category for LGBTQ Americans. The Census Bureau had no immediate comment. But gay rights advocates say it’s more evidence that Trump is going back on a campaign promise to protect the gay community. Last week, the Department of Health and Human Services removed questions on sexuality from two of its surveys. The Trump administration also has cancelled an Obama administration directive that students should use the bathroom that matches their gender identity. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Census numbers reveal decline in uninsured Alabamians
Health insurance statistics released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau indicate that the rate of uninsured Americans dropped in 47 states last year, including Alabama. The data reveals only one in 10 Alabamians lacked health insurance coverage in 2015, an improvement from the state’s 13.6 percent uninsured rate in 2013, the last year before the Affordable Care Act took full effect. Tuesday’s numbers come in the midst of a volatile election season, where citizens across the country continue to weigh the pros and cons of the Affordable Care Act, often called Obamacare, as they decide who they’re voting for in November. For some, Tuesday’s numbers serve as a reminder for the need for an expanded Medicaid program in the state. “[The] good news about health coverage in Alabama would be even better if the state had expanded Medicaid,” said Alabama Arise State Coordinator Kimble Forrister. “More Alabamians have coverage today than in 2013, and the Affordable Care Act deserves much of the credit for those gains. Nearly 200,000 Alabamians have signed up for health insurance through the ACA marketplace. Many of them have coverage for the first time, and all of them now have the peace of mind that comes with knowing that a medical emergency won’t lead to financial ruin.” According to Forrister, Medicaid expansion would close the coverage gap for more than 300,000 uninsured across Alabama. “That would mean a more productive workforce, thousands of new jobs and big state savings on mental health care and other services,” Forrister explained. “We’re being left out. States like Kentucky and West Virginia that have expanded Medicaid have much lower uninsured rates than those that haven’t. They’re also enjoying the job creation and cost savings that come from injecting new federal money into their budgets and economies. It’s time for Alabama to expand Medicaid and reap those same benefits.”
