Nonprofits back bill for census committee to promote participation and accuracy

The groups were backing a bill that would create a state “complete count committee,” a best practice the Census Bureau has been pushing in the states to ensure that everyone is counted in next year’s national census. Nebraska is one of only two states that have rejected forming a complete count committee, a decision made last year by Gov. Pete Ricketts.

“I see this as a great opportunity for state government to partner with community leaders to make sure we have an accurate count,” said John Cartier of Civic Nebraska, a voting rights advocacy organization.

Legislative Bill 436 would have the effect of reversing the governor’s decision. The law would create a 23-member committee of representatives of state and local government and community groups. Headed by the secretary of state, the committee would help create and administer an outreach effort to promote participation in the census.

Several backers during Wednesday’s public hearing on the bill noted the importance of an accurate census. No one testified in opposition, and the Legislature’s government committee took no action on it Wednesday.

Julia Tse of Voices for Children said census data serves as the foundation of all the work it does to improve the lives of Nebraska children.

Tse and others also said a complete count committee can be particularly important to reaching hard-to-count households. People unfamiliar with the census can sometimes fear it, not knowing what it entails or what the information is used for.

A complete count committee can help to “engage with those communities directly to assure them it’s not harmful and it does benefit them,” said Gavin Geis of Common Cause Nebraska.

Some fear that immigrant communities could be particularly difficult to count this year due to the Trump administration’s plan to include a citizenship question. Whether the question will be included in the census is being contested in court.

“The citizenship question has definitely posed some problems,” Cartier said.

Supporters also noted the dollars at stake in the census. The state receives more than $4 billion annually in funding that is based on the census count, according to a George Washington University analysis. Nebraska stands to lose $21,000 in federal funding over 10 years for each person who is not counted, a figure that could easily translate into tens of millions of lost dollars.

As a businessman, Cartier said, Ricketts would understand what a good return on investment forming a complete count committee would be. The cost of the committee is estimated to be $110,000.

Sen. Matt Hansen of Lincoln, the sponsor of the bill, noted that while the census is a federal responsibility, Nebraskans can protect their own interests by helping to ensure a full count.

“The fact that it happens only once every 10 years makes it even more important that we do it right,” he said.