Save the Census

Every California resident who isn't counted in the upcoming 2020 Census will be a loss in more ways than one. Federal funding such as Medicaid as well as the number of California's congressional seats are all at risk if census numbers are wrong. For an accurate count, the census has to be adequately funded and residents have to be willing to participate.  

Two actions by the Trump administration are intended to negatively impact a fair and complete census: slashing census funding in the recent federal budget and pushing to reinsert a citizenship question.

The citizenship question is aimed at reducing census numbers in states like California. Its inclusion is politically motivated to intimidate and create fear. Fear that completing the census could lead to an individual or their family being targeted as non-citizens thus increasing the risk of immigration enforcement action.

From now until August 7 we have the opportunity to submit a comment and tell Washington D.C. NO, we don't want the citizenship question on the 2020 Census. We don't want to scare people away from participating.

Just two years ago, the Supreme Court unanimously reaffirmed that legislative districts must be drawn based on the number of people living there-including immigrants and children-and not just the number of people who can vote. The only way to legally affirm how many people live in a particular community is to achieve an accurate census count of all residents.  

The U.S. Census Bureau is currently accepting public comment on the 2020 U.S. Census. Tuesday August 7, 2018 is the deadline to comment and oppose the 2020 Census citizenship question. Please visit the 2020 Census formal comment page to leave a comment like this one:

I strongly urge the Commerce Department to remove the citizenship question from the 2020 Census form. Including an untested, controversial question will undermine the quality and accuracy of the census in every community. The Census Bureau's own Chief Scientist warned that if the citizenship question is included there is high likelihood of lower response, higher costs, and a less accurate census. Including the citizenship question puts the census at grave risk of a significant undercount, especially among hard-to-reach population groups that are already fearful of answering government surveys, according to the bureau's own research. The public should not be asked to answer, or pay for, a census that does not meet scientifically sound standards. The addition of this question is a blatant attempt to undermine the 2020 Census - this decision is bad for the census, bad for our communities, and bad for America.

Our participation makes a difference! Submit your comment here.

Sincerely,

Nancy Skinner
Senator, 9th District

P.S. To help offset the impact of the federal budget cuts, Governor Brown and my legislative colleagues and I included $90 million in this year's state budget to support community outreach throughout California for the 2020 Census.