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State will lose funding due to lukewarm census return

by Mike Honda
Mercury News
Posted: 05/26/2010 03:19:45 PM PDT


As California's census takers conclude their 2010 U.S. Census count, making final attempts three by phone, three in person to reach those who did not return questionnaires last month, one wonders if we performed better than the 2000 U.S. Census. Nationally, about 71 percent of U.S. households that received questionnaires mailed them back, leaving 50 million addresses that census workers must now visit, many of which are located in hard-to-count communities in minority, rural and densely urban neighborhoods. California, unfortunately, performed below the national average with a response return rate in the 60-percentile range.

This costs California dearly, in monies lost and political representation foregone. For each uncounted Californian, the state loses $3,000 every year. In the 2000 census, for example, the count missed 522,000 Californians, resulting in a $1.56 billion loss of federal aid through 10 years. If California stays within the 60 percent response rate, we jeopardize the number of representatives we get in Congress and miss out on the $400 billion in federal spending for hospitals, schools, job training, senior centers, public works projects and emergency services.

Perhaps even more tragically, lack of full census participation neglects California's growing minority populations who will, for myriad reasons, remain uncounted in the 2010 U.S. Census. Three major obstacles must be addressed if we want to remedy this perpetual undercount. The first is the financial hurdle, the second is the linguistic barrier, and the third is perhaps the most difficult to overcome the climate of fear.

Financially, it is no surprise that California's story is dismal. Due to Sacramento's shortfalls and the governor's misguided priorities, the $25 million spent by the state on the 2000 census was slashed to $3 million in 2010. This is disappointing. Given how much money is riding on the census count (consider the $1.56 billion California lost in 2000, when only $25 million was spent on outreach), California should pony up.

Despite California congresspersons fighting for more federal funding, whether in my $7 billion appropriations request or the California congressional delegation's funding request to Gov. Schwarzenegger, outreach was left to local organizations that recognized the seriousness of the census, like San Francisco Foundation and Silicon Valley Community Foundation who dedicated $500,000 to the effort.

Linguistic barriers also abound, keeping millions of Americans in the shadows. Unless we do better outreach, these Americans, many newly immigrated, will not only stay away from census forms and home visits, but also, in a mere six months, mid-term elections.

It is time we countenance the changing face of America. One in five U.S. residents speak a language other than English at home. Santa Clara County, for example, in my district, has the highest percentage of immigrants statewide, with 36 percent born abroad, and ranks first in Vietnamese speakers, second in Hindi, third in Chinese and fourth in Farsi.

While the census is trying to reach isolated ethnic audiences with television spots in 28 languages and consultations with 150,000 business and community groups, errors abound. One sample form translated in Vietnamese described the census as a "government investigation." One state hired Chinese linguists in response to a request for Korean and Vietnamese specialists. Clearly we need do better.

Fear, finally, is perhaps the most formidable because it makes the hard-to-count near impossible to count. We must make new Americans feel more welcome in this country if we want them to fill out forms, vote, contribute taxes and be legally abiding citizens. While federal law can strictly ensure census confidentiality, it does little to address the fear felt by many minority populations.

A pattern of disengagement, if nurtured, is dangerous. An undercount almost guarantees under-representation, which almost guarantees the population will be underserved all of which drives groups into deeper cultural and linguistic isolation, poverty and possibly conflict.

Anti-immigrant sentiment, which engendered this fear, is not only anti-American (after all, we are a nation of immigrants) but also financially counter-productive. A study conducted in early 2010 by University of California at Los Angeles professor Raul Hinojosa-Ojeda shows that comprehensive immigration reform garners $1.5 trillion to the U.S. gross domestic product over the next 10 years. Fail to reform immigration, however, and we lose $2.6 trillion over the same period. On incurred cost alone, the choice is simple.

America, it is time to face the music. Hispanic, Asian and African Americans are quickly becoming the voting majority in many districts throughout this country. By 2050, Hispanic Americans are projected to constitute 25 percent of the total population, making Hispanics the largest population group. And the fastest growing race group will continue to be Asian and Pacific Islanders, with annual growth rates exceeding 4 percent and increasing to 41 million total population by 2050.

California, consequently, would do well to ensure our census reflects these facts.

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Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.) is chairman of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus.