New York Assemblyman Marcos Crespo, Chair of the Assembly Task Force on Demographics and Reapportionment, was joined by good government groups, anti-poverty advocates and other legislators to unveil legislation (A.9554) which will begin the process to prepare New York State for a proper count during the 2020 Census. Under-counts during the 2000 and 2010 Census have cost New York two Congressional seats and a loss of tens of billions in Federal aid for a range of programs from education to housing to transportation. The legislation begins a multi-year planning process to ensure that state, local and nonprofit sectors are better prepared to ensure a proper count and will prevent future funding losses, including the now projected loss of one more Congressional member due to a combination of slow population growth and chronic under-counting of New York State residents.
“With rampant growth in child poverty rates and among our elderly and families, New York can ill afford another census under-count. It has already cost us tens of billions in lost federal aid which could have been used to strengthen our communities and economy. It has also cost us political clout in Washington as we continue to lose members of Congress as other states gain members. My legislation begins the process to ensure a proper count and bring billions in needed aid to communities across New York,” stated Assemblyman Marcos A. Crespo.
At a conservative estimate, the loss of $1.5 billion each year for a decade between 2010 and 2020, New York will have lost $15 billion dollars in Federal aid provided through 75 programs which are apportioned and distribute to states and localities using statistics gathered by the decennial census. An under-count guarantees not only lose in Federal aid but with population shifts in the 50 states New York has lost and will continue to lose seats in Congress.
The proposed legislation creates a 61 member planning body called the 2020 Complete Count Commission. It is responsible for putting together an action plan for state, local and nonprofit agencies to ensure a complete count. The Commission must produce three reports to document the plan and progress on implementing it prior to the 2020 Census. The Commission is also required to recommend State funding levels to implement their proposed action plans prior to the enactment of budgets for FY 2017-18 through FY 2019-20.
The under-count of the 2010 Census was very evident in New York City. There, over 8 million people living in only about 305 square miles were told that the City had only grown by about 100,000 residents even though over the previous 10 years over 1.25 million births had been recorded by the Bureau of Vital Statistics. Simultaneously, there had been only about 500,000 deaths during that period. The U.S. Census told New York State that it had only grown by 164,000 residents. Upstate New York covers almost 47,000 square miles and has over 9 million of the State’s 19.4 million residents. “It is obvious that if an under-count has occurred in a smaller and highly dense populated area that Upstate New York has probably been subject to a worse under-count,” declared Crespo.
Prior to the beginning of the 2010 Census, the New York City population was estimated to be at 8.1 million residents and City officials had estimated it had grown to 8.4 million. However the US Census enumerated only 8,175,133 residents. Parts of Upstate and Long Island had seen growth as well but the Census count enumerated New York State residents at 19,378,102, a probable under-count of some half a million residents.
The census is also the basis for State legislative and local redistricting and that chronic under-counting also skews legislative redistricting by favoring areas with more accurate counts.
The proposed Commission would also need a budget and funding.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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