U.S. Census Bureau reform has received rare bipartisan support in the U.S. Senate during the lame duck session in an attempt to correct the operational crises that have plagued the last four censuses. The Senate passed S. 3167 today that provides greater autonomy for the agency and promotes technology reform, including planning for an Internet response option for the 2020 Census. The bill also establishes a five-year term for the Census Director, who will report directly to the Secretary of Commerce, and will be allowed to submit their own opinion to Congress in testimony even if it disagrees with the administration. The bill next must be approved by the House where companion legislation (H.R. 4945) has been introduced. The hope is to speed this bill to the floor during this session.
The reform comes at a time when the first TIGER/Line Shapefiles redistricting data are being releases for the 2010 Census which map every block, tract, place, reservation and county by state. The Census 2010 block number and geographic areas are different than Census 200, which makes it difficult to map changes directly. The Census 2010 block data will be released between January and the end of March in 2011.
