Ron S. Jarmin

History[edit] The U.S. Constitution (Article I, Section II) requires an enumeration of the population every ten years and “in such Manner as they [Congress] shall by Law direct.” James Madison first proposed including questions in the census to “enable them to adapt the public measures to the particular circumstances of the community.” Such knowledge collected with each census, he said, “would give them an opportunity of marking the progress of the society.

The number and type of questions included in the census over the decades reflected current American societal trends and the growing nation’s expanded data needs.

By 1940, modernized statistical methods enabled the Census Bureau to start asking a sample of the population a subset of additional detailed questions without unduly increasing cost or respondent burden. In subsequent decades, questions that had previously been asked of all respondents, as well as new questions, moved to the subsample questionnaire form. As the subsample questionnaire grew to be longer than the questionnaire that went to most households, it became known as the “long form.”

After the 1960 Census, the congressional oversight committee for the census held hearings on proposed legislation to enact a mid-decade census that would address the growing need for more timely data. Additional hearings were held in 1965 and after the 1970 Census.

In 1976, Congress authorized a new, mid-decade census. However, it was never funded and thus never implemented.

In 1991, the congressional oversight subcommittee for the census tasked the National Academy of Sciences with examining the goals, methods, and potential alternative methods of conducting the census.

In addition to the rising cost of census operations, the subcommittee was concerned about the significantly lower response rates in the 1990 census compared to the 1980 census. Many respondents had complained that the long form was burdensome and intrusive. Its unpopularity was a factor in the declining response rate to the decennial census, jeopardizing overall response rates and thus the quality of the census count.

In addition, members of Congress were concerned that the once-a-decade long form no longer met the growing data needs of the country. Subcommittee chairman Rep. Thomas Sawyer (D-OH) remarked that “it is not enough just that the data be precise. In a period of rapid change, if the numbers aren't timely, they are not accurate.”

Members representing rural districts also expressed concern that rural areas were at a data disadvantage. This was expressed in a July 2000 hearing on the American Community Survey by Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO). She argued that “because accurate and timely data is seldom available for rural communities and smaller rural jurisdictions, and because these entities have limited budgets, and are often led by part-time decision makers, timely, empirically-based assessments of policy alternatives are seldom available.” In 1994, the Census Bureau began formal research and testing to change the long form from a once-a-decade subsample to an ongoing rolling sample survey. Testing began in 1995, and the ACS program produced test data in 2000, 2001, and 2002. The survey was implemented nationwide in 2005. The following year, the Census Bureau released estimates for all areas with populations of 65,000 or more using the data collected from January to December 2005. In 2010, the ACS produced its first set of multiyear estimates covering geographic entities of all population sizes, using information collected from January 2005 through December 2009.

The Founders' Constitution. Volume 2, Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3, Document 19.http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/a1_2_3s19.html The University of Chicago Press. Retrieved 2017-02-06.

 US Census Bureau. “Through the Decades: Index of Questions”. Retrieved 2017-02-06. 
 Gauthier, Jason. "1940 (Population) – History – U.S. Census Bureau". www.census.gov. Retrieved 2015-07-31.
  Mid-Decade Census, Part 1: Hearings before the Subcommittee on Census and Statistics, 87th Congress (1961). 

 Mid-Decade Census: Hearings before the United States House Subcommittee on Census and Statistics of the Committee on Post Office and Civil Service, 89th Congress (1965)

 Mid-Decade Census: Hearings before the United States House Subcommittee on Census and Statistics of the Committee on Post Office and Civil Service, 92nd Congress, first session on proposals for a mid-decade census of population and housing (1971). 

 13 U.S.C. 141(d).  

 Review of Interim Report by the National Academy of Sciences on Census Reform:  Hearing before the United States House Subcommittee on Census and Statistics of the Committee on Post Office and Civil Service, 103rd Congress (1993).

 Review of Interim Report by the National Academy of Sciences on Census Reform:  Hearing before the United States House Subcommittee on Census and Statistics of the Committee on Post Office and Civil Service, 103rd Congress (1993). Rep. Thomas Sawyer (D-OH). P.2.

 Review of Interim Report by the National Academy of Sciences on Census Reform:  Hearing before the United States House Subcommittee on Census and Statistics of the Committee on Post Office and Civil Service, 103rd Congress (1993). Rep. Thomas Sawyer (D-OH). P.2.

 The American Community Survey: A Replacement for the Long Form? United States House Subcommittee on the Census of the Committee of Government Reform, 106th Congress (2000).  
 US Census Bureau. "American Community Survey: Design and Methodology" (PDF). p. 2-1. Retrieved 2015-07-31.
 Alexander, Charles. “Still Rolling: Leslie Kish’s Rolling Samples and the American Community Survey.” www.census.gov. Retrieved 2017-02-06.
 US Census Bureau. “ACS Design and Methodology. Chapter 2: Program History.” www.census.gov. Retrieved 2017-02-06. 

Shel5136 (talk) 14:58, 19 May 2017 (UTC)