Texas Won’t Spend Money on 2020 Census – Should More States Cut Census Funding?

What’s the story?

• Texas officials have decided not to spend any money, or make statewide plans, for the 2020 constitutionally mandated headcount.
• As NPR noted, this is “despite the fact that the state experienced massive population growth in the past decade.”
• Other states, such as California, are spending millions to ensure they get a more accurate head count of their residents. The Golden State is investing at least $154 million in the 2020 census.
• In November, Texas Rep. César Blanco (D-El Paso) introduced legislation to create a statewide complete-count committee. It never received a hearing or any Republican cosponsors. Budget riders allocating $100 million for census outreach also failed.
• James Dickey, the Texas Republican party’s chairman, told Texas Monthly that he supports complete-count committees as long as they’re run by “citizen volunteers.”

“[The] overriding message for everyone should be to answer the survey completely and correctly.”

• The Texas GOP platform calls for “an actual count of United States citizens only.” (Texas Monthly notes that this position, which is similar to the national GOP platform, “would reverse not only Census Bureau policy but also 230 years of precedent.”) 
• "California is eating our lunch on the census," said Ann Beeson, the CEO of the Center for Public Policy Priorities in Austin. "And what that's going to mean is more representation and more dollars for California than Texas."

"Texas is already at a high risk of an undercount," Beeson added. "That is because we have a higher percentage of what are considered hard-to-count populations."

What do you think?

Should more states restrict funds for the 2020 census? Take action and tell your reps, then share your thoughts below.

—Josh Herman

(Photo Credit: iStock / liveslow)