State officials stress importance of Census count for redistricting

By Enrique Rangel
October 1, 2009

AUSTIN - Although Texas is expected to gain at least three congressional districts after next year's population count, the U.S. Census Bureau will have a hard time counting all residents because a small percentage of people, particularly in rural or impoverished areas, are difficult to account for, members of the House Redistricting Committee were told Wednesday.

"In many communities there is a mistrust of the federal government," Cathy McCully, chief of the Census Redistricting Data Office, told the panel. "It is important that folks understand that it is safe to take part in the Census." OAS_AD('Position3');

That is why it is important to spread the word that the Census is not only about counting people, but ultimately getting the proper political representation and the state's fair share of federal dollars, McCully and representatives of various advocacy groups said.

"It will be of paramount importance to count everyone," said Anna Alicia Romero of the San Antonio-based regional office of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

Romero said MALDEF has identified 13 counties where people are hard to count but none of them included a county in the Panhandle/South Plains region.

Rep. Delwin Jones, R-Lubbock, who chairs the 15-member panel, said Wednesday's hearing was a good start because the committee will hold a series of hearings throughout the state - including one in Lubbock - to get public input as to how the congressional and legislative maps should be redrawn in 2011 when the Texas Legislature is back in session.

"I thought we had a rather comprehensive report about the mechanisms of taking the census," Jones said regarding McCully's presentation. "And I think the questions from the committee helped bring out the importance of the Census count."

Rep. Harvey Hilderbran, R-Kerrville, for example, who has a large rural constituency, expressed concern that ethnic minorities, mainly Hispanics, would be undercounted, because of language and cultural barriers.

Responding to Hilderbrand's concerns and the concerns of other lawmakers, McCully said that the Census Bureau is not only going to have questionnaires in Spanish and other foreign languages but have enumerators - temporary workers who go door to door looking for people who didn't mail back a questionnaire - who are bilingual and know the area well.

The questionnaires will be mailed out in mid-March and the door-to-door count of people who didn't reply will begin in April, McCully said.

If all goes as envisioned the first Census data will be available to the House Redistricting Committee in December of next year and Texas should know for sure by February 2011 how many congressional seats it will gain, McCully said.

Although it is too early to say for sure, the two congressional districts in the Panhandle and the South Plains may have to expand because - unlike the rest of the state - most of rural West Texas has lost population during this decade, Jones said.

Also because of the population loss in more than two dozen rural counties, the region may lose a district in the Texas House of Representatives, lawmakers said. The Legislature will make that decision when lawmakers are back in session.

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TEXAS/ Count could have important impact on districts in rural areas of West Texas