The 2000 U.S. Population Census, which concerned privacy advocates with its intrusive questions about counting bathrooms is finished. However, in its wake the U.S. Census Bureau has marched in a brand new form—the American Community Survey (ACS)—along with plans to collect data every year instead of once a decade.

In 1992, the House Commerce Oversight Subcommittee asked the Census Bureau to create an annual snapshot of demographic information, so Congress can react to current trends instead of 10-year-old data. The Census Bureau has put together ACS as a pilot program in response to this request and has been given general authority to implement it under Title 13 by congressional funding.

Although ACS is also raising concerns about invasive questions and family privacy, federal law requires individuals to fill out and submit “the census form.” This report was created to help home schooling families discern their rights and responsibilities relating to census forms, particularly ACS.

What is the American Community Survey?

Conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, this survey is designed to provide accurate and up-to-date profiles of America’s communities every year. It started as a pilot program in 1992 and became fully implemented into the Census Bureau in 2003. The first results of ACS were released in 2006, and the use of the survey was included as an amendment to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 as part of H.R. 9, The Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006, which was voted into law on July 27, 2006.

ACS has replaced the “long form” and will be used in publication of the 2010 U.S. Population Census. In addition to counting the population, the long form obtains demographic, housing, social, and economic information from a 1-in-6 sample of households, thus facilitating administration of federal programs and distribution of billions of federal dollars.

The government has concluded that this long-form information becomes out of date too quickly. Bureaucratic planners and other data users are reluctant to rely on these statistics to make expensive decisions that affect the quality of life for thousands of people.

But the American Community Survey will provide annual results by collecting data from 15,000 residents in each of the 31 diverse sites around the country.

The ACS was implemented in the following three parts:

• Demonstration period 1996-1998
• Comparison sites 1999-2002
• Full implementation nationwide starting in 2003.

As listed on the U.S. Census Bureau website, the American Community Survey goals are to:

• Provide federal, state, and local governments an information base for the administration and evaluation of government programs.
• Improve the 2010 Census.
• Provide data users with timely demographic, housing, social, and economic data updated every year that can be compared across states, communities, and population groups.

In 2000, the Census Bureau sent a supplemental survey (ACS) that went to 700,000 households, 59,000 addresses per month around the country. The data will be released this summer.

This was Americans’ introduction to ACS. In the long term, the U.S. Population Census short form will continue to be used every 10 years. It will essentially become a political and redistricting tool.

Each month, the Census Bureau will randomly select a sample of addresses from its most current Master Address File (MAF) for the American Community Survey. The sample will represent the entire United States. No address should receive the ACS questionnaire more than once in a five-year period.

As planned, full implementation of ACS began in 2003 in every county of the nation. The survey includes three million households. Data is collected by mail and Census Bureau staff will follow up on those who do not respond.

Here is a list of the most recent actions of the Census Bureau in regards to the ACS:

• The latest development involves redistricting based on the American Community Survey in five-year increments (public law 109-246 from July 27, 2006)
• Those refusing to take the survey could be fined $100-$5,000 according to 18 USC 3571 and 3559 which amend Title 13 Section 221 of the USC.
• Violators within the Census Bureau of confidentiality are subject to up to $250,000 fine.
• Three million households will receive the survey every year—2.5 percent of population
• Those who do not comply will receive letter, then phone, then personal visit
• Summer 2006: Census Bureau released data for areas with populations of 65,000 or more people
• To view online results of the American Community Survey.

Is the American Community Survey Mandatory?

There is clear warning in the federal code about refusal to give information to a Census Worker. Title 13 of the United States Code Service says:

“Whoever, being over eighteen years of age, refuses, or willfully neglects, when requested by the Secretary, or by any other authorized officer or employee of the Department of Commerce or bureau or agency thereof acting under the instructions of the Secretary or authorized officer, to answer, to the best of his knowledge, any of the questions on any schedule submitted to him in connection with the census or survey . . . applying to himself or to the family to which he belongs or is related, or to the farm or farms of which he or his family is the occupant, shall be fined not more than $100.”

There are similar penalties for refusal or neglect to answer questions, false answers or even giving suggestions or information with intent to cause inaccurate enumeration of population, for owners, proprietors, companies, businesses, religious bodies, and other organizations. Under the interpretive notes and decisions on page 89 of Title 13 it says, “Refusal of defendant (citizen) to answer questions relating to population, housing, labor and health, none of which are unconstitutional invasions of privacy, subjects him to prosecution.”

The U.S. Code continues to clarify the questions you are required to answer. “(1) [W]ith respect to the answering of questions and furnishing of information, only to such inquiries as are within the scope of the schedules and questionnaires and of the type and character heretofore used in connection with the taking of complete censuses under the subchapters I and II of chapter 5 of this title.”

How does this apply to the new American Community Survey—which is not specifically authorized by Congress in the USCS? The Census Bureau asserts that it has authority to conduct this survey under Title 13 since ACS did replace the long form. They argue that the ACS is “a part of the census,” and thus covered by the general census language in the law. HSLDA is working on a legal opinion regarding this matter.

How the Census Tracks Your Location:

The Census Bureau maintains a national Master Address File (MAF), constructed by a computer match of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) Delivery Sequence File (DSF), the 1990 Census Address Control File (ACF), and the Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (TIGER) files. Thereafter, periodic updates from the USPS DSF, census surveys, and field-listing activities keep the MAF current.

The MAF can be created automatically for all areas that have city-style address systems where the mail is delivered using these addresses. For other areas that do not have a city-style address system, the Census Bureau creates a MAF by conducting an address listing operation.

The MAF will be used as a sampling frame for the American Community Survey, as well as all of the Census Bureau’s demographic surveys.

A critical element in the overall success of the ACS is the ability to keep the Census Bureau’s MAF up-to-date and accurate from year to year, especially in rural areas. The MAF serves as the main source of the housing unit sample for the ACS. In addition, the housing unit counts contained in the MAF play an important part in the editing, weighting, and data tabulation process. Thus, the overall accuracy of the MAF is a paramount concern.

The need for an up-to-date MAF spawned the development of a new program called the American Community Survey-Coverage Program (formerly called the Community Address Updating System). This program, which is currently under development, has two major objectives:

• To obtain address information about new housing units and add those units to the MAF; and
• To correct and update the existing addresses in the MAF.

Since the US Census Bureau has this MAF in place, this is how they conduct ACS:

• Uses the Master Address File (MAF), a complete listing of all residential addresses and group quarters in the country, for sample selection.
• Mails or delivers American Community Survey questionnaires each month to sample addresses.
• Uses commercial vendor lists to obtain telephone numbers for addresses that did not mail back their American Community Survey questionnaires and conducts telephone interviews.
• Selects a one-in-three sample of the addresses still not interviewed and conducts personal interviews.
• Provides customized samples for subpopulations of interest, by providing the ability to increase sample sizes in the American Community Survey, and by providing a vehicle for collecting data on supplemental topics for population groups or specific geographic areas.

Can the American Community Survey Information on Your Family Be Provided to Any Other Agency?

The United States Census Bureau claims that your privacy will be protected in conducting the U.S. Census and the American Community Survey. How is the privacy of the respondents protected? According to the Census Bureau, “the numbers we publish are combined with thousands of answers from people in your neighborhood and across the country. No one, except sworn Census Bureau employees, can see your questionnaire or link your name with your responses. In fact, the law provides severe penalties for any census employee that makes your answers known. By law (Title 13 USCS) the Census Bureau cannot share the individual answers it receives with others, including welfare agencies, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Internal Revenue Service, courts or police. The military personnel who help with the census on-base are sworn to protect the confidentiality of your answers. Anyone who breaks this law can receive up to 5 years in prison and $5,000 in fines. Millions of questionnaires were processed during the 1990s without any breach of trust.”

Title 13 of the United States Code Service (USCS) says:

“Neither the Secretary, nor any other officer or employee of the Department of Commerce or bureau or agency thereof, or local government census liaison, may, except as provided in section 8 or 16 or chapter 10 of this title;

1. Use the information furnished under the provisions of this title for any purpose other than the statistical purposes for which it was supplied; or
2. Make any publication whereby the data furnished by any particular establishment or individual under this title can be identified
3. Permit anyone other than the sworn officers and employees of the Department or bureau or agency thereof to examine the individual report.”

Is There A Religious Exemption in the U. S. Code?

The most significant religious exemption language in Title 13 of the United States Code guarantees everyone protection from invasive questions regarding religious beliefs:

“Notwithstanding any other provision of this title, no person shall be compelled to disclose information relative to his religious beliefs or to membership in a religious body.” This simply means that nobody is required to answer questions regarding his religious beliefs or church membership. The Census Bureau has informed us that they will not include any religious questions of this nature on either census form.