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1 [1] (February 11, 2022)

handle is hein.crs/govegao0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service Informing the Iegitive debate since 1914 Updated February 11, 2022 The Census Bureau Director Introduction On April 13, 2021, the White House announced President Biden's intention to nominate Robert Santos, a statistician and survey methodologist who at the time was president of the American Statistical Association, to be the new Director of the Census (informally known as the Census Bureau director). The Senate confirmed his nomination on November 4, 2021, for a five-year term. Mr. Santos was sworn in on January 5, 2022, and is the first bureau director of Latino ethnicity. The decennial census is mandated by Article I, Section 2, clause 3, of the U.S. Constitution, as modified by Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Census Bureau's history website notes that although the census has been conducted since 1790, a permanent Census Office was not established until 1902. Initially in the Department of the Interior, the office moved to the new Department of Commerce and Labor in 1903. In 1913, when Commerce and Labor became separate departments, the Census Office remained in Commerce. Census law is codified in Title 13 of the U.S. Code. Title 13, Section 21(a)(1), provides that the Census Bureau shall be headed by a Director of the Census, appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, without regard to political affiliation. Section 21(a)(2) stipulates that Such appointment shall be made from individuals who have a demonstrated ability in managing large organizations and experience in the collection, analysis, and use of statistical data. Section 21(b)(1) sets the director's term of office at five years, beginning on January 1, 2012, and every fifth year thereafter and specifies that an individual may not serve more than 2 full terms as Director. Under Section 21(b)(2), any individual appointed to fill a vacancy in such position, occurring before the expiration of the term for which such individual's predecessor was appointed, shall be appointed for the remainder of that term. The Director may serve after the end of the Director's term until reappointed or until a successor has been appointed, but in no event longer than 1 year after the end of such term. Section 21(b)(3) permits the President to remove a director and requires the President to communicate in writing the reasons for any such removal to both Houses of Congress not later than 60 days before the removal. Because the Census Bureau is a Commerce Department agency, the Secretary of Commerce has official responsibility for its functions. In practice, however, the Secretary delegates much of this responsibility to the bureau director. According to Title 13, Section 21(c), The Director shall perform such duties as may be imposed upon the Director by law, regulations, or orders of the Secretary. The director, in turn, may delegate some duties to others who are more immediately involved in, and more knowledgeable about, the bureau's detailed, day-to-day operations. Director's Responsibilities The broad responsibilities delegated to the director, concerning data collection, processing, quality control, confidentiality protection, and dissemination, are summarized below. Decennial Census The decennial census of population and housing, under Title 13, Section 141, is the largest and probably most visible of the director's responsibilities. The census is a count, as nearly complete and accurate as possible, of every person whose usual residence is in the United States. The constitutional reason for taking the census is to have an updated basis for apportioning seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Census data also are used to redraw legislative boundaries within states; to produce population estimates and projections; in formulas that help allocate federal funds, estimated by nongovernmental research at more than $1.5 trillion annually, to states and localities; and by subnational governments, businesses, nonprofit organizations, and researchers for many other purposes. American Community Survey Closely related is the American Community Survey (ACS), which the bureau implemented nationwide in 2005 and 2006. The ACS replaced the decennial census long form that, from 1940 to 2000, collected detailed socioeconomic and housing data from a sample of U.S. residents as the census was administered. The ACS is sent monthly to small population samples, and the results are aggregated to produce larger, generalizable samples. The survey covers more than 3.5 million households a year in every U.S. county and the District of Columbia. Quinquen nial Censuses The quinquennial economic census and census of governments also are under the director's purview. The economic census originated when, according to the Census Bureau, Congress responded to a rapid increase in industrial activity by instructing 1810 census enumerators to take an account of the several manufacturing establishments and manufactures they were to visit. The contemporary economic census is authorized under Title 13, Section 131. The bureau calls this census the foundation for measuring U.S. businesses and their economic impact. The census reaches nearly 4 million businesses, large, medium, and small, covering most industries and all geographic areas of the United States.