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1 [1] (February 19, 2025)

handle is hein.crs/govesnq0001 and id is 1 raw text is: The Census Bureau Director Introduct on On February 14, 2025, Director of the Census (informally known as the Census Bureau director) Robert Santos resigned from his position as director. Santos was nominated by then-President Joe Biden, confirmed by the Senate on November 4, 2021, and sworn in for a five-year term on January 5, 2022. At the time of this writing, President Donald Trump has not yet announced a nominee to be the next director of the Census. 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) states that the President may remove a director, and shall 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. Updated February 19, 2025 Organizationa Structure The Census Bureau encompasses several divisions: * Communications: leads internal and external communications for the bureau. * Field Operations: responsible for data collection and data processing of surveys and censuses. * Economic Programs: conducts over 60 monthly, quarterly, and annual surveys covering several sectors of the economy. * Demographic Programs: provides information about the size, distribution, and characteristics of the overall population of the nation as well as information on income, poverty, and housing. * Decennial Census Programs: oversees decennial census programs, the American Community Survey (ACS), and the bureau's geographic programs. * Research and Methodology: develops the bureau's practice of economic and social measurement. Director's Responst bltes 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