Zoe Lofgren: “Cities and counties cannot afford an undercount in the next Census. I know that from personal experience. Before coming…”

“Cities and counties cannot afford an undercount in the next Census. I know that from personal experience. Before coming to the Congress 3 years ago, I served on the Board of Supervisors for Santa Clara County for 14 years. We worked hard during times of declining county revenues to maintain vital services like health care for poor children. Every city and county needs an accurate Census that counts everybody in order to serve everybody, because each year Census data determines $180 billion in Federal spending. It helps determine money that goes into schools, transit systems, senior citizens' centers, and health care facilities. People do not disappear when they are not counted. When there is an undercount, as there was in 1990, local taxpayers end up paying for Federal programs. That is why lawsuits were filed in California after the 1990 Census by both Democratic and Republican local officials, because an inaccurate census is not fair to local taxpayers. In 1990, the undercount in the State of California was estimated to be over 834,000 people.”