HOUSE MEMORIAL 6

54th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2019

INTRODUCED BY

Tomás E. Salazar and Patricia Roybal Caballero

A MEMORIAL

RECOGNIZING THAT NEW MEXICO IS AT SERIOUS RISK OF AN UNDERCOUNT IN THE 2020 CENSUS AND REQUESTING SUPPORT TO CARRY OUT THE NECESSARY STEPS TO ENSURE A COMPLETE AND ACCURATE COUNT OF ALL NEW MEXICO RESIDENTS FOR THE UPCOMING 2020 CENSUS.

     WHEREAS, obtaining an accurate population count is so vital to representative democracy that the framers of the United States constitution addressed the issue of the census and congressional reapportionment in the opening paragraphs of the constitution; and

     WHEREAS, a decennial census is the count of "the whole number of persons in each State" in accordance with Article 1, Section 2 and Section 2 of the fourteenth amendment to the United States constitution; and

     WHEREAS, the decennial census is used to apportion seats in the house of representatives among the states; and

     WHEREAS, to ensure that the people have fair and equal representation, accurate census population counts serve as the basis for redistricting the state legislature, as well as regional and local governing bodies; and

     WHEREAS, accurate census data is vital to businesses deciding where to build factories, offices and stores and create jobs, to developers determining where to build new homes and revitalize old neighborhoods and to local governments planning for public safety and emergency preparedness; and

     WHEREAS, the census is a key source of data used in social science, health and environment research; and

     WHEREAS, billions of dollars of annual federal assistance are distributed to states on a per capita basis using census data; and

     WHEREAS, an accurate census count is absolutely vital to New Mexico insofar as the state benefits from as much as seven billion eight hundred million dollars ($7,800,000,000) a year in funding for fifty-four different programs, including medicaid, the children's health insurance program, the supplemental nutrition assistance program, Pell grants, community development block grants and highway planning and construction; and

     WHEREAS, certain population groups, referred to as "hard-to-count", are at a higher risk of not being fully counted in the census; and

     WHEREAS, a number of demographic and geographic factors contribute to New Mexico being especially vulnerable to an undercount, such as its large Native American and Hispanic populations, high poverty rates, immigrant populations and vast rural areas; and

     WHEREAS, based on the latest United States census bureau estimates, forty-three percent of New Mexico's population, or almost nine hundred thousand residents, live in neighborhoods designated as hard-to-count; and

     WHEREAS, being forty-ninth in the nation in the percentage of households with broadband internet access, New Mexico will be further exposed to increased undercount vulnerability due to a major United States census bureau change in methodology to rely on the internet as the primary way for households to respond to the 2020 census; and

     WHEREAS, in view of New Mexico's significant Hispanic and immigrant populations, the United States department of commerce's decision that a citizenship question be included in the survey is another new and distressing factor expected to discourage participation, further exacerbating the risk of an undercount; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico will be the state hardest hit by this unconstitutional attempt to suppress participation in the census that would lead to an illegal undercount of the population; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico loses at least fifty million dollars ($50,000,000) in federal assistance each year for every one percent undercount; and

     WHEREAS, the attorneys general from seventeen states, including New Mexico; the District of Columbia; six major cities; the United States conference of mayors; and other entities have brought a lawsuit against the United States department of commerce and the United States census bureau to block the addition of the citizenship question;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the house of representatives support the plaintiffs in New York v. United States Department of Commerce No. 1.18-CV-2921 (S.D.N.Y.) in the citizenship question lawsuit; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the house of representatives support a robust outreach effort to New Mexico residents through direct, in-person outreach in multiple languages; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the house of representatives recognize the need for resources to be made available for grants to tribal governments, city and county governments and nonprofit groups to support their own outreach efforts in their communities; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the house of representatives support the efforts of the state demographer to identify hard-to-count communities in New Mexico and that a system be developed to prioritize efforts to ensure that all New Mexicans are counted; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the house of representatives recognize the need for resources to be made available for computers and navigators to assist community members in filling out the census survey and for improving access to places with public internet access; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the house of representatives support additional outreach efforts to those who are homeless, living in poverty, living in rural areas without internet access and not fluent in English, as well as immigrant families and people of color; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the house of representatives support efforts to develop a strategic communications and engagement campaign to raise awareness of and promote participation in the census; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be delivered to the director of the United States census bureau, the secretary of the United States department of commerce, the governor of New Mexico, the attorney general of New Mexico, members of the New Mexico congressional delegation, the speaker of the United States house of representatives, the president pro tempore of the United States senate and the president of the United States.