■ A few states are spurning creation of a group to promote the 2020 census.

Panels to ensure full counts face resistance

ORLANDO, Fla. — With billions in federal aid and seats in Congress at stake, some states are dragging their feet in carrying out one of the Census Bureau’s chief recommendations for making sure everyone is counted during the 2020 census.

Five states — Florida, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Dakota and Texas — have not set up “complete count committees,” which would create public awareness campaigns to encourage people to fill out the questionnaires.

In some of those states, politicians argued that a statewide body would be unnecessary because local committees, cities and nonprofit organizations are already working to publicize the census.

Six states — Iowa, Maine, Tennessee, Vermont, West Virginia and Wisconsin — got on board only in the past several weeks.

Officials say the committees can separate census winners from losers.

“Complete count committees are extremely effective,” said Albert Fontenot, an associate director at the Census Bureau. “It’s in the states’ interests in that they get a funding flow and congressional seats.”

In Texas, a measure to create a committee died in the GOP-dominated Legislature earlier this year even though the second-most populous state has the most to gain from the census: up to three congressional seats.

Some Texas lawmakers were worried about losing their seats during redistricting if population surges favoring Democrats were found in urban and suburban areas, said Luis Figueroa, legislative and policy director at the Center for Public Policy Priorities in Austin.

Also, at the time, the Trump administration was pushing to add a citizenship question to the census form, and some lawmakers didn’t want to take a stand on the issue by promoting the census, he said. The Supreme Court later blocked the question.

California, which stands to lose a seat in Congress, is spending $4.73 per person, using the money to target certain ethnic communities, provide educational materials to schools and identify community leaders who can personally encourage participation in the most populous state.

Spending on outreach offers a great return on investment, said Ditas Katague, director of the California Complete Count-Census 2020 Office.

Nati Harnik The Associated Press file Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts vetoed a bill to create a complete count committee for the 2020 census, saying the legislation would have given a University of Nebraska program authority to create the panel without guidance from the state.