More money sought for NM census
$8M would be used to boost state’s readiness for 2020 count
SANTA FE — With just months before counting begins, the top budget official in Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s administration told lawmakers this week that more money should be appropriated to improve New Mexico’s readiness for the 2020 census.
Specifically, the additional $8 million being sought during the coming 30-day legislative session would go toward launching a state-level census media campaign and increasing available funding for the state’s counties and tribal governments.
It would also more than double current state spending on census preparation; the Legislature appropriated $3.5 million in a budget bill passed earlier this year.
“We have a lot of money at stake,” Finance and Administration Secretary Olivia Padilla-Jackson told members of a key legislative interim committee during a hearing this week at the Roundhouse.
Even a 1% undercount of New Mexico’s popu
lation during the U.S. Census could mean a loss of an estimated $780 million in federal funding over the next decade, Padilla-Jackson told lawmakers.
Currently, New Mexico gets roughly $7.8 billion annually in federal dollars from 16 programs, including money for Medicaid, food stamps, early childhood education and road repairs.
That makes New Mexico the third-most reliant state in the nation on federal funding, in terms of percentage of total state revenue, according to a recent Tax Foundation study.
The once-per-decade census count is used to determine congressional representation, federal funding levels and more. It will also be used to redraw New Mexico political boundary lines to reflect population changes via redistricting, a task that’s expected to be conducted in 2021.
New Mexico had the nation’s second-lowest participation rate in 2010, the last time the census was conducted, as the state’s rural nature, high immigrant population and infrastructure problems — including bumpy roads and limited phone connections — have long made it difficult to get an accurate head count.
In all, an estimated 43% of the state’s nearly 2.1 million residents live in “hard-tocount” areas, and several lawmakers indicated this week they would support the $8 million special appropriation request.
“This is our money that, if we don’t get a correct count, is going to go to other states or somewhere else,” Sen. Bill Burt, R-Alamogordo, said during this week’s meeting of the Legislative Finance Committee.
“It seems to me it’s the best investment we could possibly make,” said Rep. Javier Martínez, D-Albuquerque.
However, other lawmakers have questioned the characterization of “hardto-count” areas and pointed out some tribal groups, such as the Navajo Nation, already have their own census offices.
Two New Mexico counties — Lincoln and DeBaca counties — have declined available state funding for census preparation efforts, which is contingent on counties forming census committees.
However, Padilla-Jackson said both counties have decided to participate and are expected to send in their signed grant agreements this month.
Much census preparation work is already underway, as a state-level census commission created by Lujan Grisham in April is working with immigrant rights groups and tribal representatives to increase participation rates.
Meanwhile, the 2020 census will mark the first time that New Mexico residents — and those of other states — can respond online, though responses can also be entered by mail or by phone. U.S. Census Bureau officials have said that census workers will conduct some in-person interviews, though only as a last resort.
National census day, or the official reference day for census purposes, is April 1, 2020.