BILL ANALYSIS
SJR 28
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SENATE THIRD READING
SJR 28 (Kehoe)
As Amended August 16, 2010
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :22-9
JUDICIARY 6-2
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|Ayes:|Feuer, Evans, Huffman, | | |
| |Skinner, Monning, Saldana | | |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Hagman, Knight | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Urges the federal government to enact legislation, or
alternatively, to adopt Census Bureau policies, to include the
collection of data on sexual orientation and gender identity as
part of the 2020 U.S. Census and future census surveys.
Specifically, this resolution :
1)States that the federal government uses data collected from
the census for the allocation of federal funds, including, but
not limited to, funding for hospitals, job training centers,
schools, public works projects, and emergency services, and
that statistics based on data collected from the census are
used for a myriad of public benefit purposes, including, but
not limited to, quality of life issues and advocacy.
2)States that the number of representatives allocated to a state
to serve in the United States House of Representatives is
based on data collected from the Census.
3)Asserts that currently available census data is principally
related to same-sex couples, and the 2010 Census will be the
first census to release a count of both same-sex spouses and
same-sex unmarried partners.
4)States that, according to data from the 2000 Census, there are
approximately 5.87 million people in the United States who are
gay or lesbian.
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5)Asserts that the census discriminates against the lesbian,
gay, bisexual, and transgender community because it does not
currently include questions regarding sexual orientation and
does not have policies in place that identify and count
members of this community.
6)Asserts that the census discriminates against transgender
respondents in particular by failing to take into account
gender identity.
7)States that same-sex couples are raising children throughout
the country with significantly less economic resources than
heterosexual married couples, and that same-sex couple
families are significantly more likely to be classified as
poor than are heterosexual married families.
8)Asserts that if the census were to count members of the
lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community, the data
could be used to appropriately allocate resources and services
to this community just as it does other communities.
9)Urges Congress and the President of the United States to enact
legislation to have the 2020 Census gather data on sexual
orientation and gender identity.
10)Calls upon the President to encourage, and the Secretary of
Commerce to adopt, policies to include the collection of data
on sexual orientation and gender identity in the 2020 U.S.
Census and future surveys and censuses conducted by the Census
Bureau.
FISCAL EFFECT : None
COMMENTS : This resolution, sponsored by Equality California,
urges Congress and the President of the United States to enact
legislation to have the 2020 Census include data on sexual
orientation and gender identity. In addition, this resolution
calls upon the President to encourage, and the Secretary of
Commerce to adopt, policies by the Census Bureau to include the
collection of data on sexual orientation and gender identity in
the 2020 U.S. Census and future surveys and censuses conducted
by the Bureau.
According to the author, this resolution addresses the problem
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that arises because the U.S. Census Bureau currently does not
directly count lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT)
persons in the U.S. Census. As a result, the author contends
that: 1) the data gathered through the Census process do not
provide a mechanism that allows California to access appropriate
resources for the LGBT community; and 2) if the Census Bureau
were to count the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
population in the decennial Census, the data gathered could be
used to appropriately provide resources and services to this
community just as it does for other communities. Accordingly,
the author writes that this resolution would "put California on
the record in support for the inclusion of sexual orientation
and gender identity questions in the United States 2020 Census."
Section 2 of Article I of the U.S. Constitution requires a
national census to be conducted every 10 years, and a Census has
been carried out every ten years since the very first one in
1790 (which counted the U.S. population at that time at
precisely 3,929,214 persons.) The Bureau of the Census is an
agency within, and under the jurisdiction of, the Department of
Commerce, currently headed by Secretary Gary Locke. The
controlling law for the U.S. Census is Title 13 of the United
States Code, which requires a decennial census in every year
divisible by ten (i.e. 1980, 1990, 2000, etc.) that, most
importantly, is used to apportion members of the U.S. House of
Representatives to each of the states, pursuant to Section 2 of
the 14th Amendment. In the intervening years between decennial
Censuses, Title 13 requires the Census Bureau to continue to
collect current data about total population and population
characteristics of U.S. residents, and to publish and
disseminate this information for use by Congress, as well as
state and local governments.
To illustrate the point that Census data actually helps identify
unmet needs in a community, this resolution includes research
findings from a 2003 study conducted by the Williams Institute
(UCLA School of Law) indicating that, based on available U.S.
Census data: 1) same-sex couples raising children have
significantly fewer economic resources to provide for their
families than their heterosexual married counterparts; and 2)
same-sex couple families (as defined) are significantly more
likely to be classified as poor than are heterosexual married
families. If true, this Census data suggests a discrepancy in
the economic status of couples that may be statistically related
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to their sexual orientation, and thus a possible unmet need in
the LGBT population.
The same study estimated that, according to 2000 Census data,
2.8% of American men and 1.4% of American women identified
themselves as gay, lesbian, or bisexual-a total of 5.87 million
people. It should be noted, however, that the researchers had
to indirectly arrive at this figure because the Census Bureau
itself does not ask respondents to provide information on their
sexual orientation. As the author reasonably contends, the
inclusion of a question about sexual orientation will produce a
more precise and definitive answer to the very basic, yet still
unknown, question of "How many LBGT persons are there in the
U.S.?"
According to the U.S. Census Bureau website
( http://2010.census.gov ), Census data is used to allocate more
than $400 billion in federal funds to communities each year to
provide services and build infrastructure such as hospitals, job
training centers, schools, senior centers, and public works
projects. Without accurate population-based information about a
particular community, state and federal governments may simply
have to guess about what kind of resources are needed to serve
that community.
For example, the author asserts that more Census information
about LGBT communities would help benefit the U.S. Justice
Department in spending its resources that are intended to
prevent or respond to these hate crimes against LGBT
individuals. In addition, according to the author, the federal
government has several competitive grant programs that address
health and other issues that affect the LGBT community,
including National Institutes of Health (NIH) research funding,
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
(SAMHSA) initiatives regarding addiction and mental health
recovery and treatment, and Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
HIV and wellness funding grants. Census data would presumably
improve the chances of groups seeking to address these public
health issues to obtain some of this federal grant money. The
author also contends that private sector foundations, such as
the California Endowment and the Hewlett Foundation, would be
more likely to distribute their funds based on the use of Census
data - which is usually seen as objective and reliable - to
demonstrate the presence of existing needs in LGBT communities.
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Analysis Prepared by : Anthony Lew / JUD. / (916) 319-2334
FN: 0006080