[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 919 Introduced in House (IH)]







104th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 919

To amend title 13, United States Code, to require that the Secretary of 
  Commerce produce and publish, at least every 2 years, current data 
       relating to the incidence of poverty in the United States.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 13, 1995

  Mr. Sawyer introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
              Committee on Government Reform and Oversight

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend title 13, United States Code, to require that the Secretary of 
  Commerce produce and publish, at least every 2 years, current data 
       relating to the incidence of poverty in the United States.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Poverty Data Improvement Act''.

SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that--
            (1) more than $20,000,000,000 is provided to State and 
        local governments each year, under various Federal programs, 
        based on data relating to income and poverty status;
            (2) the infrequency with which such data are collected 
        diminishes their reliability and usefulness for public policy 
        purposes;
            (3) the relative lack of intercensal data can prevent 
        Federal funds from reaching those populations that are in 
        greatest need, as reflected in the dramatic and often 
        unforeseen shifts in the way Federal funds are reallocated 
        following each decennial census;
            (4) the more frequent collection of data relating to income 
        and poverty status would allow policymakers to target scarce 
        program funds more effectively and in a more timely fashion; 
        and
            (5) the cost of producing the data needed to achieve the 
        ends described in paragraph (4) would be small compared to the 
        amounts that are distributed based on such data.

SEC. 3. REQUIREMENT.

    (a) In General.--Subchapter IV of chapter 5 of title 13, United 
States Code, is amended by inserting after section 181 the following:
``Sec. 181a. Data relating to poverty
    ``(a) The Secretary, to the extent feasible, shall produce and 
publish for each State, county, and local unit of general purpose 
government for which data are compiled in the most recent census of 
population taken under section 141(a), and for each school district, 
data relating to the incidence of poverty. Such data may be produced by 
means of sampling, estimation, or any other method that the Secretary 
determines will produce current, comprehensive, and reliable data.
    ``(b) Data under this section--
            ``(1) shall include--
                    ``(A) for each school district, the number of 
                children age 5 to 17, inclusive, in families below the 
                poverty level; and
                    ``(B) for each State and county referred to in 
                subsection (a), the number of individuals age 65 or 
                over below the poverty level; and
            ``(2) shall be published--
                    ``(A) in 1996 in the case of each State, county, 
                and local unit of general purpose government referred 
                to in subsection (a) and at least every second year 
                thereafter; and
                    ``(B) in 1998 in the case of each school district 
                and at least every second year thereafter.
    ``(c)(1) If reliable data could not otherwise be produced, the 
Secretary may, for purposes of subsection (b)(1)(A), aggregate school 
districts, but only to the extent necessary to achieve reliability.
    ``(2) Any data produced under this subsection shall be 
appropriately identified and shall be accompanied by a detailed 
explanation as to how and why aggregation was used (including the 
measures taken to minimize any such aggregation).
    ``(d) If the Secretary is unable to produce and publish the data 
required under this section for any State, county, local unit of 
general purpose government, or school district in any year specified in 
subsection (b)(2), a report shall be submitted by the Secretary to the 
President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of 
Representatives, not later than 90 days before the commencement of the 
following year, enumerating each government or school district excluded 
and giving the reasons for the exclusion.
    ``(e) In carrying out this section, the Secretary shall use the 
same criteria relating to poverty as were used in compiling the then 
most recent census of population taken under section 141(a) (subject to 
such periodic adjustments as may be necessary to compensate for 
inflation and other similar factors).''.
    (b) Conforming Amendment.--The table of sections for chapter 5 of 
title 13, United States Code, is amended by inserting after the item 
relating to section 181 the following:

``181a. Data relating to poverty.''.
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