Legislation was introduced in both the House and Senate on March 12 to make participation in the American Community Survey (ACS) voluntary. Census research shows that a voluntary ACS would be more expensive, less accurate and would significantly reduce the number of communities that would receive reliable annual estimates from the survey. The ACS is an annual, nationwide survey of approximately three million households. It provides timely data on the social, economic, demographic and housing characteristics of the U.S. population. The ACS replaced the Census “long form” in 2010 and eliminated the long waiting period for new data between each decennial census. What distinguishes the ACS from other surveys is that it provides these data for even the smallest geographic areas. Data from the ACS help determine how more than $400 billion in federal and state funds are spent annually. In 2012, the House passed an amendment sponsored by Representative Ted Poe (R-TX) to make responding to the ACS voluntary, by prohibiting both the Census Bureau and the Justice Department from using funds to enforce penalties in the Census Act that make survey response mandatory (see Memo, 5/11/2012). “The federal government has no right to force Americans to tell the government personal information that they are uncomfortable providing just because the federal government says so,” Mr. Poe said in a press release on the bill. “I have heard from countless Texans who are uncomfortable with the American Community Survey’s intrusive questions, but they feel intimidated and forced to participate because of the threat of a criminal penalty. Penalizing private citizens for not filling out a government-mandated survey is an abuse of government power.”H.R. 1078 and S. 530 were introduced by Mr. Poe and Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), respectively. The House bill was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The Senate bill was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Click here to read Mr. Poe’s press release.