2019-03-11-minutes-cds-study-session

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• Central Washington University • Ellensburg School District • Daily Record • Northern Kittitas County Tribune • Businesses • Community Groups • Church Community • Agricultural Community • Conference of Governments (COG) Washington State CCC On October 8, 2018, Governor Inslee launched a Washington State CCC which is chaired by former Governor Gary Locke. The committee is being staffed by the Washington State Office of . Financial Management (OFM). Information about the Washington State CCC can be found at hft s://www.ofm.wa. ov/washin ton -data -research/ o ulation-dem ra hits/decennial-census/2020- census-everyone-counts/coma lete-count-committees. Other Committees According to OFM, King County, Pierce County, Snohomish County, and Seattle have formed CCCs. A Yakima/Yakama committee has been formed to ensure that historically undercounted communities of color, low income, and underserved communities in south-central Washington are counted in 2020. More information about that committee can be found at: htt s://www.ofm.wa. ov/sites/default/files/ ublic/dataresearch/ o /census/2020/ akama counts. df. On February 26, 2019, Grant County Clerk of the Board of Commissioners, Barbara Vasquez, emailed clerks from all of the counties in Washington inquiring about whether those counties would be creating a CCC. As of March 8, 2019, Island County and Pend Oreille County are the only counties that have responded that they would be forming a CCC. Grant County will not be forming a committee. Timeline CCCs are forming now, and communities are being encouraged to form CCCs as soon as possible. However, there is still time to consider forming a committee. Committee work would be primarily focused from the fall of 2019 through winter of 2020, leading up to the beginning of the Census in March 2020. Lisa McLean, the state Complete Count Committee Coordinator from OFM, will be in town on May 29, 2019, to take part in a Census forum at Central Washington. Another timeline consideration is that Washington State is part of a multistate lawsuit challenging the Trump Administration's decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. A January 15, 2019 ruling supported Washington's position that a citizenship question should not be included in the Census. The U.S. Department of Justice has requested that the U.S. Supreme Court take up the case on an expedited schedule, skipping the Court of appeals. A hearing before the court is expected in April or May, most likely resulting in a decision in June. Challenges While there are benefits to the formation of a CCC, challenges would include allocating or obtaining funds for the CCC, as well as allocating staff time. Governor Inslee's biennial budget request includes $4.5 million to go to Census activities. This request was based in part on the need to build a field operation due to the grassroots challenge of the task. Therefore, some of this money may go to counties, but that won't be known until July.