The Inside Scoop from the Senate Democrats
If 100% of U.S. households mailed back their forms, taxpayers would save $1.5 BILLION dollars. As of March 31, Indiana’s participation rate in the US Census had reached 54%.
Track Indiana’s participation rate at 2010.census.gov
Read 25 reasons why participation in the Census is important in our earlier blog post.
Senate Democrat Leader Vi Simpson (D-Ellettsville) released the following statement in response to the Indiana Attorney General’s announcement that the state will be joining a legal challenge to the recently passed national health care law.
“This comes at a time when the state is in the position of making some very serious budget cuts for public schools and for our universities. Even yesterday there was an announcement made that we are going to cut further services to foster children with special needs. There is great irony during this time in our state’s history that we are going to be wasting taxpayer dollars on a lawsuit that most legal authorities believe is pretty hopeless and some have even called it frivolous. We need that money to provide services to people and to educate our children.
“If the Attorney General wants to do something important for the people of Indiana, it seems like he ought to be spending his time and his resources on collecting the $200 million that we are owed from IBM and the contract that they had with the state to provide FSSA services. They failed in providing those services and the contract is null and void, therefore they should repay all of the money that has been paid to them. The Attorney General should be pursuing that, which would be a real asset for the taxpayers of the state instead of wasting time and resources on this.
“I would ask the Attorney General, which parts of the health care plan do you really want to do away with? Is it the expansion of healthcare access for 700,000 people in Indiana or is it the regulation of insurance companies that you object to?”
Listen to the full audio of Senator Simpson’s statement:
Listen to an audio clip of her statement regarding the state’s fiscal condition:
Listen to an audio clip of her statement regarding the IBM contract:
The state announced Friday morning that Indiana’s seasonally-adjusted preliminary unemployment rate for February 2010 was 9.8%, up 0.1 % from January.
According to the Indiana Dept. of Workforce Development (DWD) press release:
Seasonally-adjusted total non-farm employment in Indiana increased by 1,500 in February. Sectors reporting employment increases include: Professional and Business Services (5,400), Private Health and Education (2,200), Manufacturing (1,800), Trade, Transportation and Utilities (1,400), and Leisure and Hospitality (1,100). Sectors reporting employment declines include: Government (-6,600), Construction (-1,900), and Other Services (-1,500).
Indiana remains the only state of its neighbors that has an unemployment rate below 10%, and the only state in the U.S. to report year-to-year unemployment growing less than one percent.
Also available from DWD:
Hoosiers are encouraged to complete and return their U.S. Census forms this month. The federal census is conducted every 10 years, and accurate census counts are important to our daily lives for many reasons.
Census forms are being delivered to every household in the country. Residents are asked to answer 10 short questions and mail the form back in the postage-paid envelope that has been provided.
The census is important for collecting data that will help communities in numerous ways and with only 10 questions, the 2010 census is the shortest to date.
25 Reasons the Census Matters:
1. Decision-making at all levels of government (including where district lines are drawn)
2. Distribution of over $400B in federal funds
3. Rural development, land use and urban planning
4. Forecasting population trends
5. Creating plans for hospitals and maps for emergency services to households
6. Delivering goods and services to local markets
7. Planning public transportation projects
8. Attracting new businesses to an area
9. Designing public safety strategies
10. Researching school projects
11. Developing assistance programs for low-income families and directing funds to services for people living in poverty
12. Monitoring economic trends
13. Charting local demographic changes
14. Understanding local and regional labor supplies
15. Forecasting future housing needs
16. Locating factory sites and distribution centers
17. Designing facilities for the elderly, children and people with disabilities
18. Geneological and historical research
19. Establishing baseline demographics for medical research
20. Estimating the number of people displaced by natural disasters
21. Assessing the potenital for spread of communicable diseases
22. Locating areas eligible for federal housing assistance and rehab loans
23. Comparing progress between different geographic areas
24. Scientific research
25. Setting community goals
Census forms do NOT ask for Social Security numbers, bank accounts or other personal information. If you receive requests for this information, contact the Census Bureau immediately by calling 1-800-865-6384.
For more information on the 2010 Census, visit www.2010.census.gov and www.census.indiana.edu.
