CHA Pens Comment Letter Opposing Proposed 2030 Census Changes

The Connecticut Hospital Association (CHA) submitted a comment letter voicing serious concerns about the Trump administration’s proposed changes to the 2030 Census, which would exclude millions of noncitizens and eliminate questions about race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. CHA argues the U.S. Census Bureau’s proposed rule undermines the completeness, representativeness, and usefulness of census-derived data on which hospitals, public health agencies, researchers, and community organizations rely.

“Our central concern is that communities must plan for the people who actually live there. A community does not require fewer hospital beds, behavioral health services, schools, transportation resources, housing supports, or public health programs simply because some residents are excluded from a population measure. The people remain, and so do their needs,” CHA wrote, in part.

Among other changes, the proposal would redefine the criteria for establishing an individual’s usual residence, expand the use of federal, state, and commercial administrative records to determine residency and eligibility for inclusion in the congressional apportionment count, and potentially limit that count to U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents.

In the comment letter, dated October 30, CHA outlined the following key recommendations and revision requests:

• Maintain residence criteria that support a complete and accurate count of people living in communities.
• Reconsider the proposed residence framework and reliance on administrative-record criteria.
• Clarify and mitigate the effects on the Population Estimates Program, American Community Survey, and related statistical products.
• Retain race and ethnicity questions in the decennial census.
• Conduct and publicly release a comprehensive impact analysis.
• Consider implications for Connecticut hospitals and communities.

Click here to read CHA’s full comment letter.

Connecticut Joins Multistate Coalition Urging Bureau To Reverse Rule

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong joined a coalition of 24 attorneys general and two governors in submitting a comment letter opposing the proposed rule, calling the 2030 Census changes “plainly illegal” in a press release announcing the move.

The coalition argues the proposed rule would:

• Unlawfully exclude millions of immigrants from the census count.
• Undermine critical demographic data that states rely on to serve their communities.
• Jeopardize census accuracy by abandoning the longstanding usual residence standard.

In submitting this comment letter, Tong joins the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawai‘i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia as well as the governors of the Commonwealths of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.