The details of the FY2020 President’s Budget were released on March 18, which included a total request of $6.3 billion in budgetary resources to support the execution of the 2020 Census. Of this total, $5.3 billion was the request for new appropriations, combined with $1 billion of resources derived from prior-year unobligated balances.

March marks the official completion of the 2018 End-to-End Census Test with the delivery of the Prototype P.L. 94-171 Redistricting Data Summary File to the legislative leadership and official Redistricting Data Program liaisons in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico on March 28 and to the public on March 29. Enacted in 1975, Public Law 94-171 directs the Census Bureau to provide redistricting data needed by the 50 states.

The Census Bureau is now preparing to conduct the In-Field Address Canvassing (IFAC) operation within the Self-Response (Type of Enumeration Area [TEA] 1) portion of the nation—those addresses that will receive the 2020 Census invitation in the mail. The Census Bureau has established that fieldwork is required in 1,115,142 basic collection units (BCUs), which is 22.2 percent of all TEA 1 BCUs. IFAC is the process in which Census Bureau field staff visit specific TEA 1 BCUs to identify every place where people live or could live. They then compare what they see on the ground to the existing census address list and verify or correct the address and location information. They also add any additional living quarters addresses not already on the list. The IFAC operation is scheduled to take place from August to October 2019.

The push to hire recruiting assistants for early 2020 Census operations, such as In-Field Address Canvassing, has concluded. Overall, the Census Bureau is ahead of its recruiting goals. The transition to hiring recruiting assistance for peak 2020 Census operations, such as Nonresponse Followup, has begun. Recruiting assistants from areas where goals have been met are being redeployed to assist in others areas. Local media and advertising are also being used to recruit applicants. The recruiting assistants promote census jobs in assigned areas and in local communities, assist with locating free space with access to computers to assist applicants with online applications, and locate free space to hold operational training sessions.

The case regarding the decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census questionnaire remains under appeal and the Supreme Court has agreed to review the case with a hearing expected in April. However, the decision does not impact Census planning and operations moving forward. The Census Bureau continues with its plans to conduct the 2019 Census Test, which is designed to measure the operational effect of including a citizenship question on self-response rates.