Montgomery County Council members, County Executive Marc Elrich and community advocates called on the U.S. Census Bureau on Tuesday to withdraw a proposed rule they say would change who is counted in the 2030 Census. Public comments on the proposal are due Monday, Nov. 2.
The press conference came immediately after the County Council voted unanimously to approve a resolution opposing the proposed changes, according to the council’s Oct. 27 session recording. Elrich thanked the council for “passing this resolution” and said he and Council President Natali Fani-González had signed the county’s public comment, which a county news release said was submitted the same day. The event was streamed by the council.
What Officials Say the Rule Would Change
The Census Bureau published the proposed rule, 91 FR 57524, on Sept. 10. A later Federal Register notice extended the comment period from Oct. 13 to Nov. 2.
Fani-González described the rule as one that would exclude non-citizens who are not lawfully present, end long-standing residence categories used to count people in nursing homes, domestic violence shelters, homeless shelters, group homes and college housing, and rely on administrative records to determine legal status without a way for residents to correct them. She said it would also remove self-reported race, ethnicity and sexual orientation questions.
Elrich said the rule would count people “where tax records say they were, not where they actually live,” and said it would remove race and ethnicity questions for the first time since 1790. The recording did not include a response from the Census Bureau.
“Any one of these changes would take years to test, and all of them at once is reckless,” Elrich said.
Why It Matters
Speakers tied the count to money and representation. “When we don’t count everybody, that affects the money that we’re getting from the federal government,” Fani-González said, naming housing, food and health care among the services affected.
Elrich said Maryland receives $49 billion through federal programs that rely on census counts, and that local taxpayers would have to make up the difference if those dollars shrink. He also said one in three county residents was born outside the United States and one in seven is not a U.S. citizen. Those figures were stated at the event and were not independently documented in the recording.
Council Member Sidney Katz said, citing the National Association of Counties, that more than $2.8 trillion in annual federal funding across 353 programs is at stake nationwide. Council Member Laurie-Anne Sayles, who chairs the Health and Human Services Committee, said the county “cannot hold the government accountable for addressing disparities while weakening the data that helps us identify them.”
Artie Harris, chair of the Montgomery County Planning Board, said census data guides planning for parks, housing, transportation and schools.
The Constitutional Argument
Several speakers pointed to the 14th Amendment. “They didn’t say every citizen. They said every person,” Elrich said of the Constitution’s drafters.
Council Member Kristin Mink, who represents District 5, called the proposed rule “a white supremacist white nationalist agenda,” and said residents should take their concerns to the ballot box. Council Member Andrew Friedson called it “an aggressive assault on specific people and particular communities.”
Community Voices
The Rev. Tim Warner, senior pastor of Emory Grove United Methodist Church, who also described himself as director of community engagement for Habitat for Humanity Metro Maryland, said a census “is a civil rights issue” as well as a question of representation and resources. George Escobar, executive director of We Are CASA, said the organization took part in litigation over a citizenship question proposed for the 2020 census that reached the U.S. Supreme Court.
A representative of SEIU Local 500, who said he spoke for 23,000 workers, said removing demographic questions would make disparities harder to see. Phillip Alexander Downie, CEO of the Montgomery County Pride Center, said, “We will not accept invisibility as policy.”
What’s Next
Comments on the proposed rule are due Nov. 2 through regulations.gov. Elrich asked the Census Bureau to withdraw the rule and give the public more time, saying it should “count everyone once and in the right place.”
Fani-González said the effort is “not over.” Speakers urged residents to submit comments, contact their legislators and organize ahead of the 2030 count. Reporters were told questions would be taken after the event, and the recording did not capture those exchanges.
