Every ten years, the constitutionally-mandated U.S. Census is taken with the goal of counting every individual living in the United States – a goal complicated by the increasing difficulty of counting some minorities, immigrants, and other groups. This presents a challenge to states with large, urban centers like New York because Census results determine the size of states’ congressional delegations and the levels of federal funding states receive for other programs.

On April 3rd, the Democratic-controlled New York Legislature passed a state budget that provides $2 million in state funding to ensure the accuracy of the U.S. Census.

It’s unusual to see state governments subsidize exclusively federal government functions, but with the stakes so high, Democrats argue that state Census funding will pay off for New York:

Lawmakers who represent districts with a significant number of minority voters or immigrants say they've long known worried about the Census, contending their communities have been undercounted.

Sen. Bill Perkins, a Harlem Democrat who has not only African-Americans but West Africans, Haitian and Mexicans in his district, said he believes past censuses may have undercounted as many as 40 percent of the people in his neighborhoods. Indeed, Democrats and minority lawmakers claimed the Bush Administration fostered such undercounts.

Jeffrey Wice, a special counsel to Senate Democrats and veteran of several redistricting fights, said the state may have been undercounted by up to 250,000 people in the past two censuses.

The state money will be used primarily for outreach campaigns encouraging traditionally undercounted New Yorkers to participate in the Census.