Did anyone else receive one of these? According to their web site, US Code Title 13, sections Section 141 and Section 193 your response is required by law.
In reality, those sections outline that The Secretary (who is presumably defined elsewhere) can take surveys as a part of their census process. It is Section 221 that requires you to respond:
Whoever, being over eighteen years of age, refuses or willfully neglects, when requested by the Secretary, or by any other authorized officer or employee of the Department of Commerce or bureau or agency thereof acting under the instructions of the Secretary or authorized officer, to answer, to the best of his knowledge, any of the questions on any schedule submitted to him in connection with any census or survey provided…
That’s just a crock.
Oh, sure, census information is useful and all that. It’s just the principal of it. I guess I’ll have to ask the nice lady who came to my door for some evidence that she is an authorized officer or employee of the Deparment of Commerce, or a bureau or agency thereof acting under the instructions of The Secretary.
Heck, I’d pay the $100 if it weren’t for Title 18, Section 3571 (allegedly Section 3559 as well, but that seems to deal with imprisonment and not monetary fines). With it on the books, the “not greater than $100” fine becomes “not greater than $5000” fine. That really blows.
Comments
718 responses to “American Community Survey”
What groups are getting this information once it has been submitted? I researched COSSA and this seems like an liberal organization using this information for their own purposes.
We are still getting the phone calls but nobody has been to the door.
I talked to a person locally and they told me that they had a census worker stop by their home and start asking questions regarding another person in our neighborhood. This is reminiscent of tactics used by either the S.S. or the KGB.
Gulfman
I really do think the ACS bothers you less if you never respond to it at all, rather than attempting to answer all or partial.
We didn’t respond at all (several months ago) and did receive other copies of it, along with tel. calls, and threats of visits and fines. Nothing at all lately. I did worry about the fine threats and it’s legality. So I e-mailed the Rutherford Institute (legal org. that handles cases of civil, and concerns about our constitutional rights. The response I got was very encouraging.
They affirmed that to their knowledge, no one has ever been fined. They also wrote that they have been trying for a long time to get a test case against the ACS because it’s unprecedented in its intrusiveness. They also request that in the event of an “unlikely fine” they be contacted immediately.
This makes me wish they had carried out their threats of fines, in order for it to come to the place where they would not only suffer from the bad publicity, but would be put out of business because it violates our constitutional rights. Bring it on!
Thanks for your blog and the comments. I’m feeling a little better now. Six months ago I received the ACS at the apartment I lived for only four months. The form says you still have to send it in even if you lived there for two months. Since I was moving out to another neighborhood and didn’t want to be counted twice so I ignored it. They sent a letter, a reminding card, then a second ACS. They said it takes 38 minutes to complete. I didn’t like the questions but I was intimidated so I filled out and sent in anyway. This “good citizen” is too honest.
Then I received the 10 questions head count which I think it’s reasonable and acceptable. I sent it in immediately. A few weeks ago I got the ACS in the mail. I was so upset!! I intended not to send in. But I just received another ACS! It’s enough to worry about job and paying bills. Now I’m scared to open the mailbox too. Don’t they know everything already and still keep wasting money sending useless stuff? Can you do something, please! Thanks!
Received another ACS in the mail since we didn’t answer the 1st one. Fully expect phone calls to start–thank God for caller ID. The govt. needs rename it–a survey implies voluntary cooperation. This felt more like an interrogation which turns out is mandatory.
Go back even further Gulfman. The ACS used to be the census long form, which has been around longer. It caused such a backlash during the last census that the CB thought that people would not return the census forms at all and therefore jeopardize the enumeration, which is the only reason for the CB to exist. If you want a real thrill, research the groups which get to submit the questions for the ACS. It should come as no surprise that there is a question about type of health insurance on the survey. I even found reprints of lectures that the CB gave to the UN about how to conduct the survey elsewhere while disclosing the data collected on us. I’m still digging up stuff after 3 years. Check out COSSA too.
Just received our second ACS. Thanks to everyone on this site. I live on a dead end in a small town with a serial killer (8 women) on the loose. I have children to protect, I’m not answering the door for anyone!!!
One additional point. For the folks who have not received one of these forms then you can see what the socialists in our government are trying to find out about you. The form can be found
“>online
Have a good time reading all these invasive personal questions.
In doing my research, I found out that this was started under the Clinton regime in 1996. It is done annually and not every ten years and they sample over 300,000 addresses per year.
Stand up for America! I am a patriot and will not be intimidated!!
We received the ACS in the mail after we had sent back the standard census form. The first one was shredded in my shredder. We then received another form. This form is a violation of the privacy laws and the U.S. Constitution. We have many telephone calls from the U.S. Census Bureau requesting that we fill this out and return it to them. The calls have come from all over the U.S. (Arizona, Indiana, and Maryland). We have received most of these calls on the weekend especially on Sunday evening. They have stated that we should immediately call back a toll free number with a case number that they have assigned us. We have Caller ID so we screen our calls and we have not spoken to the idiots calling our home. We will NOT return their calls!
I haven’t had anyone knock on our door as of yet. I did come across an excellent response in the form of a letter that I will be giving them. We have too much government control and I don’t normally respond to surveys anyway. I am posting the letter so you may copy it and hand it to the drones if they knock on your door. Hope this helps!!
To Whom It May Concern,
Pursuant to Article I, Section 2, Clause 3 of the Constitution, the only information you are empowered to request is the total number of occupants at this address. My “name, sex, age, date of birth, race, ethnicity, telephone number, relationship and housing tenure, work habits, financial information, personal information, mental condition, etc…” has absolutely nothing to do with apportioning direct taxes or determining the number of representatives in the House of Representatives. Therefore, neither Congress nor the Census Bureau have the constitutional authority to make that information request a component of the enumeration outlined in Article I, Section 2, Clause 3. In addition, I cannot be subject to a fine for basing my conduct on the Constitution because that document trumps laws passed by Congress.
Interstate Commerce Commission v. Brimson, 154 U.S. 447, 479 (May 26, 1894).
“Neither branch of the legislative department [House of Representatives or Senate], still less any merely administrative body [such as the Census Bureau], established by congress, possesses, or can be invested with, a general power of making inquiry into the private affairs of the citizen. Kilbourn v. Thompson, 103 U.S. 168, 190. We said in Boyd v. U.S., 116 U. S. 616, 630, 6 Sup. Ct. 524,― and it cannot be too often repeated,―that the principles that embody the essence of constitutional liberty and security forbid all invasions on the part of government and its employees of the sanctity of a man’s home and the privacies of his life. As said by Mr. Justice Field in Re Pacific Ry. Commission, 32 Fed. 241, 250, ‘of all the rights of the citizen, few are of greater importance or more essential to his peace and happiness than the right of personal security, and that involves, not merely protection of his person from assault, but exemption of his private affairs, books, and papers from inspection and scrutiny of others. Without the enjoyment of this right, all others would lose half their value.’”
Note: This United States Supreme Court case has never been overturned.
Respectfully,
Shannon,
I’m wondering if the CB might be deviating from the the 90 days because there are so many more CB field reps resulting from this being a census year. You should have been done at the end of April. The CB contact for the decennial census is different from the ACS. I had read that for the follow up for the census, the reps have a 7 contact maximum. Whether they stick to that is another matter. I’m still waiting for the reps doing the 2010 to visit me.
Maura,
I received my ACS February 1 and was celebrating May 3 when I had not received a call or visit; however, I got home from work the evening of May 3 and had “the envelope” attached to my door. He has visited 4 times in the last 13 days. He came last Saturday, so am expecting him to maybe show today. I just got home from work and he had not come yet and only my husbadn was home last week, so I am not sure of the time he came last Saturday.
So, to answer the 90-day question, my 90 days was up approx. May 3, but that is when my visits just began. It may different for oyu, since you have already received phone calls and visits. I have never gotten a phone call, but do not have a landline.
Good luck to you and I will keep my posting my visits until either they stop prior to 90 days from May 3 or in 90 days when I finally answer the door if I am home and tell him to take a hike right back to Portland. : )
Shannon