Valley Journal
Valley Journal

This Week’s e-Edition

Current Events

Latest Headlines

What's New?

Send us your news items.

NOTE: All submissions are subject to our Submission Guidelines.

Announcement Forms

Use these forms to send us announcements.

Birth Announcement
Obituary

Fedral court decides to extentend Census deadline

Hey savvy news reader! Thanks for choosing local. You are now reading
1 of 3 free articles.



Subscribe now to stay in the know!

Already a subscriber? Login now

News from the Office of the Governor 

MONTANA ­— Governor Steve Bullock and Lt. Gov. Mike Cooney applauded a decision by a U.S. District Court to extend the deadline for the 2020 Census to allow more time for a complete count of Montana’s residents and announced additional funding for Census outreach.

“A complete count in the 2020 Census is a foundational part of shaping Montana’s next decade,” Bullock said. “More time will help our state regain some of the ground we’ve lost due to COVID-19 to secure our fair share of federal funding for critical things like health care, schools and roads, and to ensure our local school and voting districts accurately reflect the people who live in them. An accurate count of our residents could even amount to more representation in our democracy for Montanans. I strongly urge the federal administration not to discount entire communities in rural states like Montana and let this decision stand.”

“We are pulling out all the stops to encourage every Montanan to make sure they’re counted in this once-in-a-decade opportunity, and we will take full advantage of every day we can get,” said Lt. Governor Cooney, who is the chairman of the State Complete Count Committee. “With all the goal-post-moving throughout this process, it’s critical to stay focused on what’s truly important: ensuring Montanans are represented at every level of government. And that starts with a complete Census count.”

Bullock also announced he is allocating $130,000 in Coronavirus Relief Funds to the Montana Department of Commerce to continue its expanded outreach efforts to reach low-response areas of the state, particularly in rural counties and tribal nations in Montana. In June, Governor Bullock directed $530,500 in Coronavirus Relief Funds to the Montana Department of Commerce to support Census promotion and outreach.

Bullock and Cooney urged U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in an August letter to uphold the U.S. Census Bureau’s commitment to a complete count following disruptions to the Bureau’s operations due to COVID-19.

As the fourth-largest state in the nation, with disruptions from COVID-19, and with more than a quarter of the state’s residents not receiving Census information because they get their mail at non-traditional addresses, Montana’s self-response rate to the 2020 Census lags behind most states. As of today, Montana’s self-response rate is 59.7 percent, compared to the national average of 66.3 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Including door-to-door counting by federal Census workers, the total number of Montana households enumerated so far is 91.9 percent, compared to the national average of 96.6 percent.

The federal government is responsible for conducting the count, while the state supports informing Montanans about the importance of the Census. Respond to the 2020 Census at: my2020census.gov or call 1-844-330-2020.

Sponsored by: