For Immediate Release: January 4, 2000

PRESIDENT CLINTON NAMES CALIFORNIA LT. GOVERNOR BUSTAMANTE TO SERVE ON CENSUS MONITORING BOARD

WASHINGTON - Cruz M. Bustamante, California's Lieutenant Governor and the nation's highest ranking elected official of Hispanic origin, has been designated by President Clinton to serve on the eight-member U.S. Census Monitoring Board.

The bipartisan Board is responsible for monitoring all aspects of the Census Bureau's preparations for the 2000 decennial census, as well as its implementation. The Board consists of four members designated by the President and four by the Republican leadership in Congress. It issues reports every six months on its findings and recommendations.

"I am honored that President Clinton has seen fit to place his trust in me to help ensure that the nation has the most accurate and complete census count in 2000," said Bustamante.

"Cruz Bustamante is an excellent choice to join the Monitoring Board," said Presidential Co-Chair Gilbert F. Casellas. "He represents the largest state with perhaps the most diverse population in the country, and he has been very active on census issues." Casellas said he and fellow Presidential Board Members Everett M. Ehrlich and Lorraine A. Green would soon travel to Los Angeles to join Bustamante in reviewing the status of the Census Bureau's preparations in California.

Bustamante has been Lieutenant Governor since 1998. He was the first Latino Speaker of the Assembly and the first Latino elected to statewide office in California in more than 120 years.

Today's appointment recognizes the leadership role he has played in California on census issues. For example, last year, he proposed the creation of a California Complete Count Committee to help prevent a repeat of the 1990 census undercount. His working group developed a funding proposal of $24.7 million in state funds for census outreach activities. Bustamante worked with California legislative leaders to enact the proposal, which was signed into law by Governor Gray Davis as part of the 1999-2000 state budget.

On November 8, 1999, Governor Davis appointed Bustamante and several other California leaders to serve on the newly created California Complete Count Committee.

Bustamante's appointment to the Monitoring Board is effective immediately and extends through the remainder of the Board's existence, September 30, 2001. He fills the Presidential slot left vacant when former Presidential Member Tony Coelho stepped down last year.