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Lawmakers Say Co-ops Should Count in 2017 Census
Pennsylvania Ag Connection - 05/25/2016

The co-chairmen of the Congressional Cooperative Business Caucus say the Census Bureau should account for the economic role of co-op businesses for the first time in 20 years, reports Electric Co-op Today.

Reps. Ed Royce, R-Calif., and Mark Pocan, D-Wis., asked Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker to include cooperative businesses in the 2017 Economic Census, which her office oversees.

"We believe it's in the best interest for Census to change data gathering in a way that enables more accurate and comprehensive identification of cooperatives directly," Royce and Pocan said in a letter signed by seven other House members.

"The next Economic Census in 2017 provides the perfect opportunity to again measure their impact nationwide," they noted.

The Census dropped a checkbox for "cooperative" in its Legal Form of Organization question in 1997. The deletion was a response to an interagency data-sharing agreement with the Internal Revenue Service that was supposed to provide information about co-ops.

However, those data sets do not directly identify co-ops, Royce and Pocan wrote, meaning that the Census might be underestimating the range of co-op economic activity.

"Given the unique niche that cooperative businesses continue to fill in the U.S. economy, it is unfortunate that so little is known about where and how they operate and the economic impact they make," they wrote. "As a consequence, there is no readily available federally reported data on cooperatives in the U.S."

In a separate statement, Royce cited his longtime advocacy of credit unions, mutual insurers and rural electric co-ops.

"I believe policymakers should have a better handle on how these organizations are building a stronger economy," he said.

Added Pocan: "To better advocate on federal policy issues unique to the cooperative community, it is vital we have ample data on this vibrant sector of our economy."

Other signatories included Reps. Ron Kind, D-Wis.; Reid Ribble, R-Wis.; Walter B. Jones, R-N.C.; Barbara Lee, D-Calif.; Steve Stivers, R-Ohio; Bruce Westerman, R-Ark.; and Robert A. Brady, D-Pa.


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