Advocates To Rally For Census Funding In NY State Budget

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Advocacy groups will be in Albany to push the Cuomo administration to ensure that New York state residents are fully counted in next year's federal census.

The New York Immigration Coalition plans to rally Tuesday with lawmakers at the Capitol to urge Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo to include $40 million in census funding in his state budget proposal. The money would be used for census outreach strategies to ensure an accurate count.

Advocates say undercounting the state's population can result in losing billions in federal government aid.

Tuesday's rally comes a day after the state Complete Count Commission, appointed in January, held the first in a series of public hearings on the census.

Cuomo's office says funds for the census will made available, but a specific amount hasn't been released.