Ariz., Texas, Fla., Ga. Gain Seats

Thursday, December 28th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) â€” Arizona, Texas, Florida and Georgia gained two seats in the House, while New York and Pennsylvania lost two as the Census Bureau unveiled the first results from this year's national head count that will be used to reassign the 435 House seats among the states.

There were 281,421,906 Americans on April 1, 2000, the Census Bureau said Thursday. That was up more than 33 million from 1990 count.

In a surprise, Florida picked up two House seats, to 25, with a 23.5 percent population gain. Scientists had expected it to gain only one seat based on 1999 population estimates. Georgia also picked up two seats, to 13, with a 26.4 percent gain.

Nevada recorded the largest population gain, 66.3 percent gain over 1990, but picked up only one seat and will have three.

As expected, Arizona and Texas gained two representatives in the House.

Arizona had a 40 percent gain in population from the last census a decade ago, and will go from six to eight congressional districts.

Texas had a 22.8 percent population gain, and will have 32 House seats.

``Never have we been so diverse, never have we been so many and never have we been so carefully measured,'' Census Director Kenneth Prewitt declared in releasing the numbers that will reshape America's political boundaries.

The biggest losses in Congress will be suffered by New York and Pennsylvania, each losing two seats.

New York's population inched up 3 percent from 1990 but it was not enough for the state to hold its 31 House seats. Pennsylvania's population rose 6 percent but the Keystone State will drop to 19 House seats.

In a surprise, however, both Indiana and Michigan lost one seat each. Indiana will have nine congressional seats despite growing 14 percent in population. Michigan will lose one of its 16 representatives after a population gain of 6.9 percent.

Neighboring Illinois also lost a House seat with a population gain of just 5 percent, making the Midwest one of the bigger losers.

The numbers furnished new evidence of a trend that has been under way since the last count â€” growth in the South and West spurred in large part by an increase in Hispanics, and a movement of Americans to such economic hotbeds as Atlanta and Las Vegas.

The numbers will now be used by state legislatures to reshape political boundaries for House districts.

Highlighting the changes, Prewitt noted that Texas had displaced New York as the nation's second-most-populous state. California remained the largest with a population of 33.8 million, up 13.8 percent from a decade ago.

The shifts left the South with gains that exceeded experts' expectations, while the Upper Midwest consistently lost House representation.

North Carolina was among the unexpected winners, gaining one seat after recording a 21.4 percent jump in its head count. Two others to gain a representative were California and Colorado. Both had been expected after steady population gains over the last decade.

States suffering a loss of one seat included Connecticut, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma and Wisconsin.

Every state in the nation increased its population, with West Virginia recording the smallest growth at 0.8 percent. The District of Columbia experienced the only population decline, falling 5.7 percent.

The numbers landed on President Clinton's desk a few hours before Mineta and Prewitt made the public announcement.

``Today, I am pleased to receive from the Department of Commerce the first data released from Census 2000, our country's 22nd decennial census,'' Clinton said in a statement. ``Most importantly, I want to thank the American people for their participation in Census 2000.''

The Constitution says seats in the House must be redistributed fairly among the states every 10 years following the census. Based on an estimated national population this year of nearly 276 million, that means each House member represents about 625,000 people, said John Haaga, a researcher with the Population Reference Bureau.

The reapportionment figures are just the first numbers from Census 2000 that will have wide political implications. In March, the Census Bureau is scheduled to begin releasing more data detailing county and local-level populations that will be used to redraw congressional and state legislative districts.

``People have looked at those projections and have already begun to think 'Where can we add a seat? Where we can take a seat away?' ... Both parties are playing that game,'' said Tim Storey, redistricting analyst for the National Conference of State Legislatures. ``That's where politics and population factors come into play.''

The GOP enters redistricting in a much better position this year than a decade ago because of increased power and influence in state legislatures, said Tom Hoffler, redistricting director for the Republican National Committee.

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On the Net:

Census Bureau: http://www.census.gov

Election Data Services: http://www.electiondataservices.com/home.htm

Population Reference Bureau: http://www.ameristat.org/politicalâ€”arithmetic/