Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer sent a letter on Aug. 3 to the U.S. Census Bureau calling on it to confirm whether it plans to curtail efforts to obtain an accurate 2020 census count.

The decision has potentially devastating consequences for cities like Los Angeles with hard to count communities, Feuer said, and he is seeking an explanation from the Census Bureau about its decisions. Feuer’s action follows his announcement last week that the city of Los Angeles had joined with the state of California and others in a second lawsuit against the Trump administration alleging the president’s attempts to exclude some residents from the count is unconstitutional.

“We need answers right now. If recent reports on the Census Bureau’s plans are true, this latest move will make the census tremendously inaccurate, with disastrous consequences for our city,” Feuer said. “The stakes for L.A. are too high for this administration to be allowed to try, yet again, to undermine an accurate census count.”

The results of the census determine state representation in Congress as well as the distribution of federal funding. Recent reports indicate that the bureau is going to halt the collection of responses and its door-knocking program earlier than previously announced.

For information and to read the letter, visit.lacityattorney.org.