Legislation

State and local governments need not wait for the Census Bureau to change where incarcerated people are counted to end prison-based gerrymandering. They can take action on their own. On this page, we provide some model legislation, and links to enacted, currently pending, and previously introduced legislation. See also our resolutions page for non-binding resolutions.

Model legislation

Enacted legislation

  • Delaware: House Bill # 384, An Act To Amend Title 29 of the Delaware Code Relating to State Government, passed unanimously by the Delaware House, June 1, 2010, and 17-3 in the Delaware Senate, June 30, 2010. Signed by the Governor August 31, 2010, Primary sponsor: Representative Keeley. Additional sponsors: Rep. J. Johnson & Rep. D.P. Williams & Sen. Henry. Cosponsors: Reps. Barbieri, Brady, Hudson, Mitchell; Sens. Marshall, McDowell. Amended May 13, 2011.
  • Maryland: No Representation Without Population Act, introduced in the House of Delegates by Delegate Pena-Melnyk as HB496 and in the Senate by Senator Pugh as SB400, January 29, 2010. Signed by the governor, April 13, 2010.
  • New York's bill to end prison-based gerrymandering was attached as part XX of the revenue budget (A9710D/S6610C) and had a technical amendment, A11597/S8415. The Bill and the amendment passed the Assembly on July 1, and the Senate on August 3, 2010. Both were signed by the governor on August 11, 2010.
  • California: AB 420, An act to add Section 21003 to the Elections Code, relating to redistricting, introduced by Assembly Member Davis, February 14, 2011. The bill passed the Assembly on June 1 and the Senate on August 30, and was signed by the governor on October 7, 2011.
  • Essex County, New York: More than a hundred rural counties and municipalities around the country refuse to engage in prison-based gerrymandering when drawing their local district lines, but to our knowledge Essex County Local Law No 1 of 2003 is the only one to put their rationale directly the law's text.
  • Colorado: Senate Bill 02-007 Concerning County Commissioner Redistricting, sponsored by Senator Hillman, and Representatives Kester, Garcia, and Hoppe, and approved by the Governor on March 27, 2002, prohibits counties from using prison populations when drawing county commissioner districts.
  • Michigan: Statutory requirements for redistricting prevent state prison populations from skewing either county (Mich. Comp. Laws § 46.404(g)) or municipal (Mich. Comp. Laws § 117.27a (5)) democracy. The statutes provide that the district population cannot include anyone in a state institution who is not a resident of the city or county for election purposes.
  • Virginia: HB 13 Redistricting local districts; local government may exclude prison populations from its calculation, prefiled by Delegate Riley E. Ingram, December 2, 2011, passed unanimously by both the House and Senate in February 2012, and signed into law by the Governor on March 23, 2012. (For our analysis, see Virginia bill would help counties avoid prison-based gerrymandering.)

Pending legislation

  • California: AB 1986, An act to amend Section 21003 of the Elections Code, relating to redistricting, introduced by Assembly Member Davis, amended March 29, 2012. Passed the Assembly on May 7, 2012. (The bill would amend the law that passed last year, adding privacy protections and covering people incarcerated in federal facilities, a full bill analysis is available from the Assembly Committee on Elections and Redistricting.)
  • New Jersey: S1055, "requir[ing] incarcerated individual from State to be counted at residential address for legislative redistricting purposes", introduced by Senator Sandra Cunningham, January, 2012.
  • Rhode Island: H 7090 Residence of Those in Government Custody Act, introduced by Representatives Williams, Cimini, Handy, Slater, and McCauley, January 11, 2012 and S 2218, introduced by Senators Metts, and Pichardo, January 24, 2012.

Efforts in previous legislative sessions: