Legislation

Ideally, the Census Bureau would count incarcerated people as residents of their home, not prison, addresses. But states need not wait for the Census Bureau to change. They can take action on their own, as Delaware, Maryland and New York have done. To help other states, we've prepared:

• Annotated example legislation with some guidance on how to customize for your state.

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. Primary sponsor: Representative Keeley. Additional sponsors: Rep. J. Johnson & Rep. D.P. Williams & Sen. Henry. Cosponsors: Reps. Barbieri, Brady, Hudson, Mitchell; Sens. Marshall, McDowell
• 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.

Efforts in previous legislative sessions:

• New York: S6725A, AN ACT to amend the correction law, the legislative law, and the municipal home rule law, in relation to the collection of census data introduced by New York State Senator Eric T. Schneiderman, February 1, 2010 and A9834A introduced by New York State Assemblymember Jeffries, and co-sponsored by Assemblymembers Espaillat, Dinowitz, Arroyo, Rivera P, Heastie, Lavine, Benjamin, Kavanagh, Kellner, Boyland, Clark, Crespo, Glick, Hooper, Latimer, Peoples-Stokes, Perry, Rosenthal, Stirpe, and Towns.
• Federal: Rep Gene Green (D, TX) has introduced a bill that would require the U.S. Census, starting with the 2020 Census, to count incarcerated people as residents of their pre-incarceration addresses: H.R. 2075, April 23, 2009
• Rhode Island: Residence of Those in Government Custody Act [PDF] (H7833), introduced by Representative Joseph S. Almeida, February 25, 2010 and S2452 [PDF] introduced by Senators Metts, Jabour, Pichardo, Goodwin, and Perry, February 11, 2010
• Connecticut: General Assembly Bill No. 5523
• Florida: Senate 1386 introduced by Senator Bullard on January 26, 2010
• Illinois: Prisoner Census Adjustment Act introduced by Rep. LaShawn K. Ford, October 14, 2009
• Minnesota: An act relating to redistricting; requiring the exclusion of persons incarcerated in state or federal correctional facilities from population counts used for state and local redistricting, introduced by Senator Higgins, March 2010: S.F. No. 3097 and H.F. 3536 introduced by Rep. Champion
• Pennsylvania: A Resolution urging the United States Census Bureau to change its policy of recording the residence of incarcerated persons from the location of the correctional facilities to the last known home address of such persons, introduced by Representatives Cruz, Youngblood, Parker and Siptroth, January 20, 2010
• Wisconsin: Census Correction Amendment [PDF] to require that incarcerated people be excluded from the population base used for redistricting legislative, county, and other districts. Introduced by Senator Taylor, cosponsored by Representatives Kessler, Black, Grigsby, Turner and A. Williams, June 22, 2009. (press release [PDF])
• Oregon: Senate Bill 1028, sponsored by Senator Shields; Senator Rosenbaum, Representatives Holvey, Kahl, Kotek, February 1, 2010
• New York: S1633 introduced by New York State Senator Eric T. Schneiderman and Senators Breslin, Diaz, Dilan, Duane, Hassell-Thompson, Krueger, Montgomery, Onorato, Oppenheimer, Parker, Sampson, Savino, Serrano, Stavisky and Thompson An Act to amend the election law, in relation to the residential classification of certain incarcerated persons February 3, 2009, and A9380 introduced by Assemblymember Jeffries, and co-sponsored by Assemblymembers Espaillat, Dinowitz, Arroyo, Rivera P, Heastie, Lavine, Benjamin, Kavanagh, Kellner, Boyland, Clark, Crespo, Glick, Hooper, Latimer, Peoples-Stokes, Perry, Rosenthal, Stirpe, and Towns.
• Oregon: H2930, introduced by Representative Shields (D, Oregon); Representatives Bruun, Freeman, Greenlick, Kahl, J Smith, directing the Department of Corrections to collect home address information so the legislature can draw districts with inmates counted at their home addresses [PDF], audio from hearing, (.ram file, start at minute 28) March 2009
• Texas: Acts relating to the inclusion of an incarcerated person in the population data used for redistricting according to the person's last residence before incarceration. HB 672 introduced by Rep. Hodge in January 2009, and HB2855 introduced by Rep. Dutton, March 2009.
• Pennsylvania: H525 introduced by Pennsylvania Reps. Cruz, Youngblood, Myers, Wheatley, Caltagirone, Parker, Josephs, Swanger and James, Urging the United States Census Bureau to change its policy of recording the residence of incarcerated persons from the location of the correctional facilities to the last known home address of such persons , December 6, 2007 [PDF].
• Michigan: HB No 4935 introduced by Michigan Reps. Lemmons, Young and Gonzales A bill to require state and local governmental bodies to use census figures adjusted to reflect preincarceration addresses of persons imprisoned in this state June 19, 2007
• S1934 introduced by New York State Senator Eric T. Schneiderman, An Act to amend the election law, in relation to the residential classification of certain incarcerated persons January 29, 2007
• S2754 introduced by New York State Senator Eric T. Schneiderman An Act to amend the election law, in relation to the residential classification of certain incarcerated persons February 25, 2005
• HB 906 introduced by Illinois Representative Arthur Turner Prisoner Census Adjustment Act February 2, 2005
• HB 7338 introduced by Illinois Representative Arthur Turner Prisoner Census Adjustment Act October 22, 2004. Bill text
• Peter Wagner's testimony before the New York State Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment, March 14, 2002. Prepared testimony: in HTML or PDF format. Or read the Transcript
• H.B. No. 2639 drafted by Texas Representative Dutton An act relating to the inclusion of an incarcerated person in the population data used for redistricting according to the person's last residence before incarceration. (2001)
• Hrg. No. 106-39 -- Oversight of the 2000 Census- Examining the Bureau's Policy to Count Prisoners, Military Personnel, and Americans Residing Overseas. House Committee on Government Reform Committee Hearings, 106th Congress. PDF version with prepared testimony included. (1999)