87R5634 MAW-D

By: Dutton H.B. No. 1448

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

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.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 2058.002, Government Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 2058.002. EXCEPTIONS. (a) The legislature or the Legislative Redistricting Board under Article III, Section 28, of the Texas Constitution may officially recognize or act on a federal decennial census as adjusted under Section 2058.003 before September 1 of the year after the calendar year during which the census was taken.

(b) A political subdivision governed by a body elected from single-member districts may recognize and act on tabulations of population of a federal decennial census as adjusted under Section 2058.003, for redistricting purposes, as soon as those adjusted tabulations become available [on or after the date the governor receives a report of the basic tabulations of population from the secretary of commerce under 13 U.S.C. Section 141(c)]. This subsection does not apply to a political subdivision that was not subject to a statute requiring certain political subdivisions, classified by population, to elect their governing bodies from single-member districts under the preceding federal census.

SECTION 2. Chapter 2058, Government Code, is amended by adding Sections 2058.003 and 2058.004 to read as follows:

Sec. 2058.003. INCLUSION OF INCARCERATED PERSONS IN CENSUS COUNTS. (a) Not later than the next May 1 following the date on which the tract-level population counts for this state from the federal decennial census are released by the director of the Bureau of the Census of the United States Department of Commerce, the comptroller shall prepare and disseminate adjusted population counts for each geographic unit included in the census counts as provided by this section.

(b) Not later than June 1 of the year in which the federal decennial census is conducted, each state or local governmental entity in this state that operates a facility for the incarceration of persons convicted of a criminal offense, including a mental health institution for those persons, or that places any person convicted of a criminal offense in a private facility to be incarcerated on behalf of the governmental entity, shall submit a report to the comptroller with the following information:

(1) a unique identifier, not including the name, for each person incarcerated in a facility operated by the governmental entity or in a private facility on behalf of the governmental entity on the date for which the census reports population who completed a census form, responded to a census inquiry, or was included in any report provided to census officials, if the form, response, or report indicated that the person resided at the facility on that date;

(2) the age, gender, and race of each person included in the report and whether the person is of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin, if known; and

(3) the last address at which the person resided before the person's current incarceration.

(c) Each governmental entity required to make a report under Subsection (b) shall ensure that the entity collects and maintains the information required to make the report. The comptroller shall prescribe procedures that a governmental entity shall use to permit each person included in the report to indicate the person's race and ethnicity for purposes of Subsection (b)(2) in a manner similar to the manner in which a person not incarcerated would indicate the person's race and ethnicity for the federal decennial census.

(d) The comptroller shall request each agency that operates a federal facility in this state that incarcerates persons convicted of a criminal offense to provide the comptroller with a report including the information listed in Subsection (b) for persons convicted of an offense in this state.

(e) For each person included in a report received under Subsection (b) or (d), the comptroller shall determine the geographic units for which population counts are reported in the federal decennial census that contain the last address at which the person resided before the person's incarceration according to the report and, if that address is in this state:

(1) adjust all relevant population counts reported in the census, including populations by age, gender, race, and Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin, as if the person resided at that address on the day for which the census reports population; and

(2) eliminate the person from all applicable population counts reported in the federal decennial census for the geographic units that include the facility at which the person was incarcerated on the day for which the census reports population.

(f) The information required to be included in a report under Subsection (b) or (d) is confidential and not subject to required disclosure under Chapter 552. This subsection does not apply to information aggregated by geographic census unit that does not disclose the address of or other information that might identify an individual.

Sec. 2058.004. USE OF ADJUSTED CENSUS COUNTS FOR REDISTRICTING. (a) Each political subdivision of this state that elects any members of a governmental body from election districts, wards, or precincts that are subject to the one-person, one-vote requirement of the Constitution of the United States shall ensure that after redistricting each of those election districts, wards, or precincts does not vary from the average population of those districts, wards, or precincts according to the most recent adjusted population counts prepared by the comptroller under Section 2058.003 by more than five percent.

(b) A state governmental body, including the legislature, the Legislative Redistricting Board, or any state court, that redistricts any election districts subject to the one-person, one-vote requirement of the Constitution of the United States shall comply with the restriction provided by Subsection (a).

(c) A governmental entity to which this section applies may exceed the adjusted population restrictions required by this section only to the extent necessary to comply with federal law or the Texas Constitution.

(d) This section does not apply to any political subdivision or state governmental body before the comptroller makes the initial adjustment of census counts for the 2030 federal decennial census. This subsection expires January 1, 2032.

SECTION 3. This Act takes effect January 1, 2022.