HR 7109 — Equal Representation Act

changes in existing law made by 
the bill, as reported, are shown as follows (existing law 
proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets, new 
matter is printed in italics, and existing law in which no 
change is proposed is shown in roman):

 TITLE 13, UNITED STATES CODE

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CHAPTER 5--CENSUSES

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 SUBCHAPTER II--POPULATION, HOUSING, AND UNEMPLOYMENT

Sec. 141. Population and other census information

 (a) The Secretary shall, in the year 1980 and every 10 years 
thereafter, take a decennial census of population as of the 
first day of April of such year, which date shall be known as 
the ``decennial census date'', in such form and content as he 
may determine, including the use of sampling procedures and 
special surveys. In connection with any such census, the 
Secretary is authorized to obtain such other census information 
as necessary.
 (b) The tabulation of total population by States under 
subsection (a) of this section as required for the 
apportionment of Representatives in Congress among the several 
States shall be completed within 9 months after the census date 
and reported by the Secretary to the President of the United 
States.
 (c) The officers or public bodies having initial 
responsibility for the legislative apportionment or districting 
of each State may, not later than 3 years before the decennial 
census date, submit to the Secretary a plan identifying the 
geographic areas for which specific tabulations of population 
are desired. Each such plan shall be developed in accordance 
with criteria established by the Secretary, which he shall 
furnish to such officers or public bodies not later than April 
1 of the fourth year preceding the decennial census date. Such 
criteria shall include requirements which assure that such plan 
shall be developed in a nonpartisan manner. Should the 
Secretary find that a plan submitted by such officers or public 
bodies does not meet the criteria established by him, he shall 
consult to the extent necessary with such officers or public 
bodies in order to achieve the alterations in such plan that he 
deems necessary to bring it into accord with such criteria. Any 
issues with respect to such plan remaining unresolved after 
such consultation shall be resolved by the Secretary, and in 
all cases he shall have final authority for determining the 
geographic format of such plan. Tabulations of population for 
the areas identified in any plan approved by the Secretary 
shall be completed by him as expeditiously as possible after 
the decennial census date and reported to the Governor of the 
State involved and to the officers or public bodies having 
responsibility for legislative apportionment or districting of 
such State, except that such tabulations of population of each 
State requesting a tabulation plan, and basic tabulations of 
population of each other State, shall, in any event, be 
completed, reported, and transmitted to each respective State 
within one year after the decennial census date.
 (d) Without regard to subsections (a), (b), and (c) of this 
section, the Secretary, in the year 1985 and every 10 years 
thereafter, shall conduct a mid-decade census of population in 
such form and content as he may determine, including the use of 
sampling procedures and special surveys, taking into account 
the extent to which information to be obtained from such census 
will serve in lieu of information collected annually or less 
frequently in surveys or other statistical studies. The census 
shall be taken as of the first day of April of each such year, 
which date shall be known as the ``mid-decade census date''.
 (e)(1) If--
 (A) in the administration of any program established 
 by or under Federal law which provides benefits to 
 State or local governments or to other recipients, 
 eligibility for or the amount of such benefits would 
 (without regard to this paragraph) be determined by 
 taking into account data obtained in the most recent 
 decennial census, and
 (B) comparable data is obtained in a mid-decade 
 census conducted after such decennial census,
then in the determination of such eligibility or amount of 
benefits the most recent data available from either the mid-
decade or decennial census shall be used.
 (2) Information obtained in any mid-decade census shall not 
be used for apportionment of Representatives in Congress among 
the several States, nor shall such information be used in 
prescribing congressional districts.
 (f) With respect to each decennial and mid-decade census 
conducted under subsection (a) or (d) of this section, the 
Secretary shall submit to the committees of Congress having 
legislative jurisdiction over the census--
 (1) not later than 3 years before the appropriate 
 census date, a report containing the Secretary's 
 determination of the subjects proposed to be included, 
 and the types of information to be compiled, in such 
 census;
 (2) not later than 2 years before the appropriate 
 census date, a report containing the Secretary's 
 determination of the questions proposed to be included 
 in such census; and
 (3) after submission of a report under paragraph (1) 
 or (2) of this subsection and before the appropriate 
 census date, if the Secretary finds new circumstances 
 exist which necessitate that the subjects, types of 
 information, or questions contained in reports so 
 submitted be modified, a report containing the 
 Secretary's determination of the subjects, types of 
 information, or questions as proposed to be modified.
 (g)(1) In conducting the 2030 decennial census and each 
decennial census thereafter, the Secretary shall include in any 
questionnaire distributed or otherwise used for the purpose of 
determining the total population by States a checkbox or other 
similar option for the respondent to indicate, for the 
respondent and for each of the members of the household of the 
respondent, whether that individual is a citizen of the United 
States.
 (2) Not later than 120 days after completion of a decennial 
census of the population under subsection (a), the Secretary 
shall make publicly available the number of individuals per 
State, disaggregated by citizens of the United States and 
noncitizens, as tabulated in accordance with this section.
 [(g)] (h) As used in this section, ``census of population'' 
means a census of population, housing, and matters relating to 
population and housing.

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 ACT OF JUNE 18, 1929

 (Public Law 71-28)

 AN ACT To provide for the fifteenth and subsequent decennial censuses 
 and to provide for apportionment of Representatives in Congress.

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 Sec. 22. (a) On the first day, or within one week thereafter, 
of the first regular session of the Eighty-second Congress and 
of each fifth Congress thereafter, the President shall transmit 
to the Congress a statement showing the whole number of persons 
in each State, excluding Indians not taxed and individuals who 
are not citizens of the United States, as ascertained under the 
seventeenth and each subsequent decennial census of the 
population, and the number of Representatives to which each 
State would be entitled under an apportionment of the then 
existing number of Representatives by the method known as the 
method of equal proportions, no State to receive less than one 
Member.
 (b) Each State shall be entitled, in the Eighty-third 
Congress and in each Congress thereafter until the taking 
effect of a reapportionment under this section or subsequent 
statute, to the number of Representatives shown in the 
statement required by subsection (a) of this section no State 
to receive less than one Member. It shall be the duty of the 
Clerk of the House of Representatives, within fifteen calendar 
days after the receipt of such statement, to send to the 
executive of each State a certificate of the number of 
Representatives to which such State is entitled under this 
section. In case of a vacancy in the office of Clerk, or of his 
absence or inability to discharge this duty, then such duty 
shall devolve upon the Sergeant at Arms of the House of 
Representatives.
 (c) Until a State is redistricted in the manner provided by 
the law thereof after any apportionment, the Representatives to 
which such State is entitled under such apportionment shall be 
elected in the following manner: (1) If there is no change in 
the number of Representatives, they shall be elected from the 
districts then prescribed by the law of such State, and if any 
of them are elected from the State at large they shall continue 
to be so elected; (2) if there is an increase in the number of 
Representatives, such additional Representatives or 
Representatives shall be elected from the State at large and 
the other Representatives from the districts then prescribed by 
the law of such State; (3) if there is a decrease in the number 
of Representatives but the number of districts in such State is 
equal to such decreased number of Representatives, they shall 
be elected from the districts then prescribed by the law of 
such State; (4) if there is a decrease in the number of 
Representatives but the number of districts in such State is 
less than such number of Representatives, the number of 
Representatives by which such number of districts is exceeded 
shall be elected from the State at large and the other 
Representatives from the districts then prescribed by the law 
of such State; or (5) if there is a decrease in the number of 
Representatives and the number of districts in such State 
exceeds such decreased number of Representatives, they shall be 
elected from the State at large.