AMERICA Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 181 To amend title 13, United States Code, to provide that the penalty for refusing or neglecting to answer a decennial census question shall apply only to the extent necessary to allow the Government to obtain the information needed for its enumeration of the population, as required by the Constitution of the United States, as well as the enumeration of its citizen and noncitizen populations, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 3, 2019 Mr. HUNTER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform A BILL To amend title 13, United States Code, to provide that the penalty for refusing or neglecting to answer a decen- nial census question shall apply only to the extent nec- essary to allow the Government to obtain the information needed for its enumeration of the population, as required by the Constitution of the United States, as well as the enumeration of its citizen and noncitizen populations, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Jan 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H181.IH H181 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 181 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Authorizing Moderated 2 Enumeration Responses Including Citizenship Acquisition 3 Act’’ or the ‘‘AMERICA Act’’. 4 SEC. 2. LIMITED APPLICABILITY OF CENSUS PENALTY PRO- 5 VISION. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 221 of title 13, United 7 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol- 8 lowing: 9 ‘‘(d)(1) The penalty under subsection (a) shall not 10 apply to any individual who refuses or neglects to answer 11 any question in a questionnaire, schedule, or the survey 12 commonly referred to as the ‘American Community Sur- 13 vey’ used in connection with any decennial census, except 14 to the extent necessary to allow the Government to obtain 15 the information needed for the enumeration of— 16 ‘‘(A) the population, as required by the Con- 17 stitution of the United States; and 18 ‘‘(B) citizen and noncitizen populations. 19 ‘‘(2) For purposes of this subsection, only questions 20 included on a decennial census short form regarding enu- 21 meration of the household and citizenship status shall be 22 considered necessary to permit such an enumeration.’’. 23 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 24 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to all schedules 25 used in connection with any decennial census of popu- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Jan 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H181.IH H181 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 181 IH lation, beginning with the 2020 decennial census, includ- 1 ing those returned before the date of enactment of this 2 Act. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Jan 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H181.IH H181 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS