Fair and Accurate Census Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4048 To modify the deadlines for completing the 2020 decennial census of population and related tabulations, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 23, 2020 Ms. HARRIS (for herself and Mr. SCHATZ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs A BILL To modify the deadlines for completing the 2020 decennial census of population and related tabulations, 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 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fair and Accurate 4 Census Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. CENSUS DEADLINE MODIFICATION. 6 Notwithstanding the timetables provided in sub- 7 sections (b) and (c) of section 141 of title 13, United 8 States Code, and section 22(a) of the Act entitled ‘‘An 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:29 Jul 07, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4048.IS S4048 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4048 IS Act to provide for the fifteenth and subsequent decennial 1 censuses and to provide for apportionment of Representa- 2 tives in Congress’’, approved June 18, 1929 (2 U.S.C. 3 2a(a)), for the 2020 decennial census of population— 4 (1) the tabulation of total population by States 5 required by subsection (a) of such section 141 for 6 the apportionment of Representatives in Congress 7 among the several States shall be— 8 (A) completed and reported by the Sec- 9 retary of Commerce (referred to in this section 10 as the ‘‘Secretary’’) to the President within 13 11 months after the decennial census date of April 12 1, 2020; and 13 (B) made public by the Secretary not later 14 than the date on which the tabulation is re- 15 ported to the President under subparagraph 16 (A); 17 (2) the President shall transmit to Congress a 18 statement showing the whole number of persons in 19 each State, and the number of Representatives to 20 which each State would be entitled under an appor- 21 tionment of the then existing number of Representa- 22 tives, as required by such section 22(a), and deter- 23 mined solely as described therein, within 14 days 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:29 Jul 07, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4048.IS S4048 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4048 IS after receipt of the tabulation reported by the Sec- 1 retary; and 2 (3) the tabulations of populations required by 3 subsection (c) of such section 141 shall be completed 4 by the Secretary as expeditiously as possible after 5 the census date of April 1, 2020, taking into account 6 the deadlines of each State for legislative apportion- 7 ment or districting, and reported to the Governor of 8 the State involved and to the officers or public bod- 9 ies having responsibility for legislative apportion- 10 ment or districting of that State, except that the 11 tabulations of population of each State requesting a 12 tabulation plan, and basic tabulations of population 13 of each other State, shall be completed, reported, 14 and transmitted to each respective State within 16 15 months after the decennial census date of April 1, 16 2020. 17 SEC. 3. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS FOR 2020 CENSUS. 18 On the first day of each month during the period be- 19 ginning on the date of enactment of this Act and ending 20 on July 31, 2021, the Director of the Bureau of the Cen- 21 sus shall submit to the Committee on Homeland Security 22 and Governmental Affairs of the Senate, the Committee 23 on Appropriations of the Senate, the Committee on Over- 24 sight and Reform of the House of Representatives, and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:29 Jul 07, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4048.IS S4048 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4048 IS the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Rep- 1 resentatives a report regarding the 2020 decennial census 2 of population that contains the following information: 3 (1) The total number of field staff, sorted by 4 category, hired by the Bureau compared to the num- 5 ber of field staff the Bureau estimated was nec- 6 essary to carry out the census. 7 (2) Retention rates of the field staff described 8 in paragraph (1). 9 (3) Average wait time for call center calls and 10 average wait time for each language provided. 11 (4) Anticipated schedule of census operations. 12 (5) Total appropriations available for obligation 13 for the census and a categorized list of total dis- 14 bursements. 15 (6) Nonresponse Follow-up, Update Enumerate, 16 and Update Leave completion rates by geographic 17 location. 18 (7) Anticipated schedule and completion rates 19 for Group Quarters (including Service-based Enu- 20 meration and Targeted Non-Sheltered Outdoor Lo- 21 cation operations), Enumeration of Transitory Loca- 22 tion, and Remote Alaska operations. 23 (8) Self-response rates by geographic location. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:29 Jul 07, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4048.IS S4048 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4048 IS (9) Total spending to date on media, advertise- 1 ments, and partnership specialists, including geo- 2 graphic and demographically targeted breakdowns of 3 the spending. 4 (10) Post-enumeration schedule and subsequent 5 data aggregation and delivery progress. 6 (11) Post-enumeration survey schedule and 7 completion progress, including anticipated schedule 8 for release of results from the coverage measurement 9 survey. 10 SEC. 4. PROVIDING BUREAU OF THE CENSUS ACCESS TO 11 INFORMATION FROM INSTITUTIONS OF HIGH- 12 ER EDUCATION. 13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi- 14 sion of law, including section 444 of the General Edu- 15 cation Provisions Act (20 U.S.C. 1232g) (commonly 16 known as the ‘‘Family Educational Rights and Privacy 17 Act of 1974’’), an institution of higher education may, in 18 furtherance of a full and accurate decennial census of pop- 19 ulation, provide to the Bureau of the Census (referred to 20 in this section as the ‘‘Bureau’’) information requested by 21 the Bureau for purposes of enumeration for the 2020 de- 22 cennial census of population. 23 (b) APPLICATION.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:29 Jul 07, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4048.IS S4048 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4048 IS (1) INFORMATION.—In carrying out subsection 1 (a), an institution of higher education— 2 (A) may only provide the Bureau with in- 3 formation requested on the official 2020 decen- 4 nial census of population form; and 5 (B) may not provide any information to 6 the Bureau on the immigration or citizenship 7 status of any individual. 8 (2) NOTICE REQUIRED.— 9 (A) IN GENERAL.—Before providing infor- 10 mation to the Bureau under subsection (a), an 11 institution of higher education shall— 12 (i) give public notice of the categories 13 of information that the institution plans to 14 provide; and 15 (ii) allow 10 days after giving public 16 notice for a student to inform the institu- 17 tion that any or all of the information des- 18 ignated may not be released without the 19 prior consent of the student. 20 (B) PROHIBITION.—An institution of high- 21 er education may not provide the Bureau with 22 the information of any student who has ob- 23 jected to the provision of that information 24 under subparagraph (A). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:29 Jul 07, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4048.IS S4048 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 4048 IS (3) USE OF INFORMATION.—Information pro- 1 vided to the Bureau under subsection (a) may only 2 be used for the purposes of enumeration for the 3 2020 decennial census of population. 4 (c) DEFINITION OF INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDU- 5 CATION.—In this section, the term ‘‘institution of higher 6 education’’ has the meaning given the term in section 102 7 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002). 8 (d) SUNSET.—The authority under this section shall 9 expire at the conclusion of 2020 decennial census oper- 10 ations. 11 SEC. 5. LIMITATION. 12 The Bureau of the Census may not compile, produce, 13 or publish any data product or tabulation as part of, in 14 combination with, or in connection with, the 2020 decen- 15 nial census of population or any such census data pro- 16 duced under section 141(c) of title 13, United States 17 Code, that includes topics specific to the 2020 decennial 18 census that were not part of— 19 (1) the report submitted under section 20 141(f)(1) of that title on March 28, 2017; and 21 (2) the 2018 End-to-End Census Test con- 22 ducted in Providence County, Rhode Island. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:29 Jul 07, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4048.IS S4048 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 4048 IS SEC. 6. FUNDING. 1 (a) APPROPRIATION.—There is appropriated to the 2 Bureau of the Census, out of amounts in the Treasury 3 not otherwise appropriated, for additional amounts for 4 ‘‘Periodic Censuses and Programs’’, $400,000,000 for fis- 5 cal year 2020, to remain available through fiscal year 6 2021. 7 (b) USE OF FUNDS.—The amounts made available 8 under subsection (a) shall be used to address the impacts 9 of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID–19) on the 2020 10 decennial census, and to support enhanced 2020 decennial 11 census activities, including— 12 (1) additional mailings to households that have 13 not self-responded; 14 (2) expanded communications and advertising 15 targeted to low self-response communities in rural 16 and urban areas, Native villages, and on Tribal 17 lands; 18 (3) targeted outreach to the location of the 19 2018 End-to-End Census Test; 20 (4) increased in-language outreach and assist- 21 ance; 22 (5) expanded Census Questionnaire Assistance 23 capacity; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:29 Jul 07, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4048.IS S4048 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 4048 IS (6) expanded field operations to enumerate peo- 1 ple experiencing homelessness at service-based facili- 2 ties and non-sheltered locations; and 3 (7) a modified Questionnaire Assistance Center 4 operation that includes mobile and fixed locations of- 5 fering assistance across all modes of census re- 6 sponse. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:29 Jul 07, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4048.IS S4048 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS