Fair and Accurate Census Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7974 To modify the deadline for completing the 2020 decennial census of population and related tabulations, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AUGUST 7, 2020 Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York (for herself, Mr. GOMEZ, Ms. DEAN, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Ms. HAALAND, Mr. HIGGINS of New York, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Ms. SCANLON, Ms. SA´NCHEZ, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Ms. NORTON, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. HORSFORD, Mr. CICILLINE, Ms. ESHOO, and Mr. CONNOLLY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and in addition to the Committee on Education and Labor, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provi- sions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To modify the deadline 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Aug 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7974.IH H7974 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 7974 IH SEC. 2. CENSUS DEADLINE MODIFICATION. 1 Notwithstanding the timetables provided in sub- 2 sections (b) and (c) of section 141 of title 13, United 3 States Code, and section 22(a) of the Act entitled ‘‘An 4 Act to provide for the fifteenth and subsequent decennial 5 censuses and to provide for apportionment of Representa- 6 tives in Congress’’, approved June 18, 1929 (2 U.S.C. 7 2a(a)), for the 2020 decennial census of population— 8 (1) the tabulation of total population by States 9 required by subsection (a) of such section 141 for 10 the apportionment of Representatives in Congress 11 among the several States shall be— 12 (A) completed and reported by the Sec- 13 retary of Commerce (referred to in this section 14 as the ‘‘Secretary’’) to the President no earlier 15 than one year after the decennial census date of 16 April 1, 2020, and not later than April 30, 17 2021; and 18 (B) made public by the Secretary not later 19 than the date on which the tabulation is re- 20 ported to the President under subparagraph 21 (A); 22 (2) the President shall transmit to Congress a 23 statement showing the whole number of persons in 24 each State, and the number of Representatives to 25 which each State would be entitled under an appor- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Aug 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7974.IH H7974 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 7974 IH tionment of the then existing number of Representa- 1 tives, as required by such section 22(a), and deter- 2 mined solely as described therein, immediately upon 3 receipt of the tabulation reported by the Secretary; 4 and 5 (3) the tabulations of populations required by 6 subsection (c) of such section 141 shall be completed 7 by the Secretary as expeditiously as possible after 8 the census date of April 1, 2020, taking into account 9 the deadlines of each State for legislative apportion- 10 ment or districting, and reported to the Governor of 11 the State involved and to the officers or public bod- 12 ies having responsibility for legislative apportion- 13 ment or districting of that State, except that the 14 tabulations of population of each State requesting a 15 tabulation plan, and basic tabulations of population 16 of each other State, shall be completed, reported, 17 and transmitted to each respective State not later 18 than July 30, 2021. 19 SEC. 3. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS FOR 2020 CENSUS. 20 On the first day of each month during the period be- 21 tween the date of enactment of this Act and July 1, 2021, 22 the Director of the Bureau of the Census shall submit, 23 to the Committee on Oversight and Reform of the House 24 of Representatives, the Committee on Homeland Security 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Aug 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7974.IH H7974 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 7974 IH and Governmental Affairs of the Senate, and the Commit- 1 tees on Appropriations of the House and the Senate, a 2 report regarding the 2020 decennial census of population 3 containing the following information: 4 (1) The total number of field staff, sorted by 5 category, hired by the Bureau compared to the num- 6 ber of field staff the Bureau estimated was nec- 7 essary to carry out such census. 8 (2) Retention rates of such hired field staff. 9 (3) Average wait time for call center calls and 10 average wait time for each language provided. 11 (4) Anticipated schedule of such census oper- 12 ations. 13 (5) Total appropriations available for obligation 14 for such census and a categorized list of total dis- 15 bursements. 16 (6) Nonresponse Followup completion rates by 17 geographic location. 18 (7) Update/Enumerate and Update/Leave com- 19 pletion rates by geographic location. 20 (8) Total spending to date on media, advertise- 21 ments, and partnership specialists, including a geo- 22 graphic breakdown of such spending. 23 (9) Post-enumeration schedule and subsequent 24 data aggregation and delivery progress. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Aug 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7974.IH H7974 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 7974 IH SEC. 4. PROVIDING BUREAU OF THE CENSUS ACCESS TO 1 INFORMATION FROM INSTITUTIONS OF HIGH- 2 ER EDUCATION. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi- 4 sion of law, including section 444 of the General Edu- 5 cation Provisions Act (commonly known as the ‘‘Family 6 Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974’’), an institu- 7 tion of higher education may, in furtherance of a full and 8 accurate decennial census of population count, provide to 9 the Bureau of the Census information requested by the 10 Bureau for purposes of enumeration for the 2020 decen- 11 nial census of population. 12 (b) APPLICATION.— 13 (1) INFORMATION.—Only information requested 14 on the official 2020 decennial census of population 15 form may be provided to the Bureau of the Census 16 pursuant to this section. No institution of higher 17 education may provide any information to the Bu- 18 reau on the immigration or citizenship status of any 19 individual. 20 (2) NOTICE REQUIRED.—Before information 21 can be provided to the Bureau, the institution of 22 higher education shall give public notice of the cat- 23 egories of information which it plans to provide and 24 shall allow 10 days after such notice has been given 25 for a student to inform the institution that any or 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Aug 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7974.IH H7974 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 7974 IH all of the information designated should not be re- 1 leased without the student’s prior consent. No insti- 2 tution of higher education shall provide the Bureau 3 with the information of any individual who has ob- 4 jected to the provision of such information. 5 (3) USE OF INFORMATION.—Information pro- 6 vided to the Bureau pursuant to this section may 7 only be used for the purposes of enumeration for the 8 2020 decennial census of population. 9 (c) DEFINITION OF INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDU- 10 CATION.—In this section, the term ‘‘institution of higher 11 education’’ has the meaning given that term in section 102 12 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002). 13 (d) SUNSET.—The authority provided in this section 14 shall expire at the conclusion of 2020 census operations. 15 SEC. 5. LIMITATION. 16 The Bureau of the Census may not compile, produce, 17 or publish any data product or tabulation as part of, in 18 combination with, or in connection with, the 2020 decen- 19 nial census of population or any such census data pro- 20 duced pursuant to section 141(c) of title 13, United States 21 Code, that includes topics specific to the 2020 Census that 22 were not part of the report submitted pursuant to section 23 141(f)(1) of title 13, United States Code, on March 28, 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Aug 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7974.IH H7974 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 7974 IH 2017, and the 2018 End-to-End Census Test conducted 1 in Providence County, Rhode Island. 2 SEC. 6. NRFU OPERATION. 3 For the 2020 decennial census of population, the Bu- 4 reau of the Census shall conclude the Nonresponse Fol- 5 lowup operation and the self-response operation no earlier 6 than October 31, 2020. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Aug 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H7974.IH H7974 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS