[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 534 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 534

To provide that a special census shall be conducted, without charge to 
 a requesting State, county, or other unit of government, if necessary 
to correct a significant undercount in a decennial census which is due, 
    in whole or in part, to a natural disaster or similar situation.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 21, 1993

 Mr. Panetta introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
               Committee on Post Office and Civil Service

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide that a special census shall be conducted, without charge to 
 a requesting State, county, or other unit of government, if necessary 
to correct a significant undercount in a decennial census which is due, 
    in whole or in part, to a natural disaster or similar situation.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. AUTHORITY TO CONDUCT SPECIAL CENSUSES.

    The Secretary of Commerce shall conduct a special census for the 
government of a State, or of a county, city, or other political 
subdivision within a State, for the government of the District of 
Columbia, or for the government of any possession or area (including 
political subdivisions thereof) referred to in section 191(a) of title 
13, United States Code, without charge to such government, if--
            (1) the special census is necessary to correct a 
        significant undercount which occurred in the most recent 
        decennial census of population with respect to the area 
        involved;
            (2) a natural disaster or other emergency affecting such 
        area, as declared by the President, was a major factor 
        contributing to the undercount; and
            (3) a request for such a census is made by such government 
        within such time and in such manner as the Secretary shall by 
        regulation prescribe, except that the deadline for such a 
        request may not be fixed at a point before the end of the 18-
        month period beginning on the most recent decennial census 
        date.

SEC. 2. METHODOLOGY TO BE USED IN SPECIAL CENSUSES.

    A special census under this Act with respect to a particular area 
shall, to the extent practicable, be conducted in the same manner and 
using the same methodologies as were used with respect to such area in 
the decennial census last taken before the special census.

SEC. 3. PURPOSES FOR WHICH DATA MAY BE USED.

    Data collected pursuant to a special census under this Act may be 
used for any purpose which would be allowable if it had been conducted 
under section 196 of title 13, United States Code.

SEC. 4. EXPEDITIOUS ACTION REQUIRED.

    Upon receiving a request for a special census under this Act--
            (1) a determination as to whether or not the criteria under 
        section 1 have been met shall be made as expeditiously as 
        possible; and
            (2) if the criteria under section 1 are determined to have 
        been met, the special census conducted under this Act pursuant 
        to such request shall, in the allocation of personnel and 
        resources, be given priority over any special census under 
        section 196 of title 13, United States Code.

SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

    For the purpose of this Act, the term ``decennial census date'' 
shall have the meaning given such term under section 141 of title 13, 
United States Code.

SEC. 6. APPLICABILITY.

    (a) In General.--A special census under this Act may be conducted 
to correct an undercount in--
            (1) the 1990 decennial census, if appropriate application 
        is submitted within 18 months after the date as of which 
        regulations to carry out this Act become effective; or
            (2) any decennial census subsequent to the 1990 decennial 
        census.
    (b) Regulations.--Regulations to carry out this Act shall become 
effective not later than 3 months after the date of the enactment of 
this Act.

                                 <all>