[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4154 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4154

To amend title 13, United States Code, to provide that the penalty for 
refusing or neglecting to answer decennial census questions 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.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 3, 2000

  Mr. Hunter introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Government Reform

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                                 A BILL


 
To amend title 13, United States Code, to provide that the penalty for 
refusing or neglecting to answer decennial census questions 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.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Common Sense Census Act of 2000''.

SEC. 2. LIMITED APPLICABILITY OF PENALTY PROVISION.

    (a) In General.--Section 225 of title 13, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(e)(1) The penalty under section 221(a) shall not apply, for 
refusing or neglecting to answer one or more of the questions on a 
schedule used in connection with the 2000 decennial census, except 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.
    ``(2) For purposes of this subsection--
            ``(A) only questions included on the 2000 decennial census 
        short form (apart from those relating to race or ethnicity) 
        shall be considered necessary to permit such an enumeration; 
        and
            ``(B) the term `decennial census' means a decennial census 
        of population under section 141.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
apply with respect to all schedules used in connection with the 2000 
decennial census, including those returned before the date of enactment 
of this Act.
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