[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5292 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5292

To establish a task force to review new decennial census questions and 
  their impact on response rates for minorities, the accuracy of the 
 census, redistricting, costs and funding distribution, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 15, 2018

Mr. Soto (for himself, Mr. Vela, Mrs. Torres, Mr. Payne, Ms. Rosen, Ms. 
    Sanchez, Ms. Barragan, Mr. Aguilar, Mr. Vargas, Mr. Correa, Mr. 
   Grijalva, Mr. Sablan, Mr. Lawson of Florida, Mrs. Napolitano, Mr. 
  Cardenas, Mr. Carbajal, Ms. Judy Chu of California, Mr. Costa, Ms. 
  Norton, and Ms. Clarke of New York) introduced the following bill; 
 which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To establish a task force to review new decennial census questions and 
  their impact on response rates for minorities, the accuracy of the 
 census, redistricting, costs and funding distribution, and for other 
                               purposes.

    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 ``2020 Census Accountability Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Since the adoption of the 14th Amendment, the 
        Constitution has mandated that all persons--regardless of race, 
        citizenship, or legal status--be included in a count of the 
        United States that is conducted every 10 years.
            (2) The addition of questions to the 2020 decennial census 
        questionnaire, less than three months before the Bureau of the 
        Census must submit final questionnaire wording to Congress, is 
        ill-timed and divides resources without fair consideration.
            (3) Lack of sufficient funding and resources for the 2020 
        decennial census further hinders the high-tech enumeration 
        strategy preparations.
            (4) Untested questions, whether related to citizenship or 
        any other topics, would result in millions of wasted taxpayer 
        funds and depressed response rates thereby discrediting the 
        accuracy of the decennial census.

SEC. 3. PURPOSE.

    The purpose of this Act is to create a task force of census experts 
to--
            (1) ensure that questions added to the 2020 decennial 
        census do not negatively impact the accuracy or integrity of 
        the decennial census; and
            (2) to assess how changes to questions on the decennial 
        census proposed by Federal operations, programs, policies, and 
        initiatives affect participation in and the integrity of the 
        decennial census before submitting such changes to Congress on 
        March 31, 2018.

SEC. 4. TASK FORCE ON THE 2020 DECENNIAL CENSUS.

    (a) Establishment.--Not later than 90 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Director of the Bureau of the Census shall 
establish the ``Task Force on the 2020 Census'' (referred to in this 
section as the ``Task Force'').
    (b) Duties.--Not later than 90 days after the date of establishment 
of the Task Force, the Task Force shall report to Congress on--
            (1) existing and potential policies and measures that 
        promote full participation in the decennial census by all 
        residents of the United States;
            (2) potential negative impacts on minority populations 
        resulting from the addition of a citizenship question to the 
        decennial census, including potential impacts on--
                    (A) congressional reapportionment;
                    (B) legislative redistricting; and
                    (C) distribution of Federal funds;
            (3) civil rights issues that could be affected with the 
        addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 decennial 
        census; and
            (4) a potential decrease in participation related to the 
        addition of citizenship questions.
    (c) Members.--The Task Force established under subsection (a) shall 
include representatives of--
            (1) State, local, and tribal governments or associations;
            (2) academic and nongovernmental organizations with 
        expertise in the decennial census; and
            (3) relevant organizations, including nonprofit 
        organizations, representing effective data and research related 
        to the decennial census, minority populations, and civil or 
        human rights advocacy.

SEC. 5. SUNSET PROVISION.

    The Task Force shall terminate following the decennial census.

SEC. 6. DEFINITION.

    In this Act, the term ``State'' means each of the several States, 
the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United 
States Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of 
the Northern Mariana Islands.
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