PRINTER'S NO. 799

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

HOUSE RESOLUTION

No.

136

Session of

2019

INTRODUCED BY CRUZ, SCHLOSSBERG, CALTAGIRONE, ISAACSON, HILL-

EVANS AND FIEDLER, MARCH 8, 2019

REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT, MARCH 8, 2019

keeping an accurate recording of the country's population by

including it as a constitutional requirement; and

WHEREAS, Article I, Section 2, Clause 3 of the Constitution

of the United States, referred to as the Enumeration Clause,

confers on Congress the power to conduct an actual enumeration

every 10 years; and

WHEREAS, Since the adoption of the 14th Amendment, the

Constitution of the United States has mandated that all United

States residents be included in the decennial census count; and

WHEREAS, Congress delegated the responsibility of conducting

acquire an accurate and actual enumeration of the population;

and

WHEREAS, To ensure that the Census Bureau counts everyone in

the right place, residence criteria and residence situations are

developed and used to determine where people are counted during

each decennial census; and

WHEREAS, As part of its residence criteria, the Census Bureau

applies the concept of usual residence, which is defined as the

place where an individual lives and sleeps most of the time and

is not always the same as one's legal residence, voting

residence or where an individual prefers to be counted; and

consistently with the intent of the Census Act of 1790, to

identify new or changing living situations resulting from

societal change and to address those changes in order to be

consistent with the concept of usual residence; and

WHEREAS, Although determining usual residence is

straightforward for most individuals, there are certain

populations for which it is not; and

WHEREAS, Such populations include incarcerated individuals,

foreign citizens, people who live or stay in more than one

location, people in residential school-related facilities,

and

WHEREAS, The final 2020 Census Residence Criteria and

Residence Situations states that people will be counted at their

usual residence, which is the place where they live and sleep

most of the time, people in certain types of group facilities on

Census Day will be counted at the group facility, and people who

do not have or cannot determine a usual residence will be

counted where they are on Census Day; and

WHEREAS, On Census Day, incarcerated individuals will

continue to be counted at the facility where they are located,

whether it be a Federal or State prison, local jail, municipal

the time and people in residential treatment centers, assisted

living facilities or in-patient hospice facilities will be

counted at the residence where they live and sleep most of the

time; and

WHEREAS, Application of the concept of usual residence by the

Census Bureau to the various special populations who are

temporarily living or staying away from their home or permanent

address is inconsistent; and

WHEREAS, Counting incarcerated or detained individuals at the

facility where they are located on Census Day ignores the

prison population, while facilities are often located in largely

rural locations far from the actual homes of the incarcerated

individuals; and

WHEREAS, Most incarcerated individuals only serve a short

period of time and, upon release, return to their home community

where they would likely be counted if they were any other

population; and

WHEREAS, In addition to accuracy concerns, population data

from the census is used to apportion representatives to

Congress, draw State and local legislative districts, allocate

electors to the electoral college and distribute billions of

WHEREAS, Each state relies on the accuracy of the decennial

census in order to comply with the 14th Amendment's one-person,

one-vote requirement, which requires that a legislative district

be as close to equal population as practicable and that

congressional apportionment be based on total population; and

WHEREAS, The decision to continue to record correctional

facilities as the residence of incarcerated individuals instead

of the individual's last known address for the 2020 decennial

census has the potential to weaken the voting strength in

minority communities and distort the redistricting process,

and

WHEREAS, The decennial census, although not perfect, should

and must be apolitical in both its execution and its application

to ensure a full, fair and accurate count; therefore be it

RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania urge the United States Census

Bureau to change its policy of recording the residence of

incarcerated individuals from the location of the correctional

facility to the last known home address of the incarcerated

individuals; and be it further

RESOLVED, That certified copies of this resolution be sent to