Bill Text: TX HB46 | 2013 | 83rd Legislature 1st Special Session | Introduced

Texas House Bill 46 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Relating to the inclusion of an incarcerated person in the population data used for redistricting according to the person's last residence before incarceration.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-06-06 - Filed [HB46 Detail]

Download: Texas-2013-HB46-Introduced.html

	83S10219 JRJ-D

	By: Dutton	H.B. No. 46



	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
	AN ACT
	relating to the inclusion of an incarcerated person in the
	population data used for redistricting according to the person's
	last residence before incarceration.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1. Section 2058.002, Government Code, is amended to
	read as follows:
	Sec. 2058.002. EXCEPTIONS. (a) The legislature or the
	Legislative Redistricting Board under Article III, Section 28, of
	the Texas Constitution may officially recognize or act on a federal
	decennial census as adjusted under Section 2058.003 before
	September 1 of the year after the calendar year during which the
	census was taken.
	(b) A political subdivision governed by a body elected from
	single-member districts may recognize and act on tabulations of
	population of a federal decennial census as adjusted under Section
	2058.003, for redistricting purposes, as soon as those adjusted
	tabulations become available [~~on or after the date the governor~~
	~~receives a report of the basic tabulations of population from the~~
	~~secretary of commerce under 13 U.S.C. Section 141(c)~~]. This
	subsection does not apply to a political subdivision that was not
	subject to a statute requiring certain political subdivisions,
	classified by population, to elect their governing bodies from
	single-member districts under the preceding federal census.
	SECTION 2. Chapter 2058, Government Code, is amended by
	adding Sections 2058.003 and 2058.004 to read as follows:
	Sec. 2058.003. INCLUSION OF INCARCERATED PERSONS IN CENSUS
	COUNTS. (a) Not later than the next May 1 following the date on
	which the tract-level population counts for this state from the
	federal decennial census are released by the director of the Bureau
	of the Census of the United States Department of Commerce, the
	comptroller shall prepare and disseminate adjusted population
	counts for each geographic unit included in the census counts as
	provided by this section.
	(b) Not later than June 1 of the year in which the federal
	decennial census is conducted, each state or local governmental
	entity in this state that operates a facility for the incarceration
	of persons convicted of a criminal offense, including a mental
	health institution for those persons, or that places any person
	convicted of a criminal offense in a private facility to be
	incarcerated on behalf of the governmental entity, shall submit a
	report to the comptroller with the following information:
	(1) a unique identifier, not including the name, for
	each person incarcerated in a facility operated by the governmental
	entity or in a private facility on behalf of the governmental entity
	on the date for which the census reports population who completed a
	census form, responded to a census inquiry, or was included in any
	report provided to census officials, if the form, response, or
	report indicated that the person resided at the facility on that
	date;
	(2) the age, gender, and race of each person included
	in the report and whether the person is of Hispanic, Latino, or
	Spanish origin, if known; and
	(3) the last address at which the person resided
	before the person's current incarceration.
	(c) Each governmental entity required to make a report under
	Subsection (b) shall ensure that the entity collects and maintains
	the information required to make the report. The comptroller shall
	prescribe procedures that a governmental entity shall use to permit
	each person included in the report to indicate the person's race and
	ethnicity for purposes of Subsection (b)(2) in a manner similar to
	the manner in which a person not incarcerated would indicate the
	person's race and ethnicity for the federal decennial census.
	(d) The comptroller shall request each agency that operates
	a federal facility in this state that incarcerates persons
	convicted of a criminal offense to provide the comptroller with a
	report including the information listed in Subsection (b) for
	persons convicted of an offense in this state.
	(e) For each person included in a report received under
	Subsection (b) or (d), the comptroller shall determine the
	geographic units for which population counts are reported in the
	federal decennial census that contain the last address at which the
	person resided before the person's incarceration according to the
	report and, if that address is in this state:
	(1) adjust all relevant population counts reported in
	the census, including populations by age, gender, race, and
	Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin, as if the person resided at
	that address on the day for which the census reports population; and
	(2) eliminate the person from all applicable
	population counts reported in the federal decennial census for the
	geographic units that include the facility at which the person was
	incarcerated on the day for which the census reports population.
	(f) The information required to be included in a report
	under Subsection (b) or (d) is confidential and not subject to
	required disclosure under Chapter 552. This subsection does not
	apply to information aggregated by geographic census unit that does
	not disclose the address of or other information that might
	identify an individual.
	Sec. 2058.004. USE OF ADJUSTED CENSUS COUNTS FOR
	REDISTRICTING. (a) Each political subdivision of this state that
	elects any members of a governmental body from election districts,
	wards, or precincts that are subject to the one-person, one-vote
	requirement of the Constitution of the United States shall ensure
	that after redistricting each of those election districts, wards,
	or precincts does not vary from the average population of those
	districts, wards, or precincts according to the most recent
	adjusted population counts prepared by the comptroller under
	Section 2058.003 by more than five percent.
	(b) A state governmental body, including the legislature,
	the Legislative Redistricting Board, or any state court, that
	redistricts any election districts subject to the one-person,
	one-vote requirement of the Constitution of the United States shall
	comply with the restriction provided by Subsection (a).
	(c) A governmental entity to which this section applies may
	exceed the adjusted population restrictions required by this
	section only to the extent necessary to comply with federal law or
	the Texas Constitution.
	(d) This section does not apply to any political subdivision
	or state governmental body before the comptroller makes the initial
	adjustment of census counts for the 2020 federal decennial census.
	This subsection expires January 1, 2022.
	SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
	a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
	provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
	Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
	Act takes effect on the 91st day after the last day of the
	legislative session.