Bill Text: TX HB1227 | 2011-2012 | 82nd Legislature | 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) 2011-03-01 - Referred to Redistricting [HB1227 Detail]

Download: Texas-2011-HB1227-Introduced.html
  82R2934 JSA-D
 
  By: Dutton H.B. No. 1227
 
 
 
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 descent, 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.
         SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect January 1, 2012.
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