Sponsors (12)
The bill improves political representation for communities of origin by attributing incarcerated people to their last usual residence for Census counts, but it reduces population and associated funding/clout for prison‑hosting localities and adds implementation costs and potential counting gaps for people without clear last residences.
Residents of neighborhoods that historically hosted large numbers of incarcerated people (and the local governments that represent them) will regain population counts and likely fairer political representation and access to population‑tied resources because incarcerated people will be attributed to their last usual residence for redistricting starting with the 2030 Census.
Localities that host prisons will see reduced official population counts, which can lower their political clout and reduce federal/state funding tied to local population totals.
State governments and the Census Bureau will face increased operational complexity and costs to implement last‑residence attribution, verification, and disclosure‑avoidance changes for the 2030 Census and beyond.
People without a clear or in‑state last usual residence (for example, some homeless individuals or out‑of‑state detainees) may be inconsistently attributed or miscounted, producing data inaccuracies that harm planning and representation for the communities they are linked to.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Beginning with the 2030 census, incarcerated people are counted at their last usual residence before incarceration and states must use that residence for congressional redistricting.
Requires the Census Bureau, starting with the 2030 decennial census and every census thereafter, to count people who are incarcerated at the person’s last usual place of residence before incarceration rather than at the prison location. It also requires states to treat those pre-incarceration residences as the person’s place of residence for congressional redistricting when the apportionment count includes them.
Introduced February 4, 2026 by Deborah K. Ross · Last progress February 4, 2026