Sponsors (21)
The bill would deliver more granular citizenship data and shift representation toward states with higher citizen shares—helping planning and increasing political influence for some citizens—but at the cost of privacy risks, higher undercount risk among immigrant communities, reduced political power for areas with many noncitizens, and likely legal/administrative complications.
State and local governments, and researchers, would receive timely state-level counts of citizens and noncitizens and direct self-reported citizenship data on the census, improving policy planning, resource allocation, and demographic research.
Residents (citizens) in states with higher citizen shares would likely gain additional Representatives and Electoral College votes, increasing their relative political influence at the federal level.
Immigrant households and mixed-status families may respond less to the census because of a citizenship checkbox, increasing undercounts and reducing funding/representation linked to population totals in affected communities.
Publishing citizen/noncitizen counts by state and collecting citizenship status could be used politically to support restrictive policies and would reduce political power for areas with large noncitizen populations, shifting Representatives and Electoral College votes between states.
Collecting and releasing citizenship data raises privacy and confidentiality concerns that could deter participation among households asked to provide sensitive information.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Requires the Census to collect citizenship status and excludes noncitizens from counts used for congressional apportionment and Electoral College allocation starting with 2030.
Requires the Census Bureau to add a citizenship checkbox (or similar option) to the 2030 decennial census and every decennial census thereafter, and to publish state-level counts of citizens and noncitizens within 120 days after each census is completed. Changes the law that determines how many Representatives and Electoral College votes each state gets so that noncitizens are excluded from the population used for apportionment, starting with the apportionment based on the 2030 census. Includes a severability clause so remaining provisions stand if part of the law is struck down.
Introduced June 29, 2025 by William Francis Hagerty · Last progress June 29, 2025