End Prison Gerrymandering Act
House Bill Would Count Prisoners at Home Addresses, Not Prison Locations, Starting in 2030
Legislative Progress
Key Points
- A new bill introduced by Ms. Ross would change how the U.S. Census Bureau counts people living in prisons and jails. Instead of counting them at the prison's location, the government would count them at their last home address before they were incarcerated.
- This change would apply to everyone held in federal, state, county, or local correctional facilities, as well as youth detention centers. The new rules would officially begin with the 2030 Census.
- Currently, many rural areas with large prisons gain extra political power because their population numbers look higher, even though incarcerated people usually cannot vote there. This policy aims to return that political representation to the prisoners' home communities.
- The bill requires states to use these updated home-address numbers when drawing new maps for Congressional districts. This ensures that the number of representatives a community gets is based on where people actually live and where their families are located.
- By shifting where people are counted, this could also affect how much government funding different cities and towns receive, as many federal programs distribute money based on Census population data.
Impact Analysis
Personal Impact
Renters in urban areas — where most incarcerated people lived before prison — could see a small boost in political representation and federal funding as population counts shift toward cities. However, renters living near prisons in rural areas could see their community lose population counts and the resources tied to them. The net effect depends heavily on where you live.
Broader Impacts
Milestones
Referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Sent to a congressional committee for expert review. The committee decides whether this bill moves forward.
Introduced in House
The bill was officially filed and given a number. It now enters the legislative queue.
Votes
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News
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Source Information
Document Type
Congressional Bill
Official Title
End Prison Gerrymandering Act
Data Sources
Sponsor
Cosponsors
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