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| 1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| 2 | WHEREAS, Obtaining an accurate count of the population is | ||||||
| 3 | so vital to a representative democracy that the framers of the | ||||||
| 4 | United States Constitution addressed the issue of the census | ||||||
| 5 | and apportionment in the opening paragraphs of the | ||||||
| 6 | Constitution; and
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| 7 | WHEREAS, The Illinois Constitution requires that federal | ||||||
| 8 | census data be the basis for state redistricting; and
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| 9 | WHEREAS, The Census Bureau currently has a policy of | ||||||
| 10 | counting incarcerated people at the address of the correctional | ||||||
| 11 | institution, even though for other legal purposes their home | ||||||
| 12 | address remains their legal residence; and
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| 13 | WHEREAS, This census data results in distortions of the | ||||||
| 14 | one-person, one-vote principle in drawing electoral districts | ||||||
| 15 | in Illinois, diluting the representation of the majority of | ||||||
| 16 | districts that do not contain prisons; and | ||||||
| 17 | WHEREAS, The simplest solution to the conflict between | ||||||
| 18 | federal constitutional requirements of "one person, one vote" | ||||||
| 19 | and the Illinois constitutional requirements of using the | ||||||
| 20 | federal census is for the Census Bureau to publish | ||||||
| 21 | redistricting data based on the location of an incarcerated | ||||||
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| 1 | person's residence, not prison location; and
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| 2 | WHEREAS, The Census Bureau has already recognized the | ||||||
| 3 | demand from states and counties for data that better reflects | ||||||
| 4 | their actual populations and has agreed to release data on | ||||||
| 5 | prison populations to states in time for redistricting, | ||||||
| 6 | enabling some states to individually adjust the population data | ||||||
| 7 | used for redistricting; and
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| 8 | WHEREAS, Public Law 94-171 requires the Census Bureau to | ||||||
| 9 | work with states to provide geographically relevant data, and | ||||||
| 10 | the Census Bureau has been responsive to the data needs of the | ||||||
| 11 | states for the past three decades; therefore, be it
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| 12 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | ||||||
| 13 | HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
| 14 | we urge the Census Bureau, in the next census and thereafter, | ||||||
| 15 | to provide states with redistricting data that counts | ||||||
| 16 | incarcerated persons at their residential address, rather than | ||||||
| 17 | the address of the correctional institution where they are | ||||||
| 18 | temporarily located; and be it further
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| 19 | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | ||||||
| 20 | delivered to the U.S. Census Bureau.
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