II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 5270 

To amend title 13, United States Code, to improve the operations of the 

Bureau of the Census, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 15, 2022 

Mr. SCHATZ introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend title 13, United States Code, to improve the 

operations of the Bureau of the Census, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ensuring a Fair and 

5 Accurate Census Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. MODIFICATION OF CERTAIN BUREAU OF THE CEN7 SUS AUTHORITIES. 

8 (a) BUDGET REQUESTS.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter I of chapter 1 of 

2 title 13, United States Code, is amended by insert3 ing after section 13 the following: 

4 ‘‘§ 14. Budget requests 

5 ‘‘(a) With respect to the budget request of the Bu6 reau for fiscal year 2027 and each fiscal year thereafter 

7 submitted to the President for inclusion in the annual 

8 budget submission under section 1105(a) of title 31, the 

9 Director shall include in such request to the Secretary the 

10 estimated costs of carrying out the duties of the Bureau 

11 during the five-year period beginning on the fiscal year 

12 covered by such request. 

13 ‘‘(b) On the date that the estimate of costs is sub14 mitted to the Secretary under subsection (a), the Director 

15 shall submit such estimate to the Committee on Oversight 

16 and Reform of the House of Representatives, the Com17 mittee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

18 of the Senate, the Committees on the Budget of the House 

19 of Representatives and the Senate, and the Committees 

20 on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the 

21 Senate.’’. 

22 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec23 tions for such subchapter is amended by inserting 

24 after the item relating to section 13 the following 

25 new item: 

‘‘14. Budget requests.’’. 


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1 (b) DUTIES.—Section 21(c) of title 13, United States 

2 Code, is amended to read as follows: 

3 ‘‘(c) DUTIES.— 

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall perform 

5 such duties as may be imposed upon the Director by 

6 law, regulations, or orders of the Secretary. The Di7 rector shall report directly to the Deputy Secretary 

8 of Commerce. 

9 ‘‘(2) DECENNIAL CENSUS.—Any operational, 

10 statistical, or technical decision for any decennial 

11 census of population may be made only by the Direc12 tor.’’. 

13 (c) ADVISORY COMMITTEES; DEPUTY DIRECTOR.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 21 of title 13, 

15 United States Code, as amended by subsection (b), 

16 is further amended— 

17 (A) in the section heading, by striking 

18 ‘‘duties’’ and inserting ‘‘Deputy Director; 

19 advisory committees’’; and 

20 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘(d) DEPUTY DIRECTOR.— 

22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There shall be in the Bu23 reau a single Deputy Director of the Bureau, to be 

24 appointed by the Director. The position of Deputy 

25 Director shall be a career reserved position (as that 


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1 term is defined in section 3132(a)(8) of title 5). The 

2 Deputy Director shall be selected from among any 

3 career appointee (as that term is defined in section 

4 3132(a)(4) of such title) at any agency. The indi5 vidual appointed to the position of Deputy Director 

6 shall be made from individuals who have a dem7 onstrated ability in managing large organizations 

8 and experience in the collection, analysis, and use of 

9 statistical data. 

10 ‘‘(2) FUNCTIONS.—The Deputy Director shall 

11 perform such functions as the Director shall des12 ignate. During any absence or disability of the Di13 rector, the Deputy Director shall act as Director. 

14 ‘‘(3) VACANCY.—In the event of a vacancy in 

15 the office of Director, or when the Director is absent 

16 or unable to serve, the Deputy Director shall act as 

17 Director until a Director is appointed. If no indi18 vidual is serving as Deputy Director, the highest 

19 level career employee of the Bureau shall act as Di20 rector until a Deputy Director or Director is ap21 pointed. This paragraph shall serve as the exclusive 

22 means of designating an acting Director. 

23 ‘‘(4) CENSUS EQUITY OFFICIAL.—The Deputy 

24 Director shall appoint an employee within the Bu25 reau, who shall report directly to the Deputy DirecVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:08 Dec 29, 2022 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5270.IS S5270

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1 tor, and who shall be responsible for optimizing ra2 cial and ethnic equity in the decennial census of pop3 ulation, including by— 

4 ‘‘(A) enhancing outreach to, and collabo5 rating with, organizations and stakeholders that 

6 have demonstrated their influence with racial 

7 and ethnic communities that historically have 

8 had census participation rates that are lower 

9 than those of the overall population; 

10 ‘‘(B) maximizing participation among ra11 cial and ethnic demographic cohorts that have 

12 historically had census participation rates that 

13 are lower than those of the overall population; 

14 ‘‘(C) rectifying the undercount of cohorts 

15 of the population that have been undercounted 

16 in recent decennial census counts; and 

17 ‘‘(D) any other strategies, initiatives, ac18 tivities, or operations that would optimize such 

19 equity. 

20 ‘‘(e) ADVISORY COMMITTEES.— 

21 ‘‘(1) GENERAL AUTHORITY.—In accordance 

22 with the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. 

23 App.), and subject to paragraph (2), the Director 

24 may establish advisory committees to provide advice 

25 with respect to the mission of the Bureau. Members 


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1 of any such committee, including a committee estab2 lished under paragraph (2), shall serve without com3 pensation, but shall be entitled to transportation ex4 penses and per diem in lieu of subsistence in accord5 ance with section 5703 of title 5. 

6 ‘‘(2) SPECIFIC ADVISORY COMMITTEES.— 

7 ‘‘(A) BUREAU OF THE CENSUS ADVISORY

8 COMMITTEE ON STATISTICAL QUALITY STAND9 ARDS.—The Director shall appoint a committee, 

10 to be known as the ‘Advisory Committee on 

11 Statistical Quality Standards’, composed of five 

12 members to review and provide recommenda13 tions on the statistical quality standards of the 

14 Bureau that guide the production and release of 

15 all Bureau decennial census products. 

16 ‘‘(B) NATIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE

17 AND SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE.—There 

18 are hereby established the Bureau of the Cen19 sus Scientific Advisory Committee and the Cen20 sus Bureau National Advisory Committee on 

21 Racial, Ethnic, and Other Populations, as de22 scribed in the charters for each such committee 

23 published on March 15, 2022, and March 23, 

24 2022, respectively, or any subsequent charters. 

25 Such advisory committees shall operate under 


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1 the terms and conditions set forth in the appli2 cable charter. 

3 ‘‘(C) 2030 CENSUS ADVISORY COM4 MITTEE.—The Director shall appoint an advi5 sory committee, substantially similar to the 

6 2010 Census Advisory Committee, consisting of 

7 up to 20 member organizations to address pol8 icy, research, and technical issues related to the 

9 design and implementation of the 2030 decen10 nial census and the American Community Sur11 vey.’’. 

12 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec13 tions for subchapter II of chapter 1 of such title is 

14 amended by striking the item relating to section 21 

15 and inserting the following: 

‘‘21. Director of the Census; Deputy Director; advisory committees.’’. 

16 (d) POSITION REQUIREMENTS.—Section 22 of title 

17 13, United States Code, is amended— 

18 (1) by striking ‘‘All permanent’’ and inserting 

19 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—All permanent’’; and 

20 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘(b) POSITIONS.—Each position within the Bureau 

22 shall be a career position within the civil service, except 

23 for the position of the Director and not more than three 

24 other positions.’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. LIMITATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DE2 CENNIAL CENSUS. 

3 Section 141 of title 13, United States Code, is 

4 amended— 

5 (1) by redesignating subsection (g) as sub6 section (i); 

7 (2) by inserting after subsection (f) the fol8 lowing: 

9 ‘‘(g) LIMITATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS.— 

10 ‘‘(1) NOTICE TO CONGRESS OF SUBJECTS, 

11 TYPES OF INFORMATION, AND QUESTIONS.—In the 

12 2030 decennial census of population and each decen13 nial census thereafter, the Secretary may not include 

14 any subject, type of information, or question that 

15 was not submitted to Congress in accordance with 

16 subsection (f). 

17 ‘‘(2) BIANNUAL REPORTS.— 

18 ‘‘(A) SUBMISSION TO CONGRESS.—Not 

19 later than April 1 of the calendar year begin20 ning after the date of enactment of the Ensur21 ing a Fair and Accurate Census Act and bian22 nually thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to 

23 Congress a report that— 

24 ‘‘(i) describes each component of the 

25 operational plan for the subsequent decen26 nial census of population; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) includes a detailed statement on 

2 the status of all research, testing, and op3 erations that are part of the Bureau’s com4 prehensive plan for the decennial census, 

5 and including a detailed statement on the 

6 status of any initiatives, developments, and 

7 operations within the purview of the offi8 cial appointed by the Deputy Director 

9 under section 21(d)(4). 

10 ‘‘(B) INTERNET PUBLICATION.—On the 

11 date on which the Secretary submits a report 

12 under subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall 

13 publish the report on the public internet website 

14 of the Bureau. 

15 ‘‘(3) SECRETARY CERTIFICATION.— 

16 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, upon 

17 the date of submission of the report required by 

18 subsection (f)(2), shall submit, to the commit19 tees of Congress having legislative jurisdiction 

20 over the census, a certification stating that any 

21 question that has not appeared on the previous 

22 two decennial censuses has been researched, 

23 studied, and tested according to established sta24 tistical policies and procedures. 


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1 ‘‘(B) GAO REVIEW.—Not later than 6 

2 months after the Secretary submits a certifi3 cation under paragraph (2), the Comptroller 

4 General of the United States shall review such 

5 certification and submit a report to Congress on 

6 whether the questions to be included in the cen7 sus have been researched, studied, and tested 

8 according to established statistical policies and 

9 procedures.’’; and 

10 (3) in subsection (i), as so redesignated, by in11 serting ‘‘DEFINITION.—’’ before ‘‘As used in’’. 

12 SEC. 4. DECENNIAL CENSUS LIFECYCLE COST ESTIMATES. 

13 Section 141 of title 13, United States Code, as 

14 amended by section 3, is further amended by inserting 

15 after subsection (g) the following: 

16 ‘‘(h) LIFECYCLE COSTS.— 

17 ‘‘(1) ESTIMATE.—Not later than January 1, 

18 2026, and every ten years thereafter, the Director 

19 shall transmit to the chairs of the committees de20 scribed in paragraph (3) a lifecycle cost estimate for 

21 the decennial census of population first occurring 

22 after the date of such transmittal. Such estimate 

23 shall include the following with respect to such 

24 lifecycle: 


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1 ‘‘(A) An estimate of costs by each fiscal 

2 year. 

3 ‘‘(B) Estimates of capital versus operating 

4 expenses. 

5 ‘‘(C) Staffing projections for each year. 

6 ‘‘(D) Assumptions about response rates, 

7 wages, and other economic variables. 

8 ‘‘(2) UPDATE.—On the date the President sub9 mits the annual budget under section 1105(a) of 

10 title 31 during any calendar year a decennial of cen11 sus of population is taken under this section, and on 

12 the date such annual budget is submitted during the 

13 immediately preceding four calendar years, the Di14 rector shall transmit a report describing any changes 

15 to the applicable lifecycle estimate transmitted under 

16 paragraph (1). Such report shall include the fol17 lowing: 

18 ‘‘(A) The basis for any such changes. 

19 ‘‘(B) Projected impacts on response rates, 

20 staffing requirements, or costs throughout the 

21 lifecycle. 

22 ‘‘(C) An explanation of any differences in 

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1 quest and the lifecycle cost estimate, as updated 

2 by this paragraph. 

3 ‘‘(3) COMMITTEES.—The committees described 

4 in this paragraph are the Committee on Oversight 

5 and Reform of the House of Representatives, the 

6 Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 

7 Affairs of the Senate, and the Committees on Appro8 priations of the House of Representatives and the 

9 Senate.’’. 

10 SEC. 5. REPORT ON LOCAL-LEVEL DATA AND LOCAL FIELD 

11 OPERATIONS. 

12 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact13 ment of this Act, the Director of the Bureau of the Census 

14 shall submit to Congress a report that— 

15 (1) reviews the Bureau’s current processes for 

16 consulting and engaging with jurisdictions and local 

17 partners in conducting the decennial census, includ18 ing as it relates to preventing and addressing inac19 curacies; 

20 (2) provides an update on the Bureau’s 

21 progress in implementing several of the Government 

22 Accountability Office’s recommendations as it relates 

23 to the collection and utilization of local-level data 

24 and coordination of local field operations; and 


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1 (3) outlines additional resources needed to sup2 port and improve the Bureau’s capacity to conduct 

3 an accurate count of the Nation’s population. 

Æ 


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