II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4048 

To modify the deadlines for completing the 2020 decennial census of 

population and related tabulations, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 23, 2020 

Ms. HARRIS (for herself and Mr. SCHATZ) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and 

Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To modify the deadlines for completing the 2020 decennial 

census of population and related tabulations, 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 ‘‘Fair and Accurate 

5 Census Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CENSUS DEADLINE MODIFICATION. 

7 Notwithstanding the timetables provided in sub8 sections (b) and (c) of section 141 of title 13, United 

9 States Code, and section 22(a) of the Act entitled ‘‘An 


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1 Act to provide for the fifteenth and subsequent decennial 

2 censuses and to provide for apportionment of Representa3 tives in Congress’’, approved June 18, 1929 (2 U.S.C. 

4 2a(a)), for the 2020 decennial census of population— 

5 (1) the tabulation of total population by States 

6 required by subsection (a) of such section 141 for 

7 the apportionment of Representatives in Congress 

8 among the several States shall be— 

9 (A) completed and reported by the Sec10 retary of Commerce (referred to in this section 

11 as the ‘‘Secretary’’) to the President within 13 

12 months after the decennial census date of April 

13 1, 2020; and 

14 (B) made public by the Secretary not later 

15 than the date on which the tabulation is re16 ported to the President under subparagraph 

17 (A); 

18 (2) the President shall transmit to Congress a 

19 statement showing the whole number of persons in 

20 each State, and the number of Representatives to 

21 which each State would be entitled under an appor22 tionment of the then existing number of Representa23 tives, as required by such section 22(a), and deter24 mined solely as described therein, within 14 days 


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1 after receipt of the tabulation reported by the Sec2 retary; and 

3 (3) the tabulations of populations required by 

4 subsection (c) of such section 141 shall be completed 

5 by the Secretary as expeditiously as possible after 

6 the census date of April 1, 2020, taking into account 

7 the deadlines of each State for legislative apportion8 ment or districting, and reported to the Governor of 

9 the State involved and to the officers or public bod10 ies having responsibility for legislative apportion11 ment or districting of that State, except that the 

12 tabulations of population of each State requesting a 

13 tabulation plan, and basic tabulations of population 

14 of each other State, shall be completed, reported, 

15 and transmitted to each respective State within 16 

16 months after the decennial census date of April 1, 

17 2020. 

18 SEC. 3. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS FOR 2020 CENSUS. 

19 On the first day of each month during the period be20 ginning on the date of enactment of this Act and ending 

21 on July 31, 2021, the Director of the Bureau of the Cen22 sus shall submit to the Committee on Homeland Security 

23 and Governmental Affairs of the Senate, the Committee 

24 on Appropriations of the Senate, the Committee on Over25 sight and Reform of the House of Representatives, and 


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1 the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Rep2 resentatives a report regarding the 2020 decennial census 

3 of population that contains the following information: 

4 (1) The total number of field staff, sorted by 

5 category, hired by the Bureau compared to the num6 ber of field staff the Bureau estimated was nec7 essary to carry out the census. 

8 (2) Retention rates of the field staff described 

9 in paragraph (1). 

10 (3) Average wait time for call center calls and 

11 average wait time for each language provided. 

12 (4) Anticipated schedule of census operations. 

13 (5) Total appropriations available for obligation 

14 for the census and a categorized list of total dis15 bursements. 

16 (6) Nonresponse Follow-up, Update Enumerate, 

17 and Update Leave completion rates by geographic 

18 location. 

19 (7) Anticipated schedule and completion rates 

20 for Group Quarters (including Service-based Enu21 meration and Targeted Non-Sheltered Outdoor Lo22 cation operations), Enumeration of Transitory Loca23 tion, and Remote Alaska operations. 

24 (8) Self-response rates by geographic location. 


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1 (9) Total spending to date on media, advertise2 ments, and partnership specialists, including geo3 graphic and demographically targeted breakdowns of 

4 the spending. 

5 (10) Post-enumeration schedule and subsequent 

6 data aggregation and delivery progress. 

7 (11) Post-enumeration survey schedule and 

8 completion progress, including anticipated schedule 

9 for release of results from the coverage measurement 

10 survey. 

11 SEC. 4. PROVIDING BUREAU OF THE CENSUS ACCESS TO 

12 INFORMATION FROM INSTITUTIONS OF HIGH13 ER EDUCATION. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi15 sion of law, including section 444 of the General Edu16 cation Provisions Act (20 U.S.C. 1232g) (commonly 

17 known as the ‘‘Family Educational Rights and Privacy 

18 Act of 1974’’), an institution of higher education may, in 

19 furtherance of a full and accurate decennial census of pop20 ulation, provide to the Bureau of the Census (referred to 

21 in this section as the ‘‘Bureau’’) information requested by 

22 the Bureau for purposes of enumeration for the 2020 de23 cennial census of population. 

24 (b) APPLICATION.— 


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1 (1) INFORMATION.—In carrying out subsection 

2 (a), an institution of higher education— 

3 (A) may only provide the Bureau with in4 formation requested on the official 2020 decen5 nial census of population form; and 

6 (B) may not provide any information to 

7 the Bureau on the immigration or citizenship 

8 status of any individual. 

9 (2) NOTICE REQUIRED.— 

10 (A) IN GENERAL.—Before providing infor11 mation to the Bureau under subsection (a), an 

12 institution of higher education shall— 

13 (i) give public notice of the categories 

14 of information that the institution plans to 

15 provide; and 

16 (ii) allow 10 days after giving public 

17 notice for a student to inform the institu18 tion that any or all of the information des19 ignated may not be released without the 

20 prior consent of the student. 

21 (B) PROHIBITION.—An institution of high22 er education may not provide the Bureau with 

23 the information of any student who has ob24 jected to the provision of that information 

25 under subparagraph (A). 


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1 (3) USE OF INFORMATION.—Information pro2 vided to the Bureau under subsection (a) may only 

3 be used for the purposes of enumeration for the 

4 2020 decennial census of population. 

5 (c) DEFINITION OF INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDU6 CATION.—In this section, the term ‘‘institution of higher 

7 education’’ has the meaning given the term in section 102 

8 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002). 

9 (d) SUNSET.—The authority under this section shall 

10 expire at the conclusion of 2020 decennial census oper11 ations. 

12 SEC. 5. LIMITATION. 

13 The Bureau of the Census may not compile, produce, 

14 or publish any data product or tabulation as part of, in 

15 combination with, or in connection with, the 2020 decen16 nial census of population or any such census data pro17 duced under section 141(c) of title 13, United States 

18 Code, that includes topics specific to the 2020 decennial 

19 census that were not part of— 

20 (1) the report submitted under section 

21 141(f)(1) of that title on March 28, 2017; and 

22 (2) the 2018 End-to-End Census Test con23 ducted in Providence County, Rhode Island. 


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1 SEC. 6. FUNDING. 

2 (a) APPROPRIATION.—There is appropriated to the 

3 Bureau of the Census, out of amounts in the Treasury 

4 not otherwise appropriated, for additional amounts for 

5 ‘‘Periodic Censuses and Programs’’, $400,000,000 for fis6 cal year 2020, to remain available through fiscal year 

7 2021. 

8 (b) USE OF FUNDS.—The amounts made available 

9 under subsection (a) shall be used to address the impacts 

10 of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID–19) on the 2020 

11 decennial census, and to support enhanced 2020 decennial 

12 census activities, including— 

13 (1) additional mailings to households that have 

14 not self-responded; 

15 (2) expanded communications and advertising 

16 targeted to low self-response communities in rural 

17 and urban areas, Native villages, and on Tribal 

18 lands; 

19 (3) targeted outreach to the location of the 

20 2018 End-to-End Census Test; 

21 (4) increased in-language outreach and assist22 ance; 

23 (5) expanded Census Questionnaire Assistance 

24 capacity; 


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1 (6) expanded field operations to enumerate peo2 ple experiencing homelessness at service-based facili3 ties and non-sheltered locations; and 

4 (7) a modified Questionnaire Assistance Center 

5 operation that includes mobile and fixed locations of6 fering assistance across all modes of census re7 sponse. 

Æ 


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