I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7974 

To modify the deadline for completing the 2020 decennial census of population 

and related tabulations, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

AUGUST 7, 2020 

Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York (for herself, Mr. GOMEZ, Ms. 

DEAN, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Ms. HAALAND, Mr. HIGGINS of New 

York, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Ms. SCANLON, Ms. SA ́NCHEZ, Ms. 

MCCOLLUM, Ms. NORTON, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. HORSFORD, Mr. CICILLINE, 

Ms. ESHOO, and Mr. CONNOLLY) introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and in addition to 

the Committee on Education and Labor, 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 

A BILL 

To modify the deadline 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’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. CENSUS DEADLINE MODIFICATION. 

2 Notwithstanding the timetables provided in sub3 sections (b) and (c) of section 141 of title 13, United 

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

5 Act to provide for the fifteenth and subsequent decennial 

6 censuses and to provide for apportionment of Representa7 tives in Congress’’, approved June 18, 1929 (2 U.S.C. 

8 2a(a)), for the 2020 decennial census of population— 

9 (1) the tabulation of total population by States 

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

11 the apportionment of Representatives in Congress 

12 among the several States shall be— 

13 (A) completed and reported by the Sec14 retary of Commerce (referred to in this section 

15 as the ‘‘Secretary’’) to the President no earlier 

16 than one year after the decennial census date of 

17 April 1, 2020, and not later than April 30, 

18 2021; and 

19 (B) made public by the Secretary not later 

20 than the date on which the tabulation is re21 ported to the President under subparagraph 

22 (A); 

23 (2) the President shall transmit to Congress a 

24 statement showing the whole number of persons in 

25 each State, and the number of Representatives to 

26 which each State would be entitled under an apporVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Aug 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7974.IH H7974

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1 tionment of the then existing number of Representa2 tives, as required by such section 22(a), and deter3 mined solely as described therein, immediately upon 

4 receipt of the tabulation reported by the Secretary; 

5 and 

6 (3) the tabulations of populations required by 

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

8 by the Secretary as expeditiously as possible after 

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

10 the deadlines of each State for legislative apportion11 ment or districting, and reported to the Governor of 

12 the State involved and to the officers or public bod13 ies having responsibility for legislative apportion14 ment or districting of that State, except that the 

15 tabulations of population of each State requesting a 

16 tabulation plan, and basic tabulations of population 

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

18 and transmitted to each respective State not later 

19 than July 30, 2021. 

20 SEC. 3. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS FOR 2020 CENSUS. 

21 On the first day of each month during the period be22 tween the date of enactment of this Act and July 1, 2021, 

23 the Director of the Bureau of the Census shall submit, 

24 to the Committee on Oversight and Reform of the House 

25 of Representatives, the Committee on Homeland Security 


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1 and Governmental Affairs of the Senate, and the Commit2 tees on Appropriations of the House and the Senate, a 

3 report regarding the 2020 decennial census of population 

4 containing the following information: 

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

6 category, hired by the Bureau compared to the num7 ber of field staff the Bureau estimated was nec8 essary to carry out such census. 

9 (2) Retention rates of such hired field staff. 

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

11 average wait time for each language provided. 

12 (4) Anticipated schedule of such census oper13 ations. 

14 (5) Total appropriations available for obligation 

15 for such census and a categorized list of total dis16 bursements. 

17 (6) Nonresponse Followup completion rates by 

18 geographic location. 

19 (7) Update/Enumerate and Update/Leave com20 pletion rates by geographic location. 

21 (8) Total spending to date on media, advertise22 ments, and partnership specialists, including a geo23 graphic breakdown of such spending. 

24 (9) Post-enumeration schedule and subsequent 

25 data aggregation and delivery progress. 


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

2 INFORMATION FROM INSTITUTIONS OF HIGH3 ER EDUCATION. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi5 sion of law, including section 444 of the General Edu6 cation Provisions Act (commonly known as the ‘‘Family 

7 Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974’’), an institu8 tion of higher education may, in furtherance of a full and 

9 accurate decennial census of population count, provide to 

10 the Bureau of the Census information requested by the 

11 Bureau for purposes of enumeration for the 2020 decen12 nial census of population. 

13 (b) APPLICATION.— 

14 (1) INFORMATION.—Only information requested 

15 on the official 2020 decennial census of population 

16 form may be provided to the Bureau of the Census 

17 pursuant to this section. No institution of higher 

18 education may provide any information to the Bu19 reau on the immigration or citizenship status of any 

20 individual. 

21 (2) NOTICE REQUIRED.—Before information 

22 can be provided to the Bureau, the institution of 

23 higher education shall give public notice of the cat24 egories of information which it plans to provide and 

25 shall allow 10 days after such notice has been given 

26 for a student to inform the institution that any or 


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1 all of the information designated should not be re2 leased without the student’s prior consent. No insti3 tution of higher education shall provide the Bureau 

4 with the information of any individual who has ob5 jected to the provision of such information. 

6 (3) USE OF INFORMATION.—Information pro7 vided to the Bureau pursuant to this section may 

8 only be used for the purposes of enumeration for the 

9 2020 decennial census of population. 

10 (c) DEFINITION OF INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDU11 CATION.—In this section, the term ‘‘institution of higher 

12 education’’ has the meaning given that term in section 102 

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

14 (d) SUNSET.—The authority provided in this section 

15 shall expire at the conclusion of 2020 census operations. 

16 SEC. 5. LIMITATION. 

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

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

19 combination with, or in connection with, the 2020 decen20 nial census of population or any such census data pro21 duced pursuant to section 141(c) of title 13, United States 

22 Code, that includes topics specific to the 2020 Census that 

23 were not part of the report submitted pursuant to section 

24 141(f)(1) of title 13, United States Code, on March 28, 


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1 2017, and the 2018 End-to-End Census Test conducted 

2 in Providence County, Rhode Island. 

3 SEC. 6. NRFU OPERATION. 

4 For the 2020 decennial census of population, the Bu5 reau of the Census shall conclude the Nonresponse Fol6 lowup operation and the self-response operation no earlier 

7 than October 31, 2020. 

Æ 


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