Title: Fair and Accurate Census Act
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics

Summary:
Fair and Accurate Census Act
This bill extends the deadline for the U.S. Census Bureau to complete the 2020 decennial census of population and related tabulations.
The bill requires the bureau to report specified information, such as (1) the total number of field staff, sorted by category; (2) the anticipated schedule of census operations; and (3) total spending on media, advertisements, and partnership specialists.
An institution of higher education may provide to the bureau information requested for purposes of enumeration for the 2020 decennial census of population.
The bureau may not compile, produce, or publish any data product or tabulation as part of, in combination with, or in connection with the 2020 decennial census of population or any such census data that includes topics specific to the 2020 census that were not part of a report submitted on March 28, 2017, and the 2018 End-to-End Census Test conducted in Providence County, Rhode Island.
For the 2020 decennial census, the bureau shall conclude the nonresponse follow-up operation and the self-response operation no earlier than October 31, 2020.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7974 Introduced in House (IH)]

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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. Sanchez, 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.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Fair and Accurate Census Act''.

SEC. 2. CENSUS DEADLINE MODIFICATION.

    Notwithstanding the timetables provided in subsections (b) and (c) 
of section 141 of title 13, United States Code, and section 22(a) of 
the Act entitled ``An Act to provide for the fifteenth and subsequent 
decennial censuses and to provide for apportionment of Representatives 
in Congress'', approved June 18, 1929 (2 U.S.C. 2a(a)), for the 2020 
decennial census of population--
            (1) the tabulation of total population by States required 
        by subsection (a) of such section 141 for the apportionment of 
        Representatives in Congress among the several States shall be--
                    (A) completed and reported by the Secretary of 
                Commerce (referred to in this section as the 
                ``Secretary'') to the President no earlier than one 
                year after the decennial census date of April 1, 2020, 
                and not later than April 30, 2021; and
                    (B) made public by the Secretary not later than the 
                date on which the tabulation is reported to the 
                President under subparagraph (A);
            (2) the President shall transmit to Congress a statement 
        showing the whole number of persons in each State, and the 
        number of Representatives to which each State would be entitled 
        under an apportionment of the then existing number of 
        Representatives, as required by such section 22(a), and 
        determined solely as described therein, immediately upon 
        receipt of the tabulation reported by the Secretary; and
            (3) the tabulations of populations required by subsection 
        (c) of such section 141 shall be completed by the Secretary as 
        expeditiously as possible after the census date of April 1, 
        2020, taking into account the deadlines of each State for 
        legislative apportionment or districting, and reported to the 
        Governor of the State involved and to the officers or public 
        bodies having responsibility for legislative apportionment or 
        districting of that State, except that the tabulations of 
        population of each State requesting a tabulation plan, and 
        basic tabulations of population of each other State, shall be 
        completed, reported, and transmitted to each respective State 
        not later than July 30, 2021.

SEC. 3. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS FOR 2020 CENSUS.

    On the first day of each month during the period between the date 
of enactment of this Act and July 1, 2021, the Director of the Bureau 
of the Census shall submit, to the Committee on Oversight and Reform of 
the House of Representatives, the Committee on Homeland Security and 
Governmental Affairs of the Senate, and the Committees on 
Appropriations of the House and the Senate, a report regarding the 2020 
decennial census of population containing the following information:
            (1) The total number of field staff, sorted by category, 
        hired by the Bureau compared to the number of field staff the 
        Bureau estimated was necessary to carry out such census.
            (2) Retention rates of such hired field staff.
            (3) Average wait time for call center calls and average 
        wait time for each language provided.
            (4) Anticipated schedule of such census operations.
            (5) Total appropriations available for obligation for such 
        census and a categorized list of total disbursements.
            (6) Nonresponse Followup completion rates by geographic 
        location.
            (7) Update/Enumerate and Update/Leave completion rates by 
        geographic location.
            (8) Total spending to date on media, advertisements, and 
        partnership specialists, including a geographic breakdown of 
        such spending.
            (9) Post-enumeration schedule and subsequent data 
        aggregation and delivery progress.

SEC. 4. PROVIDING BUREAU OF THE CENSUS ACCESS TO INFORMATION FROM 
              INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION.

    (a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 
including section 444 of the General Education Provisions Act (commonly 
known as the ``Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974''), an 
institution of higher education may, in furtherance of a full and 
accurate decennial census of population count, provide to the Bureau of 
the Census information requested by the Bureau for purposes of 
enumeration for the 2020 decennial census of population.
    (b) Application.--
            (1) Information.--Only information requested on the 
        official 2020 decennial census of population form may be 
        provided to the Bureau of the Census pursuant to this section. 
        No institution of higher education may provide any information 
        to the Bureau on the immigration or citizenship status of any 
        individual.
            (2) Notice required.--Before information can be provided to 
        the Bureau, the institution of higher education shall give 
        public notice of the categories of information which it plans 
        to provide and shall allow 10 days after such notice has been 
        given for a student to inform the institution that any or all 
        of the information designated should not be released without 
        the student's prior consent. No institution of higher education 
        shall provide the Bureau with the information of any individual 
        who has objected to the provision of such information.
            (3) Use of information.--Information provided to the Bureau 
        pursuant to this section may only be used for the purposes of 
        enumeration for the 2020 decennial census of population.
    (c) Definition of Institution of Higher Education.--In this 
section, the term ``institution of higher education'' has the meaning 
given that term in section 102 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 
U.S.C. 1002).
    (d) Sunset.--The authority provided in this section shall expire at 
the conclusion of 2020 census operations.

SEC. 5. LIMITATION.

    The Bureau of the Census may not compile, produce, or publish any 
data product or tabulation as part of, in combination with, or in 
connection with, the 2020 decennial census of population or any such 
census data produced pursuant to section 141(c) of title 13, United 
States Code, that includes topics specific to the 2020 Census that were 
not part of the report submitted pursuant to section 141(f)(1) of title 
13, United States Code, on March 28, 2017, and the 2018 End-to-End 
Census Test conducted in Providence County, Rhode Island.

SEC. 6. NRFU OPERATION.

    For the 2020 decennial census of population, the Bureau of the 
Census shall conclude the Nonresponse Followup operation and the self-
response operation no earlier than October 31, 2020.
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