Equal Representation Act of 2025

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 151 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 151

 To require a citizenship question on the decennial census, to require
reporting on certain census statistics, and to modify apportionment of
 Representatives to be based on United States citizens instead of all
                                persons.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 3, 2025

   Mr. Edwards (for himself, Mr. Davidson, Mr. Bean of Florida, Mr.
    Rouzer, Mr. Nehls, Mr. Collins, Mrs. Cammack, Ms. Hageman, Mr.
   Fleischmann, Mr. Higgins of Louisiana, Mr. Bost, Mr. Palmer, Mrs.
 Houchin, Mr. Guest, Mr. Miller of Ohio, Mr. Fitzgerald, and Mr. Moore
 of Alabama) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
              Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 To require a citizenship question on the decennial census, to require
reporting on certain census statistics, and to modify apportionment of
 Representatives to be based on United States citizens instead of all
                                persons.

    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 ``Equal Representation Act''.

SEC. 2. CITIZENSHIP STATUS ON DECENNIAL CENSUS.

    (a) In General.--Section 141 of title 13, United States Code, is
amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsection (g) as subsection (h); and
            (2) by inserting after subsection (f) the following:
    ``(g)(1) In conducting the 2030 decennial census and each decennial
census thereafter, the Secretary shall include in any questionnaire
distributed or otherwise used for the purpose of determining the total
population by States a checkbox or other similar option for the
respondent to indicate, for the respondent and for each of the members
of the household of the respondent, whether that individual is--
            ``(A) a citizen of the United States;
            ``(B) a national of the United States but not a citizen of
        the United States;
            ``(C) an alien lawfully residing in the United States; or
            ``(D) an alien unlawfully residing in the United States.
    ``(2) Not later than 120 days after completion of a decennial
census of the population under subsection (a), the Secretary shall make
publicly available the number of persons per State, disaggregated by
each of the 4 categories described in subparagraphs (A) through (D) of
paragraph (1), as tabulated in accordance with this section.''.

SEC. 3. EXCLUSION OF NONCITIZENS FROM NUMBER OF PERSONS USED TO
              DETERMINE APPORTIONMENT OF REPRESENTATIVES AND NUMBER OF
              ELECTORAL VOTES.

    (a) Exclusion.--Section 22(a) of the Act entitled ``An Act to
provide for the fifteenth and subsequent decennial censuses and to
provide for an apportionment of Representatives in Congress'', approved
June 18, 1929 (2 U.S.C. 2a(a)), is amended by inserting after ``not
taxed'' the following: ``and individuals who are not citizens of the
United States''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall
apply with respect to the apportionment of Representatives carried out
pursuant to the decennial census conducted during 2030 and any
succeeding decennial census.

SEC. 4. SEVERABILITY CLAUSE.

    If any provision of this Act or amendment made by this Act, or the
application thereof to any person or circumstance, is held to be
unconstitutional, the remainder of the provisions of this Act and
amendments made by this Act, and the application of the provision or
amendment to any other person or circumstance, shall not be affected.
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