HBA-JEK H.B. 2639 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2639 By: Dutton Elections 4/3/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE People help their communities obtain state and federal funding when they complete the mandatory federal decennial census (census). Under current law, the approximately 135,000 individuals incarcerated in Texas prisons are counted at the address of the correctional facility. A significant number of these incarcerated persons will return to their home communities, use their community's resources, and may vote in future elections. Redistricting is also based on the census numbers; therefore, to obtain a more accurate count for redistricting purposes, incarcerated individuals should be counted at the last address at which the individual resided before being incarcerated. House Bill 2639 requires the comptroller to adjust the population counts reported in the census so that an inmate is counted at the last address at which the person resided before incarceration. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS House Bill 2639 amends the Government Code to require the comptroller to prepare and disseminate adjusted population counts for each geographic unit included in the federal decennial census (census) counts so that each unit includes the last address at which an inmate resided before the person's incarceration rather than the address of the facility where the person is incarcerated. The bill requires the comptroller to adjust all relevant population counts reported in the census totals and requires the adjustments to be made no later than the September 1 following the date on which the tract-level population counts for Texas are released by the director of the Bureau of the Census of the United State Department of Commerce. The bill requires the adjusted census counts to be used for redistricting, and authorizes a state governmental body or political subdivision to exceed the adjusted population restrictions only to the extent necessary to comply with federal law. H.B. 2639 requires each state or local governmental entity that operates a facility for the incarceration of persons convicted of a criminal offense to file a report containing the name, last address, and other identifying information of incarcerated persons no later than June 1 of each census year. The bill requires each applicable governmental entity to report no later than October 1, 2001, on each person incarcerated on April 1, 2001, and requires the comptroller to prepare adjusted population counts by January 1, 2002, for each geographic unit included in the 2000 census. The bill requires the comptroller to request each agency that operates a federal facility in this state that incarcerates persons convicted of a criminal offense to provide the comptroller with a report including the information specified in the bill. EFFECTIVE DATE On passage, or if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act takes effect September 1, 2001.