Baca sponsors legislation for accurate census count
Rep. Joe Baca last week introduced legislation to make sure the census count that occurs every 10 years tabulates the total number of persons in each state.
The legislation also eliminates any provisions in the census requiring information on citizenship or immigration status, according to a news release from Baca's office.
H.R. 3855, the Every Person Counts Act, amends Title 13 of the U.S. Code to clarify that each decennial census accurately counts all people residing in the nation and does not exclude anyone based on immigration status.
Baca introduced H.R. 3855 in direct response to an amendment by Sen. David Vitter, R-La., to the Commerce-Justice Science Appropriations Bill, according to the news release.
The Vitter amendment would require that 2010 Census questionnaires include a specific question asking the immigration status of respondents, according to a news release from Baca's office. If passed into law, this amendment would require the reprinting of 425 million Census questionnaires.
"The census is the most important source of data about our nation's population," Baca said.
"We must not jeopardize a timely or accurate count because of the whims of some who choose to play politics with this issue.
"The Vitter amendment clearly violates the spirit of the Constitution, which mandates a count of all our nation's residents for apportionment purposes, and would cost our nation millions of dollars during this time of economic duress ... I am proud to introduce the Every Person Counts Act, which ensures this type of unconstitutional and discriminatory language cannot be included in the 2010 Census, or any future counts."
The act also ensures that children under the age of 18 years old, overseas military personal, federal employees and other people who can be traced administratively back to a home state will not be excluded from any decennial census, according to the news release.
Baca is a Democrat who represents the 43rd District, which includes Fontana and Ontario.
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