Bill > A05047

This bill modifies the definition of "population" in the municipal home rule law to standardize how local governments count residents for legislative representation purposes. Specifically, the bill removes references to citizens and registered voters, and instead defines population solely as residents. The bill also explicitly excludes individuals in state correctional facilities from being counted as residents of the local government where the facility is located. When creating district or redistricting plans, local governments must use the most recent official population enumeration and can use methods like extrapolation to allocate population data across representation areas, but must provide a detailed explanation of how such allocations were made. The key change is ensuring that population counts for legislative representation are based on total resident numbers, regardless of citizenship status, and preventing the counting of incarcerated individuals in the local population where they are temporarily confined. This modification aims to provide more equitable representation by focusing on actual resident populations.

Government Affairs

https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2025/A5047