Bill > S0524

This bill requires the Department of Corrections to collect and maintain electronic records of the legal residence and demographic data for individuals in state custody, with the goal of ensuring that incarcerated persons are counted at their actual home address during redistricting, rather than at their place of incarceration. Starting January 1, 2026, the department must collect each person's last known complete street address, race, Hispanic/Latino origin status, and age. By May 1st each year, the Department of Corrections will provide this information to the Division of Statewide Planning, which must then prepare redistricting population data that reflects incarcerated individuals at their residential address. The bill aims to address a discrepancy where the census currently classifies incarcerated persons as residents of their correctional facilities, potentially skewing population counts for congressional, state, and local government districts. The legislation includes provisions to protect individual privacy by prohibiting the disclosure of personally identifiable information and specifies that the data cannot be used for distributing state or federal aid. The bill ensures that incarcerated populations with unknown geographic locations will not be used to determine district populations, and requires the Division of Statewide Planning to publish its redistricting data within 30 days of receiving federal census data.

Justice

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