View Comment Letter

A proposed rule by the U.S. Census Bureau would upend the upcoming 2030 Census by, among other things, excluding millions of noncitizens and prohibiting questions about race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. Among other harms, these changes would undermine the accuracy of the Census, put the entire state of New Jersey and many of its communities at risk of losing representation, and threaten access to critical federal funding.

“Everyone counts in New Jersey—just as the Constitution requires. The proposed census rule ignores that constitutional mandate and would undercount our population,” said Attorney General Davenport. “This would lead to the loss of an untold amount of federal funding for critical services and programs that touch all of our lives and our communities, including for vital public safety initiatives.”

In the comment letter, Attorney General Davenport and the coalition explain that the proposed rule would:

·    Unlawfully exclude millions of immigrants from the Census count, including individuals residing here on work or student visas. These exclusions violate the Fourteenth Amendment’s requirement to count all persons for congressional apportionment and the Census Act, which requires the Census Bureau to report each state’s total population for determining its share of congressional seats.

·    Undermine critical demographic data that states rely on to serve their communities by prohibiting questions about race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. This would deprive states of critical data they rely on to shape public policy, identify disparities, evaluate government programs, enforce antidiscrimination laws, and support research. The decennial census has collected demographic information, including about race, since 1790.

·    Jeopardize the accuracy of the Census by abandoning the longstanding “usual residence” standard. Since the first Census in 1790, it has counted people at their usual residence — where they typically live and sleep. The proposal would abandon that longstanding principle in favor of a new test based on where people lawfully spend the greatest number of days between January 3 and April 1, while also using tax records to determine residency. This could result in people being counted in vacation homes, workplaces, or other places where they do not ordinarily live, distorting state population counts and the apportionment of representation.

In submitting the comment letter, Attorney General Davenport joins the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia, as well as the governors of the Commonwealths of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.