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CT Substitute Senate Bill No. 753, an Act Concerning the Counting of Incarcerated Individuals for Determining Voting Districts 2021

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Substitute Senate Bill No. 753

Public Act No. 21-13
AN ACT CONCERNING THE COUNTING OF CERTAIN
INCARCERATED INDIVIDUALS FOR PURPOSES OF DETERMINING
STATE LEGISLATIVE AND MUNICIPAL VOTING DISTRICTS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective from passage) (a) (1) Except as provided in
subdivision (2) of this subsection, on or before the thirtieth day of June
in 2021, and thereafter on or before the first day of May in each year in
which the decennial census of the United States is taken and in which
the United States Census Bureau counts any incarcerated individual as
a resident of the town in which such incarcerated individual's respective
correctional facility is located, the Department of Correction shall
deliver to the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management in such
form as the secretary shall prescribe:
(A) A unique identifier for each incarcerated individual subject to the
jurisdiction of the department on the date for which the decennial
census reports population;
(B) The street address of the correctional facility in which such
individual was incarcerated at the time of such report;
(C) The residential or other address of such individual prior to
incarceration;

Substitute Senate Bill No. 753

(D) An indication of whether such individual has attained the age of
eighteen years;
(E) Such individual's race and whether such individual is of Hispanic
or Latino origin, if known; and
(F) Any additional information the secretary may request pursuant
to law.
(2) In the case of each incarcerated individual who is serving a
sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of release, the
Department of Correction shall not deliver to the Secretary of the Office
of Policy and Management the information described in subparagraph
(C) of subdivision (1) of this subsection.
(3) Notwithstanding any provision of the general statutes, the
information required to be provided under this subsection shall not
include the name of any incarcerated individual or in any other way
allow for the identification of any such individual from such
information. Such information shall be confidential and not otherwise
disclosed, except to the secretary for the purposes of subsection (c) of
this section, or as aggregated by census block for the purposes of
subsection (d) of this section.
(b) (1) Except as provided in subdivision (2) of this subsection, on or
before the thirtieth day of June in 2021, and thereafter on or before the
first day of May in each year in which the decennial census of the United
States is taken and in which the United States Census Bureau counts any
incarcerated individual as a resident of the town in which such
incarcerated individual's respective correctional facility is located, the
Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management shall request each
agency that operates a federal correctional facility in this state to provide
the secretary with a report including the information listed in
subdivision (1) of subsection (a) of this section.
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Substitute Senate Bill No. 753

(2) In the case of each incarcerated individual who is serving a
sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of release, the
Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management shall not request of
any agency that operates a federal correctional facility in this state that
such agency provide the secretary with the information described in
subparagraph (C) of subdivision (1) of subsection (a) of this section.
(c) (1) Except as provided in subdivision (4) of this subsection, for
each individual included in a report received under subsection (a) or (b)
of this section, the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management
shall determine the geographic units for which population counts are
reported in the decennial census of the United States, which units
contain the address of the facility in which such individual was
incarcerated, and such individual's prior residential or other address as
listed in such report.
(2) Except as provided in subdivision (4) of this subsection, for each
individual included in a report received under subsection (a) or (b) of
this section, if such individual's prior residential or other address is
known and in this state, the secretary shall adjust such information to:
(A) Ensure that all relevant population counts reported in the
decennial census are as if such individual resided at such address on the
date for which the census reports population; and
(B) Ensure that such individual is not represented in any applicable
population count reported in the decennial census for the geographic
units that include the facility in which such individual was incarcerated
on the date for which the census reports population, unless such
individual's prior residential or other address is located within the same
such geographic units.
(3) Except as provided in subdivision (4) of this subsection, for each
individual included in a report received under subsection (a) or (b) of
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this section whose residential or other address is unknown or not in this
state, and for each individual reported in the decennial census as
residing in a federal correctional facility for whom a report was not
provided, the secretary shall adjust such information to:
(A) Ensure that such individual is not represented in any applicable
population count reported in the decennial census for the geographic
units that include the facility in which such individual was incarcerated
on the date for which the census reports population; and
(B) Ensure that such individual is counted as part of a state unit not
tied to a specific geographical location, in the same manner that an
individual with an unknown state of residency is counted, including,
but not limited to, military and federal government personnel stationed
abroad.
(4) For each individual included in a report received under subsection
(a) or (b) of this section who is serving a sentence of life imprisonment
without the possibility of release, the secretary shall not adjust such
information and shall ensure that such individual is represented in the
applicable population count reported in the decennial census for the
geographic units that include the facility in which such individual was
incarcerated on the date for which the census reports population.
(d) The Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management shall
prepare and publish such information, both adjusted and unadjusted,
pursuant to subsection (c) of this section on or before either the first day
of July next following the year in which the decennial census of the
United States is taken or the thirtieth day after the publication of the
redistricting data for this state by the United States Census Bureau in
such year, whichever is later, and such adjusted and unadjusted
information shall be the basis for determining state assembly and
senatorial districts, as well as municipal voting districts. No residence at
an unknown geographical location within the state under subdivision
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(3) of subsection (c) of this section may be used to determine the average
population of any set of districts. The secretary shall notify each
municipality that the adjusted and unadjusted information shall be used
for the purposes of determining municipal voting districts.
(e) The Department of Correction shall (1) determine the residential
or other address of each individual who is committed to the custody of
the department as of or after January 1, 2020, and decennially thereafter,
and who remains so committed on the date for which the census reports
population, and (2) maintain an electronic record of such address. Such
record shall contain, at a minimum, the last-known residential or other
address of each such individual prior to incarceration.

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