A bill has been introduced to the House of Representatives to "repeal the authority to conduct certain censuses." Among other things, it would effectively repeal the Census of Agriculture, the Economic Census, the Census of Governments, and American Communities Survey, and largely limit the function of the Census Bureau to conducting the "short form" decennial census once every ten years.
The bill appears below in its entirety.
H. R. 1638
To repeal the authority to conduct certain censuses, and
for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 18, 2013
Mr. Duncan of South
Carolina (for himself, Mr.
Chaffetz, Mr. Harris,
Mr. Jones,
Mr. Pearce,
Mr. Ribble, and
Mr. Southerland) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government
Reform, and in addition to the Committees on
Agriculture and
Appropriations, for a
period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the
committee concerned
A BILL
To repeal the authority to conduct certain censuses, and
for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
This Act may be cited as the
“Census Reform Act of 2013”.
SEC. 2. Repeal and
cancellation of certain census activities under title 13, United States
Code.
(a) Repeal of census
relating to agriculture.—Chapter 3 of title 13, United States Code,
is repealed.
(b) Repeal of
economic census.—Subchapter I of chapter 5 of such title is
repealed.
(c)
Repeal of
mid-Decade census.—Section 141
of such title is amended—
(1) by striking
subsection (d);
(2) by striking
subsection (e) and inserting the following:
“(e) If in the administration of any program
established by or under Federal law which provides benefits to State or local
governments or to other recipients, eligibility for or the amount of such
benefits would (without regard to this subsection) be determined by taking into
account data obtained in the most recent decennial census then in the
determination of such eligibility or amount of benefits the most recent data
available from either the mid-decade or decennial census shall be
used.”;
and
(3) in subsection (f),
by striking “and mid-decade” and “or (d)”.
(d) Repeal of census
of governments.—Subchapter III
of chapter 5 of title 13, United States Code, is repealed.
(e)
Effect on census
activities.—Beginning on the
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Commerce and the Bureau of
the Census—
(1) are not authorized to carry out any
activities with respect to—
(A) a census conducted under chapter 3,
subchapter I or subchapter III of chapter 5, or section 141(d) of such title,
as in effect on the day before the date of the enactment of this Act; or
(B) a survey (including the survey, conducted
by the Secretary of Commerce, which is commonly referred to as the
“American Community Survey”), sampling, or other questionnaire
conducted under such title;
(2) shall terminate any activities being
carried out with respect to any such census, survey, sampling, or
questionnaire; and
(3) may only conduct
the decennial census of population, as authorized under section 141 of title
13, United States Code.
(f)
Rescission of
unobligated amounts.—Any unobligated amounts available to carry
out the American Community Survey or the following provisions of title 13,
United States Code, are rescinded:
(1) Section 141(d).
(2) Chapter 3.
(3) Subchapter I and
subchapter III of chapter 5.
SEC. 3. Prohibition on
surveys or questionnaires; limitations on statistics collected in a decennial
census.
(a) In
general.—Subchapter I of chapter 1 of title 13, United States
Code, is amended by inserting after section 5 the following:
Ҥ 5a. Prohibition on
surveys or questionnaires; limitation on statistics
“(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of
law—
“(1) the Secretary may
not conduct any survey, sampling, or other questionnaire, and may only conduct
a decennial census of population as authorized under section 141; and
“(2) any form used by the Secretary in such a
decennial census may only collect information necessary for the tabulation of
total population by
States.”.
(b) Repeal of
survey, questionnaire, or sampling authority.—Sections 182, 193,
and 195 of title 13, United States Code, are repealed.
(c)
Conforming
amendments.—Section 141 of
such title is amended—
(1) in subsection (a),
by striking “The Secretary” and inserting “Consistent with
the limitations set forth in section 5a, the Secretary”; and
(2) in subsection (g),
by striking “, housing, and matters relating to population and
housing”.
SEC. 4. REPEAL OF CENSUS
OF AGRICULTURE ACT OF 1997.
(a) In
general.—The Census of
Agriculture Act of 1997 (7 U.S.C. 2201 note; Public Law 105–113) is
repealed.
(b)
Effect on
2013 census.—Beginning on the date of the enactment of
this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture—
(1) is not authorized to carry out any
activities with respect to the census required to be conducted in 2013 under
the Census of Agriculture Act of 1997 (7 U.S.C. 2201 note; Public Law 105–113),
as in effect on the day before the date of the enactment of this Act;
and
(2) shall terminate any activities being
carried out with respect to such census.
(c) Rescission of
unobligated funds.—Any unobligated amounts available to carry out
the Census of Agriculture Act (7 U.S.C. 2201 note; Public Law 105–113) are
rescinded.
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