Texas House Bill HB146

Texas 2021 - 87th 3rd C.S.

Caption

Relating to determining the residence of incarcerated persons.

Impact

The implementation of HB 146 will directly affect the way governments draw electoral districts in Texas. Specifically, state and local entities will be required to use adjusted census population counts that exclude incarcerated individuals from the populations of the districts where the facilities are located. This could lead to more equitable representation as it addresses the discrepancies caused by counting prisoners at the facilities instead of their last known residential addresses before incarceration.

Summary

House Bill 146 aims to address how the residence of incarcerated persons is determined for purposes of census counts and subsequent redistricting. The bill specifies that when calculating populations for various governing districts, adjusted counts will account for individuals who have been incarcerated. These adjustments are meant to ensure that the population numbers more accurately reflect the communities where individuals resided prior to their incarceration, rather than the locations of the facilities in which they are currently held.

Contention

Some points of contention surrounding HB 146 include concerns about the implications for political representation in communities that have high incarceration rates. Proponents of the bill argue that accurately reflecting the population of a community leads to fair representation, while opponents may raise concerns about the potential impact on districts that could lose population counts and, consequently, political representation. Furthermore, issues related to confidentiality and the logistics of gathering and reporting the necessary demographic data have also been highlighted as important considerations.