HCS SJR 8(JUD): Relating to the 2000 decennial United States census and to the development of redistricting data for use by the state in legislative redistricting.
00HOUSE CS FOR SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 8(JUD) 01 Relating to the 2000 decennial United States census and to the development of 02 redistricting data for use by the state in legislative redistricting. 03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 WHEREAS the Constitution of the United States requires an enumeration of the 05 population every 10 years and entrusts the Congress with overseeing each decennial 06 enumeration; and 07 WHEREAS the sole constitutional purpose of the decennial census is to apportion the 08 seats in the United States House of Representatives among the several states; and 09 WHEREAS an accurate and legal decennial census is necessary to properly apportion 10 the seats in the United States House of Representatives among the states and to create 11 legislative districts within the states; and 12 WHEREAS 13 U.S.C. 141(c) mandates that the Bureau of the Census provide each 13 state with basic tabulations of population (P.L. 94-171 data) within one year after the 14 decennial census date; and
01 WHEREAS the Alaska State Legislature believes that Article I, Section 2, Constitution 02 of the United States, in order to ensure an accurate count and to minimize the potential for 03 political manipulation, mandates an "actual enumeration," meaning a physical headcount of 04 the population, and prohibits reliance on estimates of the population for purposes of 05 apportioning seats in the United States House of Representatives among the several states; and 06 WHEREAS legislative redistricting conducted by the states is a critical subfunction 07 of the constitutional requirement to apportion representatives among the states; and 08 WHEREAS the United States Supreme Court, in Department of Commerce v. United 09 States House, slip. op. no. 98-404, 1999 WL 24616, 67 U.S.L.W. 4090, ruled on January 25, 10 1999, that 13 U.S.C. 195 prohibits the proposed use by the Bureau of the Census of statistical 11 sampling in the determination of population for purposes of apportioning seats in the United 12 States House of Representatives among the several states; and 13 WHEREAS the appellees in Department of Commerce v. United States House 14 established standing partly on the basis of a claim of expected intrastate vote dilution due to 15 the proposed use by the Bureau of the Census of statistical sampling; and 16 WHEREAS the use of census data adjusted by means of sampling or other statistical 17 methodologies in redistricting by the State of Alaska could raise serious issues of vote dilution 18 and violate "one-person, one-vote" legal protections, expose the state to protracted and costly 19 litigation over redistricting, and ultimately result in a court ruling invalidating the redistricting 20 plan; and 21 WHEREAS the Alaska State Legislature believes that a person, once enumerated, 22 should not be counted by sampling or other statistical methodologies for purposes of 23 redistricting; and 24 WHEREAS every reasonable and practical effort should be made to obtain the fullest 25 and most accurate count of the population possible, including appropriate funding for state and 26 local census outreach and education programs and post-census local review; 27 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature calls on the Bureau of the 28 Census to conduct the 2000 decennial census consistent with the ruling in Department of 29 Commerce v. United States House and with the Constitution of the United States; and be it 30 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature calls on the Bureau of the 31 Census to conduct a physical headcount of the population and not to use random sampling
01 techniques or other statistical methodologies that add persons to or subtract persons from the 02 census counts in developing redistricting data under P.L. 94-171 for use by the states in 03 intrastate redistricting; and be it 04 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature opposes the use of P.L. 94- 05 171 data for state legislative redistricting based on census numbers that have been determined 06 in whole or in part by the use of statistical inferences derived by means of random sampling 07 techniques or other statistical methodologies that add or subtract persons; and be it 08 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature requests that Alaska be 09 given P.L. 94-171 data for legislative redistricting identical to the census tabulation data used 10 to apportion seats in the United States House of Representatives, derived from a physical 11 headcount of the population, and not adjusted using random sampling techniques or other 12 statistical methodologies that add persons to or subtract persons from the census counts; and 13 be it 14 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the Congress, as the 15 branch of government assigned the responsibility of overseeing the decennial enumeration of 16 the population, to take whatever steps are necessary to ensure that the 2000 decennial census 17 is conducted fairly and legally. 18 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Bill Clinton, President of the 19 United States; the Honorable Al Gore, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and President 20 of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable William M. Daley, Secretary of the U.S. Department of 21 Commerce; the Honorable J. Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; 22 the Honorable Trent Lott, Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate; and to the Honorable Ted 23 Stevens and the Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, 24 U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.