AJR32: Joint Resolution Text

LRB-2315/1

PJD&JTK:kmg:jf

1999 - 2000 LEGISLATURE

1999 Assembly JOINT RESOLUTION 32

March 16, 1999 - Introduced by Representatives Ladwig, Handrick, Albers, Brandemuehl, Freese, Goetsch, Grothman, Gunderson, Gundrum, Hahn, Hoven, Huebsch, Jensen, Kestell, Klusman, Leibham, Montgomery, Nass, Owens, Petrowski, Porter, Seratti, Spillner, Stone, Sykora and Urban, cosponsored by Senators Huelsman, Darling, Roessler, Rosenzweig and Welch. Referred to Committee on Rules.

AJR32,1,2 Relating to: the plan of the U.S. Census Bureau to use statistical sampling in the decennial census.

AJR32,1,5 Whereas, the U.S. Constitution requires an actual enumeration of the population every 10 years and entrusts Congress with overseeing all aspects of each decennial enumeration; and

AJR32,1,7 Whereas, the sole constitutional purpose of the decennial census is to apportion the seats in Congress among the several states; and

AJR32,1,10 Whereas, an accurate and legal decennial census is necessary to properly apportion U.S. House of Representative seats among the 50 states and to create legislative districts within the states; and

AJR32,1,13 Whereas, an accurate and legal decennial census is necessary to enable states to comply with the constitutional mandate of drawing state legislative districts within the states;

AJR32,2,2 Whereas, Article I, Section 2, of the U.S. Constitution, in order to ensure an accurate count and to minimize the potential for political manipulation, mandates and "actual enumeration" of the population, which requires a physical headcount of the population and prohibits statistical guessing or estimates of the population;

AJR32,2,6 Whereas, Title 13, Section 195, of the U.S. Code, consistent with this constitutional mandate, expressly prohibits the use of statistical sampling to enumerate the U.S. population for the purpose of reapportioning the U.S. House of Representatives; and

AJR32,2,9 Whereas, legislative redistricting conducted by the states is a critical subfunction of the constitutional requirement to apportion representatives among the states; and

AJR32,2,14 Whereas, U.S. Supreme Court, in case No. 98-404, Department of Commerce, et al. v. United States House of Representatives, et al., together with case No. 98-564, Clinton, President of the United States, et al. v. Glavin, et al. ruled on January 25, 1999, the the Census Act prohibits the Census Bureau's proposed uses of statistical sampling in calculating the population for purposes of apportionment; and

AJR32,2,18 Whereas, in reaching its findings, the U.S. Supreme Court found that the use of statistical procedures to adjust census numbers would create a dilution of voting rights for citizens in legislative redistricting, thus violating legal guarantees of "one-person, one-vote"; and

AJR32,3,3 Whereas, consistent with this ruling and the constitutional and legal relationship of legislative redistricting by the states to the apportionment of the U.S. House of Representatives, the use of adjusted census data would raise serious questions of vote dilution and violate "one-person, one-vote" legal protections, thus exposing this state to protracted litigation over legislative redistricting plans at great cost to the taxpayers of this state, and would likely result in a court ruling invalidating any legislative redistricting plan using census numbers that have been determined in whole or in part by the use of random sampling techniques or other statistical methodologies that add or subtract persons to the census counts based solely on statistical inference; and

AJR32,3,5 Whereas, consistent with this ruling, no person enumerated in the census should ever be deleted from the census enumeration; and

AJR32,3,10 Whereas, consistent with this ruling, every reasonable and practical effort should be made to obtain the fullest and most accurate count of the population as possible, including appropriate funding for state and local census outreach and education programs, as well as a provision for post-census local review; now, therefore, be it

AJR32,3,16 Resolved by the assembly, the senate concurring, That the legislature of the state of Wisconsin calls on the Bureau of the Census to conduct the 2000 decennial census consistently with the aforementioned U.S. Supreme Court ruling and constitutional mandate, which require a physical headcount of the population and which bar the use of statistical sampling to create, or in any way adjust, the count; and, be it further

AJR32,3,21 Resolved, That the legislature of the state of Wisconsin opposes the use of P.L. 94-171 data for state legislative redistricting based on census numbers that have been determined in whole or in part by the use of statistical inferences derived by means of random sampling techniques or other statistical methodologies that add or subtract persons to the census counts; and be it further

AJR32,4,2 Resolved, That the legislature of the state of Wisconsin demands that it receive P.L. 94-171 data for legislative redistricting identical to the census tabulation data used to apportion seats in the U.S. House of Representatives consistent with the aforementioned U.S. Supreme Court ruling and constitutional mandate, which require a physical headcount of the population and which bar the use of statistical sampling to create, or in any way adjust, the count; and, be it further

AJR32,4,6 Resolved, That the legislature of the state of Wisconsin urges Congress, as the branch of government assigned the responsibility of overseeing the decennial enumeration, to take whatever steps are necessary to ensure that the 2000 decennial census is conducted fairly and legally; and, be it further

AJR32,4,9 Resolved, That a copy of this joint resolution be transmitted by the assembly chief clerk to the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, the majority leader of the U.S. Senate, the Vice President and the President of the United States.

AJR32,4,10 (End)