Vermont H. 763: An act relating to a study of approaches to greenhouse gas reduction

Bill Text

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H.763 1
Introduced by Representative Greer of Bennington 2
Referred to Committee on 3
Date: 4
Subject: Elections; periodic reapportionment; counting of offenders 5
Statement of purpose of bill as introduced: This bill proposes to count certain 6
offenders by their residential address prior to incarceration for the purpose of 7
periodic reapportionment of districts for the General Assembly. 8
An act relating to how to count certain offenders for the purpose of periodic 9
reapportionment of districts for the General Assembly 10
It is hereby enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Vermont: 11
Sec. 1. 17 V.S.A. § 1913 is added to read: 12
§ 1913. COUNTING OF OFFENDERS 13
(a) Department of Corrections determination and sharing of offender 14
residential information. 15
(1) The Department of Corrections shall: 16
(A) for each offender in the Department’s custody, determine the 17
offender’s residential address prior to incarceration; and 18
(B) maintain an electronic record of offenders’ residential addresses 19
prior to incarceration that shall determine the offenders’ residential addresses 20

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prior to incarceration on the date for which the decennial census reports 1
population. 2
(2) On or before May 1 of the year following each decennial census 3
under the authority of Congress and in which the U.S. Census Bureau counts 4
any offender as a resident of the town in which the offender’s respective 5
correctional facility is located, the Department of Corrections shall deliver to 6
the Legislative Apportionment Board, in a form as prescribed by the Board, the 7
following information as determined on the date for which the decennial 8
census reports population: 9
(A) a unique identifier for each offender subject to the 10
jurisdiction of the Department of Corrections; 11
(B) the street address of the correctional facility in which each 12
offender was incarcerated; 13
(C) for each offender, an indication of whether the offender: 14
(i) has attained 18 years of age; and 15
(ii) is serving a sentence of life imprisonment without the 16
possibility of release; 17
(D) each offender’s in-state residential address prior to incarceration, 18
or an indication that the offender’s residential address prior to incarceration 19
was: 20

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(i) outside Vermont; or 1
(ii) unknown; and 2
(E) any additional information requested by the Board otherwise 3
permitted by law. 4
(b) Legislative Apportionment Board use of offender address information. 5
(1) For each offender included in a report received under subsection (a) 6
of this section, the Board shall determine the geographic units for which 7
population counts are reported in the decennial census, which units contain the 8
address of the correctional facility in which an offender was incarcerated, and 9
which contain an offender’s residential address prior to incarceration. 10
(2) If an offender’s residential address prior to incarceration is known 11
and is located within the State, the Board shall ensure that when creating 12
proposals for dividing the State into initial districts for the election of the 13
House of Representatives and the Senate, as described in sections 1905, 1906, 14
and 1907 of this title, the relevant population counts reported in the decennial 15
census are adjusted so that an offender is considered to have been residing at 16
the offender’s residential address prior to incarceration and not at the address 17
of the correctional facility where the offender was incarcerated. 18
(3) If an offender’s residential address prior to incarceration is unknown 19
or not in this State, the Board shall ensure that an offender is not represented in 20
any applicable population count reported in the decennial census for the 21

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geographic units that include the correctional facility in which an offender was 1
incarcerated. 2
(4) Notwithstanding subdivisions (1)–(3) of this subsection, if an 3
offender is serving a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of 4
release, the Board shall ensure that an offender is represented in the applicable 5
population count reported in the decennial census for the geographic units that 6
include the correctional facility in which an offender was incarcerated. 7
(5) The Board shall prepare and publish such information, both adjusted 8
and unadjusted, pursuant to this subsection (b) as part of its tentative proposal, 9
as described in sections 1905 and 1907 of this title, and any subsequent 10
proposals, including the Board’s final proposal, as described in section 1906 of 11
this title. 12
(c) Confidentiality of offender information. Notwithstanding any other 13
statute, the information required to be provided under this section shall not 14
include the name of any offend