AB 2172: Redistricting: inmates.

(1)The California Constitution establishes the Citizens Redistricting Commission and charges it with various responsibilities in connection with redistricting Assembly, Senate, State Board of Equalization, and congressional districts. Existing law requires the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to furnish to the Citizens Redistricting Commission specified information regarding the last known place of residence of each inmate incarcerated in a state adult correctional facility on April 1, 2020, and on each decennial Census Day thereafter, except an inmate in federal custody or whose last known place of residence is outside of California or unknown. Existing law requires the information furnished by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to be sufficiently specific, or as specific as feasible, depending on whether the departments Statewide Offender Management System is fully operational on or before April 1, 2020.

This bill would require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to furnish both the Legislature and the Citizens Redistricting Commission residential address and other information, as specified, for each inmate incarcerated in a facility under the Departments control on the dates specified above, including an inmate whose last place of residence is outside of California or unknown, but excluding an inmate who has been transferred to a facility outside of California. The bill would delete the provision described above that is contingent upon the Statewide Offender Management System being fully operational on or before April 1, 2020. The bill would also direct the Legislature to ensure that the information furnished by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is included in a specified computerized database, but would prohibit publishing information regarding specific inmates.

(2)Existing law requests that the Citizens Redistricting Commission use the information furnished by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in carrying out its redistricting responsibilities, and that the Commission deem each incarcerated person as residing at his or her last known place of residence rather than the institution of his or her incarceration.

This bill would provide that an inmates last known place of residence means the most recent residential address that is sufficiently specific to be assigned a census block or, if the address information is not sufficiently specific, a randomly-determined census block located within the smallest geographical area that can be identified based on the information provided by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.