H.R. 151
Equal Representation Act of 2025
In Plain Language
This bill changes how the government counts people for dividing up House seats among states after the census. Instead of counting everyone, it would only count U.S. citizens when deciding how many representatives each state gets. The census form would ask people to check a box saying whether they're a citizen, a national, a legal noncitizen, or an illegal noncitizen, and the Commerce Department would publish these numbers for each state.
Official Congressional Research Service summary
Equal Representation ActThis bill requires that the statement sent by the President to Congress after the decennial census indicating the number of persons in each state exclude noncitizens. (This statement is the basis for reapportionment of U.S. Representatives.)The bill also requires any questionnaire used in the decennial census to include a checkbox or other similar option for respondents to indicate whether the respondent and each household member is (1) a U.S. citizen, (2) a U.S. national but not a citizen, (3) a non-U.S. national (alien under federal law) lawfully residing in the United States, or (4) a non-U.S. national unlawfully residing in the United States.The Department of Commerce must make public the number of persons in each state, disaggregated by each of these four categories.
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Latest action
Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 536.
Apr 21, 2026
Official source
Action history
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