The proposed bill introduces the "Residence of Individuals in Government Custody Act," which aims to ensure that individuals in government custody are counted at their actual residences for redistricting purposes. The bill mandates the Department of Corrections to collect and maintain an electronic record of the legal residence and demographic data of individuals entering custody after January 1, 2026. This record will include the last known complete street address prior to incarceration, race, ethnicity, and age.

The Department of Corrections is required to report this information annually to the Division of Statewide Planning by May 1 of each year, detailing the street address of the correctional facility, the last known address prior to incarceration, and demographic information. The data provided must not include the names of incarcerated individuals and must be treated as confidential, only to be disclosed in aggregated form for redistricting purposes.

The Division of Statewide Planning is tasked with preparing redistricting population data that reflects incarcerated individuals at their residential addresses, rather than their places of incarceration. This data will serve as the basis for congressional districts, state house of representative districts, state senate districts, and local government districts based on population. The division must ensure that individuals with unknown geographic locations are not included in population counts for districting purposes.

Additionally, the division is required to publish the prepared data within thirty days of the federal decennial data release or within forty-five days after the effective date of the chapter, whichever is later. The act seeks to correct discrepancies in how incarcerated individuals are counted for electoral representation, thereby promoting fairer redistricting practices.