Assemblymember Michaelle Solages, chair of the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus and Assembly sponsor of the New York Counts Act, joined Capital Tonight’s Susan Arbetter to discuss the creation of a statewide census bureau in advance of the 2030 census.
According to Solages, even after a muscular effort to get out the count in the lead-up to the 2020 census, New York still lost a single congressional seat.
The state could lose more after the 2030 census under new rules proposed by the Trump administration.
Under the new rules, if approved, non-U.S. citizens without a green card would be excluded from the count. This is alarming New York state officials because census numbers inform how much money the state receives from the federal government for social services, healthcare, transportation and more.
Additionally, the Trump administration wants to stop asking about people’s race and ethnicity, something that the census has done since 1790.
