MACA Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The MACA Act amends 13 U.S.C. section 141, the decennial census statute. Beginning with the 2030 census and continuing every ten years after that, the Secretary responsible for the census must include a checkbox or similar option on questionnaires used to determine total population by States. The option must let the respondent indicate, for the respondent and for each household member, whether the individual is a citizen of both the United States and another country and identify the other country of citizenship. The bill does not change apportionment rules or require dual citizens to be excluded from population counts; it changes what information the census questionnaire collects.
Who Benefits and How
Congressional policymakers and Census data users benefit because the bill would create a recurring national data point on dual citizenship by household member and country. Researchers studying citizenship, migration, and population characteristics benefit from a standardized decennial question if the Census Bureau collects and publishes usable data. Election and representation analysts benefit from additional citizenship-status information tied to the decennial census framework.
Who Bears the Burden and How
The Census Bureau must design, test, translate, administer, and process a new dual-citizenship question beginning in 2030. Households with dual citizens must disclose additional citizenship information for each affected member, including the other country. Privacy and confidentiality compliance staff must manage sensitivity around citizenship data. Federal taxpayers bear implementation costs through census questionnaire development and processing.
Key Provisions
- Adds a new subsection to the decennial census statute.
- Requires the 2030 census and each later decennial census to ask about dual citizenship.
- Requires the questionnaire option to cover the respondent and every household member.
- Requires identification of the other country of citizenship for each dual citizen.
- Preserves the census role of determining total population by States while adding a data-collection field.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Requires the 2030 decennial census and every later decennial census to include a checkbox or similar option asking each respondent to indicate whether the respondent and each household member hold dual citizenship with the United States and another country, including which other country.
Key Policy Areas
Government, Census, Immigration
Primary Purpose
Requires the 2030 decennial census and every later decennial census to include a checkbox or similar option asking each respondent to indicate whether the respondent and each household member hold dual citizenship with the United States and another country, including which other country.
Policy Domains
Substantive provisions
Identified Gains
- Congressional policymakers
- Census data users
- Migration researchers
- Election analysts
Identified Costs
- Census Bureau questionnaire staff
- Households with dual citizens
- Census privacy compliance staff
- Federal taxpayers
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMr. Hamadeh of Arizona introduced the following bill; which was …
Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Introduced in House
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
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