Oregon Public Broadcasting

There’s a move underway in Salem to change the way prisoners are counted when it comes to redrawing legislative districts.

As the nation gears up for its once-a-decade census, some lawmakers are suggesting that people behind bars should be counted as residents of the place they lived when they were convicted.

Democratic Representative Chip Shields of Portland says counting inmates as living in the places where they’re incarcerated unfairly benefits people in rural areas.

Chip Shields:  “People who happen to live near a prison in Umatilla, in Ontario, might be getting a disproportionate amount of power and representation based on simply living near a prison.”

One opponent of the bill is Republican Representative Bob Jenson, from an Eastern Oregon district with two state prisons.  He suggested at a committee hearing Monday that the bill might be a power grab for Democrats, who are more likely to represent the urban areas that would benefit from the change.

Other lawmakers worried about the cost of having the Department of Corrections compile the home addresses of thousands of inmates.

Online:

Oregon House Bill 2930