Madden warns of possible citizenship question return, establishes permanent city census office

In a question about the census, Council Speaker Julie Madden said she expects renewed efforts in Congress to add a citizenship question and outlined the city’s legal and organizational defenses.

Madden recounted the prior legal victory: during the first Trump administration, commerce secretary Wilbur Ross sought to add a citizenship question and the Supreme Court found the addition arbitrary and capricious. She said House Republicans are attempting to mount a new argument to reinstate such a question and that New York must be prepared.

To that end, Madden said she introduced and the council passed a bill to create a permanent city office of the census that begins work years in advance of enumeration so city agencies and community groups can coordinate outreach. "We are creating a permanent city office of the census, which requires that work to begin almost 3 years in advance of any census," she said, and urged ABNY and others to partner to protect federal funding and congressional representation.