Senate Census Panel Hears Warning on 2030 Data Gaps and Redistricting Law Shifts

BOSTON — July 7, 2026 — Expert warns Massachusetts Senate panel the 2030 census may be the most flawed in American history. Jeffrey Weiss, director of the New York Election Census and Redistricting Institute, testified before the Senate Committee on the Census on July 7 that a combination of Trump administration policy moves — including the sudden discontinuation of differential privacy protections, hiring freezes, English-only test censuses, and the elimination of all citizen advisory panels — threatens the block-level racial and ethnic data states rely on for redistricting. Chair William N. Brownsberger noted the Massachusetts budget already includes new funding to help municipalities complete Local Update of Census Addresses canvassing. Weiss told the committee that the Supreme Court's recent Louisiana v. Calais ruling has effectively decoupled race from redistricting protections by requiring plaintiffs to prove intentional racial discrimination rather than applying the established Gingles framework, and that state voting rights acts — recently passed in Delaware and New Jersey — currently provide broader minority voting protections than federal law does. Federal questionnaire language for 2030 must be submitted to Congress by April 1, 2028, a deadline Weiss said could lock in current decisions even if the administration changes.