The purpose of this legislation, known as the Equal Representation Act, is to change how the United States conducts its decennial census and how congressional representation is determined. Specifically, it aims to require the inclusion of a citizenship question on the census and to adjust the way representatives are apportioned based on the number of U.S. citizens rather than the total population, which includes noncitizens. Key provisions of the Act include a mandate for the Secretary of Commerce to include a question on the census asking respondents to indicate whether they are U.S.