2030 RDP Non-Partisan Liaison Role Description

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2030 Non-Partisan RDP Liaison Role Description
Non-partisan liaisons are asked to serve as the primary contact for all interactions between the state
and the Census Redistricting Data Program (RDP) throughout the ensuing decade. This role is distinct
from any other “liaison” role (e.g., governor’s liaison, state data center contact) that your state may
have with the Census Bureau. The majority of the workload occurs prior to the decennial census in the
years 2026 through 2030. That workload includes coordinating an official state kick-off meeting, if one is
desired, and providing the geographic inputs for Phases 1, 2, and 4 as described below. In addition,
communication and feedback will be requested throughout the lifecycle of the program regarding
census activities and the state’s interests, on an as needed basis.

Historical Participation
Your state designated <FIRSTNAME> <LASTNAME> of the <OFFICE> as your 2020 Census non-partisan
liaison. The (<OFFICE> or <FIRSTNAME> <LASTNAME>) has served as the non-partisan liaison
successfully for the last <x> decades.

Census Test(s): (Periodically from 2025 through 2029)
The non-partisan liaisons will be asked to review any prototype redistricting tabulations and/or
geographic support products to give feedback to the 2030 RDP about whether the products provide the
necessary data to perform legislative redistricting.

Phase 1 (Block Boundary Suggestion Project) and Phase 2 (Voting District Project):
(January to May each year from 2026 through 2030*)
These two phases represent the bulk of the RDP efforts to prepare the geography for the upcoming
decennial census. They require the use of geographic information system (GIS) software. States can
choose to use their own GIS software or a free, customized GIS application, i.e., the Geographic Update
Partnership Software (GUPS), provided by the Census Bureau. The non-partisan liaison does not need to
be a GIS expert but will need to be comfortable learning how to use the software or have staff resources
they can enlist to assist them with this work. The liaisons or their designee(s) will participate in trainings
(in-person or virtual) on how to perform geographic updates and submit them to the Census Bureau.
The liaison and their designee(s) will coordinate efforts to collect geographic updates from county and
local governments-for the 2030 Census for use in legislative and local redistricting. They will manage the
geographic updates submitted for each phase and cycle of the program and will review and provide final
approval of the geographic updates we load into our geographic database, the Master Address
File/Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (MAF/TIGER) System. *Phase 2 in
2030 ends in March.

Phase 3 (Data Delivery): (December 2030)
In preparation for the official delivery of the 2030 Census Redistricting Data, the non-partisan liaison will
be asked to ensure the appropriate contact information is used for the official recipients of redistricting
data tabulations and geographic support products. The official recipients include the governor,
legislative majority and minority leadership, designated software vendors, and other stakeholders (as
applicable).

Phase 4 (Congressional District/State Legislative District (CD/SLD) Plans):
(January to May every two years (2026, 2028, 2030, 2032, 2034)
In the years leading up to the 2030 Census and in the years following, the non-partisan liaison will be
asked to supply any required geographic updates to maintain the currency of the congressional and
state legislative districts. This every-two-year process may require some familiarity with GIS. However,
this phase typically only requires the liaison to assemble materials that are created by the legislature,
redistricting commission, or court when new redistricting plans are created; certifying that they are the
official version; and then submitting them to the RDP.

Phase 5 (Evaluations): (Ongoing, but primarily in 2032 and 2033)
Throughout the course of the program, the non-partisan liaisons will be asked to supply feedback on
both how well the 2030 RDP met their state’s needs and any changes they feel are needed to ensure
that the next cycle, the 2040 RDP, will meet future needs of the states for legislative redistricting.