MONTPELIER, Vt. — Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark and the attorneys general of 22 other states and the District of Columbia have filed a comment letter opposing a U.S. Census Bureau proposal to change how the 2030 census is conducted, Clark's office said. The governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania also signed the letter.

The proposed rule would exclude millions of noncitizens from the count and bar questions about race, ethnicity and sexual orientation, according to the Vermont attorney general's office, which described the changes as the Trump administration's.

The coalition argues the exclusions would cover undocumented immigrants, people on temporary work, student and exchange visitor visas, refugees, asylum seekers and some U.S. nationals. The attorneys general contend that violates the 14th Amendment's requirement to count all persons for congressional apportionment, as well as the Census Act, which requires the bureau to report each state's total population for dividing up seats in Congress.

Dropping the demographic questions would deprive states of data they use to set policy, identify disparities, evaluate programs, enforce anti-discrimination laws and support research, the letter argues. Clark's office said the census has collected demographic information, including race, since 1790.

The coalition also objects to a proposed change in where people are counted. The census has long counted people where they usually live and sleep, Clark's office said. The proposal would instead count people where they lawfully spend the most days during a set period early in the year, and would rely on tax records as evidence of residency. The attorneys general argue that could lead to people being counted at vacation homes or workplaces, distorting state population counts and political representation.

Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island are among the states that joined the letter.

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