Bill Text: IL HJRCA0043 | 2017-2018 | 100th General Assembly | Introduced


Bill Title: Proposes to amend the Legislature Article of the Illinois Constitution. Provides that provisions concerning legislative redistricting apply to Congressional Districts. Requires that districts, in addition to being compact, contiguous, and substantially equal in population, must also comply with the federal Constitution and law, provide racial and ethnic minorities with equal opportunity to participate in the political process, provide racial and ethnic minorities who constitute less than a voting-age majority of a district with an opportunity to substantially influence the outcome of an election, respect geographic integrity of units of local government, respect communities sharing common social or economic interests, and not discriminate against or in favor of any political party or individual. Replaces the current method of legislative redistricting with the following: a 16-member commission, appointed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and the most senior Supreme Court Judge of a different political party in accordance with specified criteria, shall adopt and file with the Secretary of State redistricting plans for Legislative, Representative, and Congressional Districts following a series of public hearings by August 1 of the year following a federal decennial census; permits the public to submit maps during the map drawing process for consideration by the Commission; and, if a redistricting plan is not adopted by August 1 of the year following a federal decennial census, then a seventeenth member shall be appointed to the Commission and redistricting plans shall be filed by September 1. Adds provisions concerning the membership of the Commission and budgetary matters related to the Commission. Removes the requirement for each Legislative District to be divided into two Representative Districts. Effective upon being declared adopted and applicable to redistricting beginning in 2021 and to the election of General Assembly members beginning in 2022.

Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Republican 33-2)

Status: (Failed) 2019-01-08 - Session Sine Die [HJRCA0043 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2017-HJRCA0043-Introduced.html


100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2017 and 2018
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
HC0043

Introduced , by Rep. Ryan Spain

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
ILCON Art. IV, Sec. 2
ILCON Art. IV, Sec. 3

Proposes to amend the Legislature Article of the Illinois Constitution. Provides that provisions concerning legislative redistricting apply to Congressional Districts. Requires that districts, in addition to being compact, contiguous, and substantially equal in population, must also comply with the federal Constitution and law, provide racial and ethnic minorities with equal opportunity to participate in the political process, provide racial and ethnic minorities who constitute less than a voting-age majority of a district with an opportunity to substantially influence the outcome of an election, respect geographic integrity of units of local government, respect communities sharing common social or economic interests, and not discriminate against or in favor of any political party or individual. Replaces the current method of legislative redistricting with the following: a 16-member commission, appointed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and the most senior Supreme Court Judge of a different political party in accordance with specified criteria, shall adopt and file with the Secretary of State redistricting plans for Legislative, Representative, and Congressional Districts following a series of public hearings by August 1 of the year following a federal decennial census; permits the public to submit maps during the map drawing process for consideration by the Commission; and, if a redistricting plan is not adopted by August 1 of the year following a federal decennial census, then a seventeenth member shall be appointed to the Commission and redistricting plans shall be filed by September 1. Adds provisions concerning the membership of the Commission and budgetary matters related to the Commission. Removes the requirement for each Legislative District to be divided into two Representative Districts. Effective upon being declared adopted and applicable to redistricting beginning in 2021 and to the election of General Assembly members beginning in 2022.
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HC0043LRB100 20986 MJP 36632 e
1
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION
2
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
3 RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
4HUNDREDTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE SENATE
5CONCURRING HEREIN, that there shall be submitted to the
6electors of the State for adoption or rejection at the general
7election next occurring at least 6 months after the adoption of
8this resolution a proposition to amend Article IV of the
9Illinois Constitution by changing Sections 2 and 3 as follows:
10
ARTICLE IV
11
THE LEGISLATURE
12 (ILCON Art. IV, Sec. 2)
13SECTION 2. LEGISLATIVE COMPOSITION
14 (a) One Senator shall be elected from each Legislative
15District. Immediately following each decennial redistricting,
16the General Assembly by law shall divide the Legislative
17Districts as equally as possible into three groups. Senators
18from one group shall be elected for terms of four years, four
19years and two years; Senators from the second group, for terms
20of four years, two years and four years; and Senators from the
21third group, for terms of two years, four years and four years.
22The Legislative Districts in each group shall be distributed
23substantially equally over the State.

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1 (b) Each Legislative District shall be divided into two
2Representative Districts. In 1982 and every two years
3thereafter one Representative shall be elected from each
4Representative District for a term of two years.
5 (c) To be eligible to serve as a member of the General
6Assembly, a person must be a United States citizen, at least 21
7years old, and for the two years preceding his election or
8appointment a resident of the district which he is to
9represent. In the general election following a redistricting, a
10candidate for the General Assembly may be elected from any
11district which contains a part of the district in which he
12resided at the time of the redistricting and reelected if a
13resident of the new district he represents for 18 months prior
14to reelection.
15 (d) Within thirty days after a vacancy occurs, it shall be
16filled by appointment as provided by law. If the vacancy is in
17a Senatorial office with more than twenty-eight months
18remaining in the term, the appointed Senator shall serve until
19the next general election, at which time a Senator shall be
20elected to serve for the remainder of the term. If the vacancy
21is in a Representative office or in any other Senatorial
22office, the appointment shall be for the remainder of the term.
23An appointee to fill a vacancy shall be a member of the same
24political party as the person he succeeds.
25 (e) No member of the General Assembly shall receive
26compensation as a public officer or employee from any other

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1governmental entity for time during which he is in attendance
2as a member of the General Assembly.
3 No member of the General Assembly during the term for which
4he was elected or appointed shall be appointed to a public
5office which shall have been created or the compensation for
6which shall have been increased by the General Assembly during
7that term.
8(Source: Amendment adopted at general election November 4,
91980.)
10 (ILCON Art. IV, Sec. 3)
11SECTION 3. LEGISLATIVE REDISTRICTING
12 (a) As used in this Section, "consumer price index-u" means
13the index published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the
14United States Department of Labor or a successor agency that
15measures the average change in prices of goods and services
16purchased by all urban consumers, United States city average,
17all items, 1982-84=100.
18 (b) Each Legislative District, Representative District,
19and Congressional District shall, in the following order of
20priority:
21 (1) fully comply with the United States Constitution
22 and federal laws, such as the federal Voting Rights Act;
23 (2) be substantially equal in population;
24 (3) provide racial minorities and language minorities
25 with the equal opportunity to participate in the political

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1 process and elect candidates of their choice;
2 (4) provide racial minorities and language minorities
3 who constitute less than a voting-age majority of a
4 Legislative District, Representative District, or
5 Congressional District with an opportunity to
6 substantially influence the outcome of an election;
7 (5) be contiguous;
8 (6) be compact;
9 (7) respect, to the extent practical, geographic
10 integrity of units of local government;
11 (8) respect, to the extent practical, communities
12 sharing common social or economic interests;
13 (9) and not discriminate against or in favor of any
14 political party or individual.
15 (c) No later than August 30 of the year that each federal
16decennial census occurs, the Chief Justice and the most senior
17Supreme Court Judge who is not elected from the same political
18party as the Chief Justice shall select 16 commissioners to
19form an Independent Redistricting Commission. The
20commissioners must reflect the ethnic, gender, and racial
21demographics of Illinois, 14 of the commissioners must
22represent, in equal number, the two political parties whose
23gubernatorial candidates received the greatest number of votes
24in the last gubernatorial election and two of the commissioners
25must represent neither of those parties. There must be at least
26two commissioners from each Judicial District.

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1 (d) A person is ineligible to serve on the Commission if
2within the previous four calendar years the person or his or
3her spouse or immediate family member was appointed or elected
4to a position with the State, federal, or local government; is
5a State employee; is a lobbyist as defined by law; has an
6ownership interest in an entity with a State or federal
7contract; or is appointed or elected to serve a political
8party. A commissioner is ineligible for a period of 10 years to
9serve in the General Assembly or to be appointed to a position
10subject to Senate confirmation. Commissioners must file
11financial disclosure statements and abide by any ethics
12requirements established by law.
13 (e) The Commission shall act in public meetings by the
14affirmative vote of 10 commissioners. The Commission shall
15elect its chairperson and vice chairperson, who shall not be
16affiliated with the same political party. Each meeting of the
17Commission shall be open to the public and there must be public
18notice at least seven days before a meeting. All records of the
19Commission, including all communications to or from the
20Commission regarding the work of the Commission, shall be
21available for public inspection. The Commission shall adopt
22rules governing its procedures. The Commission shall be
23considered a public body subject to the Freedom of Information
24Act or a successor Act and the Open Meetings Act or a successor
25Act. Commissioners and staff may not communicate with or
26receive communications about redistricting matters from anyone

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1outside of a public hearing.
2 (f) The Commission shall hold at least 20 public hearings
3throughout the State before adopting a redistricting plan, with
4a majority occurring before the Commission releases any
5proposed redistricting plan and at least 10 public hearings
6must occur throughout the State after the release of any
7proposed redistricting plan.
8 The Commission must provide a meaningful opportunity for
9racial minorities and language minorities to participate in the
10public hearings, including, but not limited to, issuing notices
11in multiple languages and ensuring that translation services
12are available at all hearings at the Commission's expense or
13through partnership with outside organizations. These public
14hearings must be open to all members of the public and must be
15planned to encourage attendance and participation across the
16State, including the use of technology that allows for
17real-time, virtual participation and feedback during the
18hearings. When releasing a proposed redistricting plan, the
19Commission must also release population data, geographic data,
20election data, and any other data used to create the plan, when
21the Commission receives this information. The Commission must
22also provide terminals for members of the public to access the
23data and associated software. During the map drawing process,
24any member of the public may submit maps for consideration to
25the Commission. Those submissions are public records that are
26open to comment.

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1 The Commission may not adopt a redistricting plan until the
2Commission adopts and publishes a report explaining the plan's
3compliance with the United States Constitution and Illinois
4Constitution. Before the adoption of a redistricting plan, the
5Commission shall release to the public the final plan and its
6associated compliance report. The meeting to vote on adoption
7of a redistricting plan shall occur no sooner than 30 days
8after the release of the final plan and its associated
9compliance report. All proposed and adopted maps and any data
10used to develop these maps are public records. The Commission
11shall maintain a website or other similar electronic platform
12to disseminate information about the Commission, including
13records of its meetings and hearings, proposed redistricting
14plans, assessments and reports on plans, and to allow the
15public to view its meetings and hearings in both live and
16archived form. The website or electronic platform must allow
17the public to submit redistricting plans and comments on
18redistricting plans to the Commission for its consideration.
19 (g) The Commission shall adopt and file with the Secretary
20of State a redistricting plan for the Legislative Districts,
21Representative Districts, and Congressional Districts by
22August 1 of the year following the federal decennial census.
23The Commission may adopt separate redistricting plans for the
24Legislative Districts, the Representative Districts, and the
25Congressional Districts.
26 (h) If the Commission fails to adopt and file a

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1redistricting plan by August 1 of the year following a federal
2decennial census, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and
3the most senior Supreme Court Judge who is not elected from the
4same political party as the Chief Justice shall appoint, by
5August 8, a seventeenth member to the Commission. The
6seventeenth member of the Commission must not be affiliated
7with either major political party. The 17-member Commission
8shall adopt and file with the Secretary of State redistricting
9plans for the Legislative Districts, Representative Districts,
10and Congressional Districts by September 1 of the year
11following the federal decennial census.
12 (i) Members of the Commission shall be compensated at the
13rate of $300 for each day the member is engaged in Commission
14business. For each succeeding Commission, the rate of
15compensation shall be adjusted in each year of the federal
16decennial census by the cumulative change in inflation based on
17the consumer price index-u or a successor metric. Members of
18the Commission are eligible for reimbursement of personal
19expenses incurred in connection with the duties performed
20pursuant to this act. A member's residence is deemed to be the
21member's post of duty for purposes of reimbursement of
22expenses.
23 (j) In the year before each federal decennial census, the
24Governor shall include in the budget submitted under Section 2
25of Article VIII to the General Assembly amounts of funding for
26the Commission and the Secretary of State that are sufficient

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1to meet the estimated expenses of each of those officers or
2entities in implementing the redistricting process required by
3this Section for a 3-year period, including, but not limited
4to, adequate funding for a statewide outreach program to
5solicit broad public participation in the redistricting
6process. The Governor shall also make adequate office space
7available for the operation of the Commission. The Legislature
8shall make the necessary appropriation in a budget
9implementation Act, and the appropriation shall be available
10during the entire 3-year appropriation shall be available
11during the entire three-year period. The appropriation made
12shall be equal to the greater of $3,000,000 or the amount
13expended in accordance with this subsection in the immediately
14preceding redistricting process, as each amount is adjusted by
15the cumulative change in inflation based on the consumer price
16index-u or a successor metric, since the date of the
17immediately preceding appropriation made in accordance with
18this subsection. The Legislature may make additional
19appropriations in any year that it determines that the
20Commission requires additional funding in order to fulfill its
21duties. The Commission, with fiscal oversight from the
22Comptroller or its successor, shall have procurement and
23contracting authority and may hire staff and consultants, for
24the purposes of this Section, including legal representation.
25 (k) A redistricting plan filed with the Secretary of State
26shall be presumed valid and shall be published promptly by the

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1Secretary of State.
2 (l) The Supreme Court shall have original and exclusive
3jurisdiction over actions concerning redistricting the House
4and Senate, which shall be initiated in the name of the People
5of the State by the Attorney General. Each person who resides
6or is domiciled in the State, or whose executive office or
7principal place of business is located in the State, may bring
8an action in court of competent jurisdiction to obtain any of
9the relief available.
10 (a) Legislative Districts shall be compact, contiguous and
11substantially equal in population. Representative Districts
12shall be compact, contiguous, and substantially equal in
13population.
14 (b) In the year following each Federal decennial census
15year, the General Assembly by law shall redistrict the
16Legislative Districts and the Representative Districts.
17 If no redistricting plan becomes effective by June 30 of
18that year, a Legislative Redistricting Commission shall be
19constituted not later than July 10. The Commission shall
20consist of eight members, no more than four of whom shall be
21members of the same political party.
22 The Speaker and Minority Leader of the House of
23Representatives shall each appoint to the Commission one
24Representative and one person who is not a member of the
25General Assembly. The President and Minority Leader of the
26Senate shall each appoint to the Commission one Senator and one

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1person who is not a member of the General Assembly.
2 The members shall be certified to the Secretary of State by
3the appointing authorities. A vacancy on the Commission shall
4be filled within five days by the authority that made the
5original appointment. A Chairman and Vice Chairman shall be
6chosen by a majority of all members of the Commission.
7 Not later than August 10, the Commission shall file with
8the Secretary of State a redistricting plan approved by at
9least five members.
10 If the Commission fails to file an approved redistricting
11plan, the Supreme Court shall submit the names of two persons,
12not of the same political party, to the Secretary of State not
13later than September 1.
14 Not later than September 5, the Secretary of State publicly
15shall draw by random selection the name of one of the two
16persons to serve as the ninth member of the Commission.
17 Not later than October 5, the Commission shall file with
18the Secretary of State a redistricting plan approved by at
19least five members.
20 An approved redistricting plan filed with the Secretary of
21State shall be presumed valid, shall have the force and effect
22of law and shall be published promptly by the Secretary of
23State.
24 The Supreme Court shall have original and exclusive
25jurisdiction over actions concerning redistricting the House
26and Senate, which shall be initiated in the name of the People

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1of the State by the Attorney General.
2(Source: Amendment adopted at general election November 4,
31980.)
4
SCHEDULE
5 This Constitutional Amendment takes effect upon being
6declared adopted in accordance with Section of the Illinois
7Constitutional Amendment Act and applies to redistricting
8beginning in 2021 and to the election of General Assembly
9members beginning in 2022.
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