Bill Text: NC H735 | 2017-2018 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Redistricting by Computer
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-04-13 - Ref To Com On Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House [H735 Detail]
Download: North_Carolina-2017-H735-Amended.html
GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2017
H 1
HOUSE BILL 735
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Short Title: Redistricting by Computer. |
(Public) |
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Sponsors: |
Representative Blust. For a complete list of sponsors, refer to the North Carolina General Assembly web site. |
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Referred to: |
Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House |
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April 13, 2017
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to amend the north carolina constitution to establish an independent redistricting commission to redistrict via computer software programs utilizing politically neutral criteria to district.
Whereas, the ability of the people to influence and control those who enact the laws that the people must follow is a fundamental tenet underlying the legislative branch of government in a republic; and
Whereas, the ability of legislators to design districts to favor themselves at the expense of the people must be restrained; Now, therefore,
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1. Effective beginning with the redistricting done upon the return of the 2020 decennial census, Section 3 of Article II of the North Carolina Constitution reads as rewritten:
"Sec. 3. Senate districts; apportionment of Senators.
The Senators shall be elected from
districts. The General Assembly, at the first regular session convening The
Independent Redistricting Commission, beginning as soon as practical after
the return of every decennial census of population taken by order of Congress,
shall revise the senate districts and the apportionment of Senators among those
districts, subject to the following requirements:so that, to the
extent possible, those districts meet the following goals:
(1) Each Senator shall represent, as nearly as may
be, an equal number of inhabitants, the number of inhabitants that each Senator
represents being determined for this purpose by dividing the population of the
District that he represents by the number of Senators apportioned to that
district;
(2) Each senate district shall at all times consist
of contiguous territory;
(3) No county shall be divided in the formation of a
senate district;
(1) The goal of politically neutral district plans to the extent possible.
(2) The goal of compactness, to avoid elongated and irregularly shaped districts.
(3) The goal of one person, one vote to ensure each voter's vote.
(4) The goal of minimizing the number of split counties, municipalities, and other communities of interest.
Precincts shall not be split in the preparation of a plan for State Senate districts. All districts shall be contiguous.
When established, the senate districts and the apportionment of Senators shall remain unaltered until the return of another decennial census of population taken by order of Congress."
SECTION 2. Effective beginning with the redistricting done upon the return of the 2020 decennial census, Section 5 of Article II of the North Carolina Constitution reads as rewritten:
"Sec. 5. Representative districts; apportionment of Representatives.
The Representatives shall be
elected from districts. The General Assembly, at the first regular session
convening The Independent Redistricting Commission, as soon as practical
after the return of every decennial census of population taken by order of
Congress, shall revise the representative districts and the apportionment of
Representatives among those districts, subject to the following
requirements:so that, to the extent possible, those districts meet the
following goals:
(1) Each Representative shall represent, as nearly
as may be, an equal number of inhabitants, the number of inhabitants that each Representative
represents being determined for this purpose by dividing the population of the
district that he represents by the number of Representatives apportioned to
that district;
(2) Each representative district shall at all times
consist of contiguous territory;
(3) No county shall be divided in the formation of a
representative district;
(1) The goal of politically neutral district plans, to the extent possible.
(2) The goal of compactness, to avoid elongated and irregularly shaped districts.
(3) The goal of one person, one vote to ensure each voter's vote.
(4) The goal of minimizing the number of split counties, municipalities, and other communities of interest.
Precincts shall not be split in the preparation of a plan for State House of Representatives districts. All districts shall be contiguous.
When established, the representative districts and the apportionment of Representatives shall remain unaltered until the return of another decennial census of population taken by order of Congress."
SECTION 3. Effective January 1, 2020, Article II of the North Carolina Constitution is amended by adding a new section to read:
"Sec. 25. Independent Redistricting Commission.
(1) Establishment and membership. – There is established the Independent Redistricting Commission to consist of nine persons appointed as follows:
(a) Three by the Governor, with no more than two affiliated with the same political party;
(b) Two by the Speaker of the House of Representatives and one by the leader in the House of Representatives of the political party with the next highest or equal number of members of the House of Representatives as the party of the Speaker; and
(c) Two by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate and one by the leader in the Senate of the political party in the Senate with the next highest or equal number of Senators as the party of the President Pro Tempore.
If there are two or more parties other than the Speaker's party in the House of Representatives with equal membership, the leaders in that chamber of the tied parties other than the Speaker's party shall draw lots to determine which shall make the appointment. If there are two or more parties other than the President Pro Tempore's party in the Senate with equal membership, the leaders in that chamber of the tied parties other than the President Pro Tempore's party shall draw lots to determine which party shall make the appointment.
The appointing officers shall appoint the initial members of the Independent Redistricting Commission as soon as practicable after this Section becomes effective. Subsequent to the initial appointments, the appointing officers shall make their appointments, other than vacancy appointments, no earlier than February 1 of the year prior to the year in which the appointed members are to take office under subsection (2) of this Section and no later than June 1 of the year in which the members are to take office under subsection (2) of this Section. The appointing officers, in making their appointments, shall take into account the advisability of having the Commission reflect the State's geographic, gender, racial, and ethnic diversity.
(2) Term of office; vacancies; chair. – The initial members of the Independent Redistricting Commission shall take office as soon as practicable after their appointment. The initial members shall serve until their successors are appointed and qualified. Subsequent to the initial appointments, the members of the Independent Redistricting Commission shall take office on the first day of July of each year ending in the number zero and shall continue in office until their successors are appointed and qualified. Any vacancy occurring in the membership of the Commission shall be filled for the remainder of the unexpired term by the officer who appointed the vacating member. The Independent Redistricting Commission shall elect from its members a chair, who will serve throughout the term of the Commission unless replaced by vote of the Commission.
(3) Eligibility. – To be eligible for appointment to the Independent Redistricting Commission, a person must be a resident of North Carolina. No person may serve on the Commission who has held elective public office or been a candidate for elective public office in the four years prior to commencement of service on the Independent Redistricting Commission. No person who has served as a member of the Independent Redistricting Commission shall be eligible to hold any elective State office for four years after termination of service on the Independent Redistricting Commission.
(4) Legislative plans. – The Independent Redistricting Commission shall adopt, in accordance with Sections 3 and 5 of this Article, computer programs to generate plans for revising the Senate districts and House of Representatives districts, which shall have the force and effect of acts of the General Assembly. The General Assembly shall not adopt any legislative district plan.
(5) Congressional plans. – The Independent Redistricting Commission is responsible for adopting a computer program to generate a district plan for election of members of the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United States. The General Assembly shall not adopt any district plan for election of members of the United States House of Representatives.
(6) Preparation and adoption of plans. – The Independent Redistricting Commission shall adopt a computer program to generate district plans as required by subsections (4) and (5) of this Section no later than October 1 of the year following each decennial census of population taken by order of Congress. In preparing or adopting its plans, the Independent Redistricting Commission shall not consider the following information:
(a) The political affiliation of voters.
(b) Voting data from previous elections.
(c) The location of incumbents' residences.
(d) Any socioeconomic data regarding voters.
(e) Demographic data from sources other than the United States Bureau of the Census. In the use of Census data, racial and ethnic data shall be used only for the purposes of compliance with the United States Constitution and laws enacted pursuant thereto.
(7) In case plan held invalid. – The Independent Redistricting Commission shall adopt a new district plan in the event that a plan it has adopted is held invalid.
(8) Federal and State law. – In adopting any plan under this section, the Independent Redistricting Commission shall take into consideration all relevant requirements of the United States Constitution and Acts of Congress. It shall comply with the North Carolina Constitution as enunciated by the North Carolina Supreme Court.
(9) Local redistricting. – The General Assembly may by law assign to the Independent Redistricting Commission the duty to adopt districting and redistricting plans for any county, city, town, special district, and other governmental subdivision if the governing board of the unit or a court of competent jurisdiction so requests."
SECTION 4. Effective January 1, 2021, subsection (5) of Section 22 of Article II of the North Carolina Constitution reads as rewritten:
"(5) Other
exceptions. Appointments to office. Every bill:
(a) In bill in which the General Assembly
makes an appointment or appointments to public office and which contains no
other matter;matter
(b) Revising the senate districts and the
apportionment of Senators among those districts and containing no other matter;
(c) Revising the representative districts and the
apportionment of Representatives among those districts and containing no other
matter; or
(d) Revising the districts for the election of
members of the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United States
and the apportionment of Representatives among those districts and containing
no other matter, shall be read three times in each house before it becomes
law and shall be signed by the presiding officers of both houses."
SECTION 5. The amendments set out in Sections 1 through 4 of this act shall be submitted to the qualified voters of the State at the general election in November 2018, which election shall be conducted under the laws then governing elections in the State. Ballots, voting systems, or both may be used in accordance with Chapter 163 of the General Statutes. The question to be used in the voting systems and ballots shall be:
"[ ] FOR [ ] AGAINST
A constitutional amendment providing for an Independent Redistricting Commission to redistrict the State for the purpose of electing members of the General Assembly and members of the United States House of Representatives by use of a neutral computer software program to remove political considerations from districting."
SECTION 6. If a majority of votes cast on the question are in favor of the amendments set out in Sections 1 through 4 of this act, the State Board of Elections shall certify the amendments to the Secretary of State. The amendments become effective as provided in this act. The Secretary of State shall enroll the amendments so certified among the permanent records of that office.
SECTION 7. Chapter 163 of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new Article to read:
"Article 12B.
"Redistricting.
"§ 163‑134. Redistricting plans.
In order to implement Section 25 of Article II of the North Carolina Constitution, the Independent Redistricting Commission shall retain independent staff under contract to prepare redistricting plans covered by that section. In drafting plans for consideration by the General Assembly, that staff shall not be provided any instruction as to the content of the plans other than to follow the guidelines set out in that section."
SECTION 8. Section 7 of this act is effective only if the constitutional amendments proposed by Sections 1 through 4 of this act are approved by the qualified voters as provided in Sections 5 and 6 of this act.
SECTION 9. This act is effective when it becomes law.
