HB3699 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB094 09855 JAM 40111 b

94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2005 and 2006
HB3699

Introduced 2/24/2005, by Rep. Lee A. Daniels

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

New Act

Creates the Legislative and Congressional Redistricting Act. Requires that in each year ending in one, the Legislative Research Unit prepare one or more bills for introduction in the General Assembly that embody legislative and congressional redistricting plans. Specifies the standards for the plans. Requires appointment by the legislative leaders of a temporary commission to advise the Legislative Research Unit and report to the General Assembly upon public hearings it conducts on the initial legislation.

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning redistricting.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Legislative and Congressional Redistricting Act.

Section 5. Definitions. As used in this Act, unless the context requires otherwise:

"Commission" means the temporary redistricting advisory commission appointed under Section 25.

"Federal census" means the decennial census required by federal law to be conducted by the United States bureau of the census in every year ending in zero.

"Joint Committee" means the Joint Committee on Legislative Support Services.

"Legislative district" means a senatorial district or a representative district.

"Legislative leaders" means the President and Minority Leader of the Senate and the Speaker and Minority Leader of the House of Representatives.

"Partisan public office" means:

(1) An elective or appointive office in the executive or legislative branch or in an independent establishment of the federal government.

(2) An elective office in the executive or legislative branch of the government of this State, or an office that is filled by appointment and is exempt from the Personnel Code.

(3) An office of a unit of local government, school district, or other political subdivision of this State that is filled by an election process involving nomination and election of candidates on a partisan basis.

"Plan" means a plan for legislative and congressional reapportionment drawn up pursuant to the requirements of this Act.

"Political party office" means an elective office in the national or State organization of a political party.

"Relative" means an individual who is related to the person in question as father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, first cousin, nephew, niece, husband, wife, grandfather, grandmother, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, stepfather, stepmother, stepson, stepdaughter, stepbrother, stepsister, half brother, or half sister.

"Representative district" means a legislative district from which a member of the Illinois House of Representatives is elected.

"Senatorial district" means a legislative district from which a member of the Illinois Senate is elected.

Section 10. Preparations for redistricting.

(a) The Legislative Research Unit shall acquire appropriate information, review and evaluate available facilities, and develop programs and procedures in preparation for drawing congressional and legislative redistricting plans on the basis of each federal census. Funds shall be expended for the purchase or lease of equipment and materials only with prior approval of the Joint Committee.

(b) By December 31 of each year ending in zero, the Legislative Research Unit shall obtain from the United States bureau of the census information regarding geographic and political units in this State for which federal census population data has been gathered and will be tabulated. The Legislative Research Unit shall use the data so obtained to:

(1) Prepare necessary descriptions of geographic and political units for which census data will be reported and that are suitable for use as components of legislative districts.

(2) Prepare maps of counties, municipalities, and other geographic units within the State that may be used to illustrate the locations of legislative district boundaries proposed in plans drawn in accordance with Section 20.

(c) As soon as possible after January 1 of each year ending in one, the Legislative Research Unit shall obtain from the United States bureau of the census the population data needed for legislative districting that the census bureau is required to provide this State under United States Pub. L. 94-171, and shall use that data to assign a population figure based upon certified federal census data to each geographic or political unit described pursuant to subsection (b)(1). Upon completing that task, the Legislative Research Unit shall begin the preparation of congressional and legislative districting plans as required by Section 15.

Section 15. Timetable for preparation of plan.

(a) Not later than April 1 of each year ending in one, the Legislative Research Unit shall deliver to the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives identical bills embodying a plan of legislative and congressional districting prepared in accordance with Section 20. It is the intent of this Act that the General Assembly shall bring the bill to a vote in either the Senate or the House of Representatives expeditiously, but not less than 7 days after the report of the commission required by Section 30 is received and made available to the members of the General Assembly, under a procedure or rule permitting no amendments except those of a purely corrective nature. It is further the intent of this Act that if the bill is approved by the first house in which it is considered, it shall expeditiously be brought to a vote in the second house under a similar procedure or rule.

(b) If the bill embodying the plan submitted by the Legislative Research Unit under subsection (a) fails to be approved by a constitutional majority in either the Senate or the House of Representatives, the Secretary of the Senate or the Clerk of the House, as the case may be, shall at once transmit to the Legislative Research Unit information that the Senate or House may direct regarding reasons why the plan was not approved. The Legislative Research Unit shall prepare a bill embodying a second plan of legislative and congressional districting prepared in accordance with Section 20 taking into account the reasons cited by the Senate or House of Representatives for its failure to approve the plan insofar as it is possible to do so within the requirements of Section 20. If a second plan is required under this subsection, the bill embodying it shall be delivered to the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives not later than May 1 of the year ending in one, or 21 days after the date of the vote by which the Senate or the House of Representatives failed to approve the bill submitted under subsection (a), whichever date is later. It is the intent of this Act that if it is necessary to submit a bill under this subsection, the bill be brought to a vote not less than 7 days after the bill is printed and made available to the members of the General Assembly in the same manner as prescribed for the bill required under subsection (a).

(c) If the bill embodying the plan submitted by the Legislative Research Unit under subsection (b) fails to be approved by a constitutional majority in either the Senate or the House of Representatives, the same procedure as prescribed by subsection (b) shall be followed. If a third plan is required under this subsection, the bill embodying it shall be delivered to the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives not later than June 1 of the year ending in one. It is the intent of this Act that if it is necessary to submit a bill under this subsection, the bill shall be brought to a vote within the same time period after its delivery to the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives as is prescribed for the bill submitted under subsection (b), but shall be subject to amendment in the same manner as other bills.

(d) Notwithstanding subsections (a), (b), and (c) of this Section:

(1) If population data from the federal census that is sufficient to permit preparation of a congressional districting plan becomes available at an earlier time than the population data needed to permit preparation of a legislative districting plan in accordance with Section 20, the Legislative Research Unit shall so inform the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. If the President and Speaker so direct, the Legislative Research Unit shall prepare a separate bill establishing congressional districts and submit it separately from the bill establishing legislative districts. It is the intent of this Act that the General Assembly shall proceed to consider the congressional districting bill in substantially the manner prescribed by subsections (a), (b), and (c) of this Section.

(2) If the population data for legislative districting that the United States census bureau is required to provide this State under United States Pub. L. 94-171 and, if used by the Legislative Research Unit, the corresponding topologically integrated geographic encoding and referencing data file for that population data are not available to the Legislative Research Unit on or before February 1 of the year ending in one, the dates set forth in this Section shall be extended by a number of days equal to the number of days after February 1 of the year ending in one that the federal census population data and the topologically integrated geographic encoding and referencing data file for legislative districting become available, except that the bill required under subsection (c) shall be delivered no later than June 1 of the year ending in one.

Section 20. Redistricting standards.

(a) Legislative and congressional districts shall be established on the basis of population.

(1) Senatorial and representative districts, respectively, shall each have a population as nearly equal practical to the ideal population for such districts, to be established into the population of the State reported in the federal decennial census. Senatorial districts and representative districts shall not vary in population from the respective ideal district populations except as necessary to comply with one of the other standards enumerated in this Section. In no case shall the quotient, obtained by dividing the total of the absolute values of the deviations of all district populations from the applicable ideal district population by the number of districts established, exceed 1% of the applicable ideal district population. No senatorial district shall have a population that exceeds that of any other senatorial district by more than 5%, and no representative district shall have a population that exceeds that of any other representative district by more than 5%.

(2) Congressional districts shall each have a population as nearly equal as practical to the ideal district population, derived as prescribed in paragraph (1) of this subsection. No congressional district shall have a population that varies by more than 1% from the applicable ideal district population.

(3) If a challenge is filed with the Supreme Court alleging excessive population variance among districts established in a plan adopted by the General Assembly, the General Assembly has the burden of justifying any variance in excess of 1% between the population of a district and the applicable ideal district population.

(b) To the extent consistent with subsection (a), district boundaries shall coincide with the boundaries of political subdivisions of the State. The number of counties and municipalities divided among more than one district shall be as small as possible. When there is a choice between dividing local political subdivisions, the more populous subdivisions shall be divided before the less populous, but this statement does not apply to a legislative district boundary drawn along a county line that passes through a municipality that lies in more than one county.

(c) Districts shall be composed of convenient contiguous territory. Areas that meet only at the points of adjoining corners are not contiguous.

(d) It is preferable that districts be compact in form, but the standards established by subsections (a), (b) and (c) take precedence over compactness where a conflict arises between compactness and these standards. In general, compact districts are those that are square, rectangular, or hexagonal in shape to the extent permitted by natural or political boundaries. When it is necessary to compare the relative compactness of 2 or more districts, or of 2 or more alternative districting plans, the tests prescribed by paragraphs (2) and (3) of this subsection shall be used. If the results of these 2 tests are contradictory, the standard referred to in paragraph (2) of this subsection shall be given greater weight than the standard referred to in paragraph (3) of this subsection.

(1) As used in this subsection:

(A) "Population data unit" means a township, election precinct, census enumeration district, census city block group, or other unit of territory having clearly identified geographic boundaries and for which a total population figure is included in or can be derived directly from certified federal census data.

(B) The "geographic unit center" of a population data unit is that point approximately equidistant from the northern and southern extremities, and also approximately equidistant from the eastern and western extremities, of a population data unit. This point shall be determined by visual observation of a map of the population data unit, unless it is otherwise determined within the context of an appropriate coordinate system developed by the federal government or another qualified and objective source and obtained for use in this State with prior approval of the Joint Committee.

(C) The "x" co-ordinate of a point in this State refers to the relative location of that point along the east-west axis of the State. Unless otherwise measured within the context of an appropriate co-ordinate system obtained for use as permitted by subparagraph (B) of this paragraph, the "x" co-ordinate shall be measured along a line drawn due east from a due north and south line running through the point that is the northwestern extremity of the State of Illinois, to the point to be located.

(D) The "y" co-ordinate of a point in this State refers to the relative location of that point along the north-south axis of the State. Unless otherwise measured within the context of an appropriate co-ordinate system obtained for use as permitted by subparagraph (B) of this paragraph, the "y" co-ordinate shall be measured along a line drawn due south from the northern boundary of the State, or the eastward extension of that boundary, to the point to be located.

(2) The compactness of a district is greatest when the length of the district and the width of the district are equal. The measure of a district's compactness is the absolute value of the difference between the length and the width of the district.

(A) In measuring the length and the width of a district by means of electronic data processing, the difference between the "x" co-ordinates of the easternmost and the westernmost geographic unit centers included in the district shall be compared to the difference between the "y" co-ordinates of the northernmost and southernmost geographic unit centers included in the district.

(B) To determine the length and width of a district by manual measurement, the distance from the northernmost point or portion of the boundary of a district to the southernmost point or portion of the boundary of the same district and the distance from the westernmost point or portion of the boundary of the district to the easternmost point or portion of the boundary of the same district shall each be measured. If the northernmost or southernmost portion of the boundary, or each of these points, is a part of the boundary running due east and west, the line used to make the measurement required by this paragraph shall either be drawn due north and south or as nearly so as the configuration of the district permits. If the easternmost or westernmost portion of the boundary, or each of these points, is a part of the boundary running due north and south, a similar procedure shall be followed. The lines to be measured for the purpose of this paragraph shall each be drawn as required by this paragraph, even if some part of either or both lines lies outside the boundaries of the district that is being tested for compactness.

(C) The absolute values computed for individual districts under this paragraph may be cumulated for all districts in a plan in order to compare the overall compactness of 2 or more alternative districting plans for the State or for a portion of the State. It is not valid, however, to cumulate or compare absolute values computed under subparagraph (A) with those computed under subparagraph (B) of this paragraph.

(3) The compactness of a district is greatest when the ratio of the dispersion of population about the population center of the district to the dispersion of population about the geographic center of the district is one to one, the nature of this ratio being such that it is always greater than zero and can never be greater than one to one.

(A) The population dispersion about the population center of a district and about the geographic center of a district is computed as the sum of the products of the population of each population data unit included in the district multiplied by the square of the distance from that geographic unit center to the population center or the geographic center of the district, as the case may be. The geographic center of the district is defined by averaging the locations of all geographic unit centers that are included in the district. The population center of the district is defined by computing the population-weighted average of the "x" co-ordinates and "y" co-ordinates of each geographic unit center assigned to the district, it being assumed for the purpose of this calculation that each population data unit possesses uniform density of population.

(B) The ratios computed for individual districts under this paragraph may be averaged for all districts in a plan in order to compare the overall compactness of 2 or more alternative districting plans for the State or for a portion of the State.

(e) No district shall be drawn for the purpose of favoring a political party, incumbent legislator or member of Congress, or other person or group or for the purpose of augmenting or diluting the voting strength of a language or racial minority group. In establishing districts, no use shall be made of any of the following data:

(1) Addresses of incumbent legislators or members of Congress.

(2) Political affiliations of registered voters.

(3) Previous election results.

(4) Demographic information, other than population head counts, except as required by the Constitution and the laws of the United States.

(f) In order to minimize electoral confusion and to facilitate communication within State legislative districts, each plan drawn under this Section shall provide that each representative district is wholly included within a single senatorial district and that, so far as possible, each representative and each senatorial district shall be included within a single congressional district. The standards established by subsections (a) through (e), however, shall take precedence where a conflict arises between these standards and the requirement, so far as possible, of including a senatorial or representative district within a single congressional district.

Section 25. Temporary redistricting advisory commission.

(a) Not later than February 15 of each year ending in one, a 5-member temporary redistricting advisory commission shall be established as provided by this Section. The commission's only functions shall be those prescribed by Section 30.

Each of the 4 legislative leaders shall certify to the State Board of Elections his or her appointment of a person to serve on the commission.

Within 30 days after the legislative leaders have certified their respective appointments to the commission, but in no event later than February 15 of the year ending in one, the 4 commission members so appointed shall select, by a vote of at least 3 members, and certify to the State Board of Elections the 5th commission member, who shall serve as chairperson.

A vacancy on the commission shall be filled by the initial selecting authority within 15 days after the vacancy occurs.

Members of the commission shall receive no compensation but shall be reimbursed for their actual and necessary expenses incurred in performing their duties under this Act, from funds appropriated for that purpose.

(b) No person shall be appointed to the commission who:

(1) Is not an eligible elector of the State at the time of selection.

(2) Holds partisan public office or political party office.

(3) Is a relative of or is employed by a member of the General Assembly or of the United States Congress or is employed directly by the General Assembly or by the United States Congress.

Section 30. Duties of commission. The functions of the commission shall be as follows:

(1) If, in preparation of plans as required by this Act, the Legislative Research Unit is confronted with the necessity to make any decision for which no clearly applicable guideline is provided by Section 20, the Legislative Research Unit may submit a written request for direction to the commission.

(2) Prior to delivering any plan and the bill embodying that plan to the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives in accordance with Section 15, the Legislative Research Unit shall provide to persons outside the Legislative Research Unit staff only such information regarding the plan as may be required by policies agreed upon by the commission. This paragraph does not apply to population data furnished to the Legislative Research Unit by the United States bureau of the census.

(3) Upon each delivery by the Legislative Research Unit to the General Assembly of a bill embodying a plan pursuant to Section 15, the commission shall at the earliest feasible time make available to the public the following information:

(A) Copies of the bill delivered by the Legislative Research Unit to the General Assembly.

(B) Maps illustrating the plan.

(C) A summary of the standards prescribed by Section 20 for development of the plan.

(D) A statement of the population of each district included in the plan and the relative deviation of each district population from the ideal district population.

(4) Upon the delivery by the Legislative Research Unit to the General Assembly of a bill embodying an initial plan as required by subsection (a) of Section 15, the commission shall:

(A) As expeditiously as reasonably possible, schedule and conduct at least 3 public hearings in different geographic regions of the State on the plan embodied in the bill delivered by the Legislative Research Unit to the General Assembly.

(B) Following the hearings, promptly prepare and submit to the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives a report summarizing information and testimony received by the commission in the course of the hearings. The commission's report shall include any comments and conclusions that its members deem appropriate on the information and testimony received at the hearings or otherwise presented to the commission.

Section 40. Compliance with constitutional provisions. It is the intent of this Act that enactment of a bill proposed in accordance with this Act constitutes the redistricting of the State by the General Assembly by law as required by subsection (a) of Section 3 of Article IV of the Illinois Constitution.