Redistricting Transparency Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 81 To require States to carry out Congressional redistricting in accordance with a process under which members of the public are informed of redistricting proposals and have the opportunity to participate in the development of such proposals prior to their adoption, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 4, 2021 Mr. COOPER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To require States to carry out Congressional redistricting in accordance with a process under which members of the public are informed of redistricting proposals and have the opportunity to participate in the development of such proposals prior to their adoption, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDING OF CONSTITUTIONAL 3 AUTHORITY. 4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 5 ‘‘Redistricting Transparency Act of 2021’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Jan 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H81.IH H81 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 81 IH (b) FINDING.—Congress finds that it has the author- 1 ity to require States to follow certain procedures in car- 2 rying out Congressional redistricting after an apportion- 3 ment of Members of the House of Representatives be- 4 cause— 5 (1) the authority granted to Congress under ar- 6 ticle I, section 4 of the Constitution of the United 7 States gives Congress the power to enact laws gov- 8 erning the time, place, and manner of elections for 9 Members of the House of Representatives; and 10 (2) the authority granted to Congress under 11 section 5 of the fourteenth amendment to the Con- 12 stitution gives Congress the power to enact laws to 13 enforce section 2 of such amendment, which requires 14 Representatives to be apportioned among the several 15 States according to their number. 16 SEC. 2. REQUIRING REDISTRICTING TO BE CONDUCTED 17 UNDER PROCEDURES PROVIDING OPPOR- 18 TUNITY FOR PUBLIC PARTICIPATION. 19 (a) REQUIREMENT.— 20 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 21 provision of law, any Congressional redistricting con- 22 ducted by a State shall be conducted in accordance 23 with a process under which the entity responsible for 24 developing Congressional redistricting plans in the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Jan 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H81.IH H81 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 81 IH State (hereafter in this Act referred to as the ‘‘State 1 redistricting entity’’)— 2 (A) in accordance with section 3, estab- 3 lishes and operates an internet site; 4 (B) in accordance with section 4, provides 5 opportunities for participation by members of 6 the public in the initial development of such 7 plans; 8 (C) in accordance with section 5, provides 9 opportunities for members of the public to re- 10 spond to the proposed final Congressional redis- 11 tricting plan; and 12 (D) in accordance with section 6, notifies 13 members of the public regarding the final Con- 14 gressional redistricting plan adopted for the 15 State. 16 (2) OTHER PROCEDURES PERMITTED.—Noth- 17 ing in this Act or the amendments made by this Act 18 may be construed to prohibit a State from con- 19 ducting Congressional redistricting in accordance 20 with such procedures as the State considers appro- 21 priate, to the extent that such procedures are con- 22 sistent with the applicable requirements of this Act 23 and the amendments made by this Act. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:47 Jan 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H81.IH H81 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 81 IH (3) NO EFFECT ON REDISTRICTING FOR STATE 1 OR LOCAL ELECTIONS.—Nothing in this Act or the 2 amendments made by this Act may be construed to 3 affect any procedures a State or a unit of local gov- 4 ernment in a State may use to conduct redistricting 5 with respect to elections for State or local offices. 6 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 22(c) of 7 the Act entitled ‘‘An Act to provide for the fifteenth and 8 subsequent decennial censuses and to provide for an ap- 9 portionment of Representatives in Congress’’, approved 10 June 18, 1929 (2 U.S.C. 2a(c)), is amended by striking 11 ‘‘in the manner provided by the law thereof’’ and insert- 12 ing: ‘‘in a manner consistent with the requirements of the 13 Redistricting Transparency Act of 2019’’. 14 SEC. 3. PUBLIC INTERNET SITE FOR STATE REDISTRICTING 15 ENTITY. 16 (a) ESTABLISHMENT AND OPERATION OF SITE.— 17 Each State redistricting entity shall establish and main- 18 tain a public internet site which meets the following re- 19 quirements: 20 (1) The site is updated continuously to provide 21 advance notice of meetings held by the entity and to 22 otherwise provide timely information on the entity’s 23 activities. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Jan 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H81.IH H81 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 81 IH (2) The site contains the most recent available 1 information from the Bureau of the Census on vot- 2 ing-age population, voter registration, and voting re- 3 sults in the State, including precinct-level and cen- 4 sus tract-level data with respect to such information, 5 as well as detailed maps reflecting such information. 6 (3) The site permits any individual to submit 7 comments on any plan proposed by the entity, and 8 to submit questions, comments, and other informa- 9 tion with respect to the entity’s activities. 10 (4) The site includes any other information the 11 entity is required to post under this Act. 12 (b) DEADLINE FOR POSTING OF COMMENTS SUB- 13 MITTED BY PUBLIC.—The State redistricting entity shall 14 ensure that any comment submitted by a member of the 15 public to the site established under this section, including 16 a comment on any plan proposed by the entity or any 17 other person, and any other comment relating to Congres- 18 sional redistricting in the State, is posted on the site not 19 later than 72 hours after submission. 20 (c) UPDATING OF INFORMATION.—The State redis- 21 tricting entity shall take all actions necessary to ensure 22 that the site established under this section is updated con- 23 tinuously to provide timely advance notice of the entity’s 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Jan 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H81.IH H81 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 81 IH meetings and to otherwise provide timely information on 1 the entity’s activities. 2 (d) DEADLINE.—The State redistricting entity shall 3 establish the site under this section as soon as practicable 4 after the completion of the regular decennial census, but 5 in no case later than the final deadline provided under 6 section 22(b) of the Act entitled ‘‘An Act to provide for 7 the fifteenth and subsequent decennial censuses and to 8 provide for an apportionment of Representatives in Con- 9 gress’’, approved June 18, 1929 (2 U.S.C. 2a), for the 10 Clerk of the House of Representatives to transmit to the 11 State the notice of the number of Representatives to which 12 the State is entitled in the following Congress. 13 SEC. 4. OPPORTUNITIES FOR PARTICIPATION IN INITIAL 14 DEVELOPMENT OF CONGRESSIONAL REDIS- 15 TRICTING PLANS. 16 During the 60-day period which begins on the date 17 the State receives the notice referred to in section 3(d), 18 the State redistricting entity shall solicit the input of 19 members of the public in its work to develop initial Con- 20 gressional redistricting plans for the State by carrying out 21 the following activities: 22 (1) Publishing and posting on the internet site 23 established under section 3 the criteria which the en- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Jan 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H81.IH H81 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 81 IH tity will use to develop the Congressional redis- 1 tricting plan for the State. 2 (2) Holding at least one hearing in the State at 3 which members of the public may provide comments 4 on such criteria and any other issues relating to 5 Congressional redistricting in the State. 6 (3) Publishing and posting the transcript of 7 each such hearing, or posting a link to a video re- 8 cording of each such hearing, on the internet site 9 not later than 7 days after the conclusion of the 10 hearing. 11 SEC. 5. OPPORTUNITIES TO RESPOND TO PROPOSED FINAL 12 CONGRESSIONAL REDISTRICTING PLAN 13 ADOPTED BY REDISTRICTING ENTITY. 14 (a) NOTICE OF FINAL PLAN.—Not later than 10 15 days prior to adopting a final Congressional redistricting 16 plan for the State, the State redistricting entity shall post 17 on the internet site established under section 3 (and, if 18 practicable, cause to have published in newspapers of gen- 19 eral circulation throughout the State) the following infor- 20 mation: 21 (1) A detailed version of the proposed final 22 plan, including— 23 (A) a map showing each Congressional dis- 24 trict established under the plan; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Jan 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H81.IH H81 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 81 IH (B) a statement of the voting age popu- 1 lation by race and membership in a language 2 minority group of each such district; and 3 (C) a statement of the number of reg- 4 istered voters in each such district, broken 5 down by political party affiliation to the extent 6 that such information is available under State 7 law. 8 (2) A statement explaining the entity’s reasons 9 for adopting the proposed final plan and the reasons 10 why the adoption of the plan will best serve the pub- 11 lic interest. 12 (3) Any dissenting statement of any member of 13 the entity who did not approve the proposed final 14 plan. 15 (4) A statement that members of the public 16 may submit comments regarding the proposed final 17 plan through the internet site, together with infor- 18 mation on how members of the public may submit 19 such comments to the entity through other methods. 20 (b) PUBLIC HEARING PRIOR TO ADOPTION OF FINAL 21 PLAN.—Not later than 7 days prior to adopting the final 22 Congressional redistricting plan for the State, the State 23 redistricting entity shall hold at least one hearing in the 24 State at which members of the public may provide com- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Jan 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H81.IH H81 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 81 IH ments on the plan and members of the entity may explain 1 the reasons why the adoption of the plan will best serve 2 the public interest. The entity shall publish and post the 3 transcript of each such hearing, or post a link to a video 4 recording of each such hearing, on the internet site estab- 5 lished under section 3. 6 (c) TREATMENT OF AMENDED AND NEW PLANS.— 7 If, in response to public comment or for any other reason, 8 the State redistricting entity posts an amended version of 9 the proposed final Congressional redistricting plan which 10 is posted on the internet site under subsection (a) or posts 11 a new proposed final Congressional redistricting plan, sub- 12 sections (a) and (b) shall apply with respect to the amend- 13 ed version of the plan or the new plan in the same manner 14 as such subsections apply with respect to the proposed 15 final plan which is first posted under subsection (a), ex- 16 cept to the extent that the application of such subsections 17 would require the entity to violate a deadline established 18 by State law for the submission of a final Congressional 19 redistricting plan to the State legislature. 20 SEC. 6. NOTICE OF FINAL ADOPTED CONGRESSIONAL RE- 21 DISTRICTING PLAN. 22 Not later than 7 days after the State redistricting 23 entity adopts the final Congressional redistricting plan for 24 the State, the entity shall post on the internet site estab- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Jan 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H81.IH H81 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 81 IH lished under section 3 (and, if practicable, cause to have 1 published in newspapers of general circulation throughout 2 the State) the following information: 3 (1) A detailed version of the plan, including— 4 (A) a map showing each Congressional dis- 5 trict established under the plan; 6 (B) a statement for each such district of 7 the total population and voting age population 8 by race and membership in a language minority 9 group; and 10 (C) a statement of the number of reg- 11 istered voters in each such district, broken 12 down by political party affiliation to the extent 13 that such information is available under State 14 law. 15 (2) To the extent that the State maintains data 16 on the number of registered voters by race and 17 membership in a language minority group, a state- 18 ment for each such district of the number of reg- 19 istered voters by race and membership in a language 20 minority group. 21 (3) A statement explaining the entity’s reasons 22 for adopting the plan and the reasons why the adop- 23 tion of the plan will best serve the public interest. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Jan 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H81.IH H81 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 81 IH (4) Any dissenting statements of any members 1 of the entity who did not approve the plan. 2 SEC. 7. EFFECTIVE DATE. 3 This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall 4 apply with respect to any Congressional redistricting 5 which occurs after the regular decennial census conducted 6 during 2020. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Jan 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H81.IH H81 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS