Redistricting Reform Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3572 To require States to carry out congressional redistricting in accordance with plans developed and enacted into law by independent redistricting com- missions, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 27, 2019 Ms. LOFGREN (for herself, Ms. BROWNLEY of California, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mr. PETERS, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. VARGAS, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mrs. TORRES of California, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. CORREA, Mr. GARAMENDI, Ms. MATSUI, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. COX of California, Ms. PORTER, Mr. CARBAJAL, Mr. GOMEZ, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. ROUDA, Mr. SWALWELL of California, Mr. TED LIEU of California, Ms. ESHOO, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Mr. BERA, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. COSTA, Mr. AGUILAR, Mr. CISNEROS, Mr. HUFFMAN, Mr. SHERMAN, Ms. JUDY CHU of California, Mr. RUIZ, Ms. SPEIER, Mr. HARDER of California, Mr. MCNERNEY, and Mr. LEVIN of California) in- troduced 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 plans developed and enacted into law by independent redistricting commissions, 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:42 Jul 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3572.IH H3572 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3572 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDING OF CONSTITUTIONAL 1 AUTHORITY; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 2 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 3 ‘‘Redistricting Reform Act of 2019’’. 4 (b) FINDING OF CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY.— 5 Congress finds that it has the authority to establish the 6 terms and conditions States must follow in carrying out 7 congressional redistricting after an apportionment of 8 Members of the House of Representatives because— 9 (1) the authority granted to Congress under ar- 10 ticle I, section 4 of the Constitution of the United 11 States gives Congress the power to enact laws gov- 12 erning the time, place, and manner of elections for 13 Members of the House of Representatives; and 14 (2) the authority granted to Congress under 15 section 5 of the fourteenth amendment to the Con- 16 stitution gives Congress the power to enact laws to 17 enforce section 2 of such amendment, which requires 18 Representatives to be apportioned among the several 19 States according to their number. 20 (c) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 21 this Act is as follows: 22 Sec. 1. Short title; finding of constitutional authority; table of contents. TITLE I—REQUIREMENTS FOR CONGRESSIONAL REDISTRICTING Sec. 101. Requiring congressional redistricting to be conducted through plan of independent State commission. Sec. 102. Ban on mid-decade redistricting. VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:42 Jul 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\H3572.IH H3572 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3572 IH TITLE II—INDEPENDENT REDISTRICTING COMMISSIONS Sec. 201. Independent redistricting commission. Sec. 202. Establishment of selection pool of individuals eligible to serve as members of commission. Sec. 203. Criteria for redistricting plan by independent commission; public no- tice and input. Sec. 204. Establishment of related entities. Sec. 205. Report on diversity of memberships of independent redistricting com- missions. TITLE III—ROLE OF COURTS IN DEVELOPMENT OF REDISTRICTING PLANS Sec. 301. Enactment of plan developed by 3-judge court. Sec. 302. Special rule for redistricting conducted under order of Federal court. TITLE IV—ADMINISTRATIVE AND MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS Sec. 401. Payments to States for carrying out redistricting. Sec. 402. Civil enforcement. Sec. 403. State apportionment notice defined. Sec. 404. No effect on elections for State and local office. Sec. 405. Effective date. TITLE I—REQUIREMENTS FOR 1 CONGRESSIONAL REDIS- 2 TRICTING 3 SEC. 101. REQUIRING CONGRESSIONAL REDISTRICTING TO 4 BE CONDUCTED THROUGH PLAN OF INDE- 5 PENDENT STATE COMMISSION. 6 (a) USE OF PLAN REQUIRED.—Notwithstanding any 7 other provision of law, and except as provided in sub- 8 section (c) and subsection (d), any congressional redis- 9 tricting conducted by a State shall be conducted in accord- 10 ance with— 11 (1) the redistricting plan developed and enacted 12 into law by the independent redistricting commission 13 established in the State, in accordance with title II; 14 or 15 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:42 Jul 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3572.IH H3572 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3572 IH (2) if a plan developed by such commission is 1 not enacted into law, the redistricting plan developed 2 and enacted into law by a 3-judge court, in accord- 3 ance with section 301. 4 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 22(c) of 5 the Act entitled ‘‘An Act to provide for the fifteenth and 6 subsequent decennial censuses and to provide for an ap- 7 portionment of Representatives in Congress’’, approved 8 June 18, 1929 (2 U.S.C. 2a(c)), is amended by striking 9 ‘‘in the manner provided by the law thereof’’ and insert- 10 ing: ‘‘in the manner provided by the Redistricting Reform 11 Act of 2019’’. 12 (c) SPECIAL RULE FOR EXISTING COMMISSIONS.— 13 Subsection (a) does not apply to any State in which, under 14 law in effect continuously on and after the date of the 15 enactment of this Act, congressional redistricting is car- 16 ried out in accordance with a plan developed and approved 17 by an independent redistricting commission which is in 18 compliance with each of the following requirements: 19 (1) PUBLICLY AVAILABLE APPLICATION PROC- 20 ESS.—Membership on the commission is open to citi- 21 zens of the State through a publicly available appli- 22 cation process. 23 (2) DISQUALIFICATIONS FOR GOVERNMENT 24 SERVICE AND POLITICAL APPOINTMENT.—Individ- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:42 Jul 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3572.IH H3572 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3572 IH uals who, for a covered period of time as established 1 by the State, hold or have held public office, individ- 2 uals who are or have been candidates for elected 3 public office, and individuals who serve or have 4 served as an officer, employee, or paid consultant of 5 a campaign committee of a candidate for public of- 6 fice are disqualified from serving on the commission. 7 (3) SCREENING FOR CONFLICTS.—Individuals 8 who apply to serve on the commission are screened 9 through a process that excludes persons with con- 10 flicts of interest from the pool of potential commis- 11 sioners. 12 (4) MULTI-PARTISAN COMPOSITION.—Member- 13 ship on the commission represents those who are af- 14 filiated with the two political parties whose can- 15 didates received the most votes in the most recent 16 Statewide election for Federal office held in the 17 State, as well as those who are unaffiliated with any 18 party or who are affiliated with political parties 19 other than the two political parties whose candidates 20 received the most votes in the most recent Statewide 21 election for Federal office held in the State. 22 (5) CRITERIA FOR REDISTRICTING.—Members 23 of the commission are required to meet certain cri- 24 teria in the map drawing process, including mini- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:42 Jul 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3572.IH H3572 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3572 IH mizing the division of communities of interest and a 1 ban on drawing maps to favor a political party. 2 (6) PUBLIC INPUT.—Public hearings are held 3 and comments from the public are accepted before 4 a final map is approved. 5 (7) BROAD-BASED SUPPORT FOR APPROVAL OF 6 FINAL PLAN.—The approval of the final redistricting 7 plan requires a majority vote of the members of the 8 commission, including the support of at least one 9 member of each of the following: 10 (A) Members who are affiliated with the 11 political party whose candidate received the 12 most votes in the most recent Statewide election 13 for Federal office held in the State. 14 (B) Members who are affiliated with the 15 political party whose candidate received the sec- 16 ond most votes in the most recent Statewide 17 election for Federal office held in the State. 18 (C) Members who not affiliated with any 19 political party or who are affiliated with polit- 20 ical parties other than the political parties de- 21 scribed in subparagraphs (A) and (B). 22 (d) TREATMENT OF STATE OF IOWA.—Subsection (a) 23 does not apply to the State of Iowa, so long as congres- 24 sional redistricting in such State is carried out in accord- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:42 Jul 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3572.IH H3572 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3572 IH ance with a plan developed by the Iowa Legislative Serv- 1 ices Agency with the assistance of a Temporary Redis- 2 tricting Advisory Commission, under law which was in ef- 3 fect for the most recent congressional redistricting carried 4 out in the State prior to the date of the enactment of this 5 Act and which remains in effect continuously on and after 6 the date of the enactment of this Act. 7 SEC. 102. BAN ON MID-DECADE REDISTRICTING. 8 A State that has been redistricted in accordance with 9 this Act and a State described in section 101(c) or section 10 101(d) may not be redistricted again until after the next 11 apportionment of Representatives under section 22(a) of 12 the Act entitled ‘‘An Act to provide for the fifteenth and 13 subsequent decennial censuses and to provide for an ap- 14 portionment of Representatives in Congress’’, approved 15 June 18, 1929 (2 U.S.C. 2a), unless a court requires the 16 State to conduct such subsequent redistricting to comply 17 with the Constitution of the United States, the Voting 18 Rights Act of 1965 (52 U.S.C. 10301 et seq.), the Con- 19 stitution of the State, or the terms or conditions of this 20 Act. 21 TITLE II—INDEPENDENT 22 REDISTRICTING COMMISSIONS 23 SEC. 201. INDEPENDENT REDISTRICTING COMMISSION. 24 (a) APPOINTMENT OF MEMBERS.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:42 Jul 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3572.IH H3572 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3572 IH (1) IN GENERAL.—The nonpartisan agency es- 1 tablished or designated by a State under section 2 204(a) shall establish an independent redistricting 3 commission for the State, which shall consist of 15 4 members appointed by the agency as follows: 5 (A) Not later than October 1 of a year 6 ending in the numeral zero, the agency shall, at 7 a public meeting held not earlier than 15 days 8 after notice of the meeting has been given to 9 the public, first appoint 6 members as follows: 10 (i) The agency shall appoint 2 mem- 11 bers on a random basis from the majority 12 category of the approved selection pool (as 13 described in section 202(b)(1)(A)). 14 (ii) The agency shall appoint 2 mem- 15 bers on a random basis from the minority 16 category of the approved selection pool (as 17 described in section 202(b)(1)(B)). 18 (iii) The agency shall appoint 2 mem- 19 bers on a random basis from the inde- 20 pendent category of the approved selection 21 pool (as described in section 202(b)(1)(C)). 22 (B) Not later than November 15 of a year 23 ending in the numeral zero, the members ap- 24 pointed by the agency under subparagraph (A) 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:42 Jul 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3572.IH H3572 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 3572 IH shall, at a public meeting held not earlier than 1 15 days after notice of the meeting has been 2 given to the public, then appoint 9 members as 3 follows: 4 (i) The members shall appoint 3 mem- 5 bers from the majority category of the ap- 6 proved selection pool (as described in sec- 7 tion 202(b)(1)(A)). 8 (ii) The members shall appoint 3 9 members from the minority category of the 10 approved selection pool (as described in 11 section 202(b)(1)(B)). 12 (iii) The members shall appoint 3 13 members from the independent category of 14 the approved selection pool (as described in 15 section 202(b)(1)(C)). 16 (2) RULES FOR APPOINTMENT OF MEMBERS 17 APPOINTED BY FIRST MEMBERS.— 18 (A) AFFIRMATIVE VOTE OF AT LEAST 4 19 MEMBERS.—The appointment of any of the 9 20 members of the independent redistricting com- 21 mission who are appointed by the first members 22 of the commission pursuant to subparagraph 23 (B) of paragraph (1), as well as the designation 24 of alternates for such members pursuant to 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:42 Jul 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3572.IH H3572 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 3572 IH subparagraph (B) of paragraph (3) and the ap- 1 pointment of alternates to fill vacancies pursu- 2 ant to subparagraph (B) of paragraph (4), shall 3 require the affirmative vote of at least 4 of the 4 members appointed by the nonpartisan agency 5 under subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1), in- 6 cluding at least one member from each of the 7 categories referred to in such subparagraph. 8 (B) ENSURING DIVERSITY.—In appointing 9 the 9 members pursuant to subparagraph (B) 10 of paragraph (1), as well as in designating al- 11 ternates pursuant to subparagraph (B) of para- 12 graph (3) and in appointing alternates to fill 13 vacancies pursuant to subparagraph (B) of 14 paragraph (4), the first members of the inde- 15 pendent redistricting commission shall ensure 16 that the membership is representative of the de- 17 mographic groups (including racial, ethnic, eco- 18 nomic, and gender) and geographic regions of 19 the State, and provides racial, ethnic, and lan- 20 guage minorities protected under the Voting 21 Rights Act of 1965 with a meaningful oppor- 22 tunity to participate in the development of the 23 State’s redistricting plan. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:42 Jul 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3572.IH H3572 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 3572 IH (3) DESIGNATION OF ALTERNATES TO SERVE 1 IN CASE OF VACANCIES.— 2 (A) MEMBERS APPOINTED BY AGENCY.— 3 At the time the agency appoints the members 4 of the independent redistricting commission 5 under subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) from 6 each of the categories referred to in such sub- 7 paragraph, the agency shall, on a random basis, 8 designate 2 other individuals from such cat- 9 egory to serve as alternate members who may 10 be appointed to fill vacancies in the commission 11 in accordance with paragraph (4). 12 (B) MEMBERS APPOINTED BY FIRST MEM- 13 BERS.—At the time the mem [Text truncated for display. 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