Redistricting Reform Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2226 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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 23, 2019 Ms. KLOBUCHAR (for herself, Mr. CASEY, Mr. COONS, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Ms. SMITH, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, and Mr. SANDERS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 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 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDING OF CONSTITUTIONAL 3 AUTHORITY; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 5 ‘‘Redistricting Reform Act of 2019’’. 6 (b) FINDING OF CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY.— 7 Congress finds that it has the authority to establish the 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:54 Jul 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2226.IS S2226 lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 2226 IS terms and conditions States must follow in carrying out 1 congressional redistricting after an apportionment of 2 Members of the House of Representatives because— 3 (1) the authority granted to Congress under ar- 4 ticle I, section 4 of the Constitution of the United 5 States gives Congress the power to enact laws gov- 6 erning the time, place, and manner of elections for 7 Members of the House of Representatives; and 8 (2) the authority granted to Congress under 9 section 5 of the fourteenth amendment to the Con- 10 stitution gives Congress the power to enact laws to 11 enforce section 2 of such amendment, which requires 12 Representatives to be apportioned among the several 13 States according to their number. 14 (c) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 15 this Act is as follows: 16 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. 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:54 Jul 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\S2226.IS S2226 lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 2226 IS 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 (2) if a plan developed by such commission is 16 not enacted into law, the redistricting plan developed 17 and enacted into law by a 3-judge court, in accord- 18 ance with section 301. 19 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 22(c) of 20 the Act entitled ‘‘An Act to provide for the fifteenth and 21 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:54 Jul 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2226.IS S2226 lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 2226 IS subsequent decennial censuses and to provide for an ap- 1 portionment of Representatives in Congress’’, approved 2 June 18, 1929 (2 U.S.C. 2a(c)), is amended by striking 3 ‘‘in the manner provided by the law thereof’’ and insert- 4 ing: ‘‘in the manner provided by the Redistricting Reform 5 Act of 2019’’. 6 (c) SPECIAL RULE FOR EXISTING COMMISSIONS.— 7 Subsection (a) does not apply to any State in which, under 8 law in effect continuously on and after the date of the 9 enactment of this Act, congressional redistricting is car- 10 ried out in accordance with a plan developed and approved 11 by an independent redistricting commission which is in 12 compliance with each of the following requirements: 13 (1) PUBLICLY AVAILABLE APPLICATION PROC- 14 ESS.—Membership on the commission is open to citi- 15 zens of the State through a publicly available appli- 16 cation process. 17 (2) DISQUALIFICATIONS FOR GOVERNMENT 18 SERVICE AND POLITICAL APPOINTMENT.—Individ- 19 uals who, for a covered period of time as established 20 by the State, hold or have held public office, individ- 21 uals who are or have been candidates for elected 22 public office, and individuals who serve or have 23 served as an officer, employee, or paid consultant of 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:54 Jul 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2226.IS S2226 lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 2226 IS a campaign committee of a candidate for public of- 1 fice are disqualified from serving on the commission. 2 (3) SCREENING FOR CONFLICTS.—Individuals 3 who apply to serve on the commission are screened 4 through a process that excludes persons with con- 5 flicts of interest from the pool of potential commis- 6 sioners. 7 (4) MULTI-PARTISAN COMPOSITION.—Member- 8 ship on the commission represents those who are af- 9 filiated with the two political parties whose can- 10 didates received the most votes in the most recent 11 Statewide election for Federal office held in the 12 State, as well as those who are unaffiliated with any 13 party or who are affiliated with political parties 14 other than the two political parties whose candidates 15 received the most votes in the most recent Statewide 16 election for Federal office held in the State. 17 (5) CRITERIA FOR REDISTRICTING.—Members 18 of the commission are required to meet certain cri- 19 teria in the map drawing process, including mini- 20 mizing the division of communities of interest and a 21 ban on drawing maps to favor a political party. 22 (6) PUBLIC INPUT.—Public hearings are held 23 and comments from the public are accepted before 24 a final map is approved. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:54 Jul 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2226.IS S2226 lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 2226 IS (7) BROAD-BASED SUPPORT FOR APPROVAL OF 1 FINAL PLAN.—The approval of the final redistricting 2 plan requires a majority vote of the members of the 3 commission, including the support of at least one 4 member of each of the following: 5 (A) Members who are affiliated with the 6 political party whose candidate received the 7 most votes in the most recent Statewide election 8 for Federal office held in the State. 9 (B) Members who are affiliated with the 10 political party whose candidate received the sec- 11 ond most votes in the most recent Statewide 12 election for Federal office held in the State. 13 (C) Members who not affiliated with any 14 political party or who are affiliated with polit- 15 ical parties other than the political parties de- 16 scribed in subparagraphs (A) and (B). 17 (d) TREATMENT OF STATE OF IOWA.—Subsection (a) 18 does not apply to the State of Iowa, so long as congres- 19 sional redistricting in such State is carried out in accord- 20 ance with a plan developed by the Iowa Legislative Serv- 21 ices Agency with the assistance of a Temporary Redis- 22 tricting Advisory Commission, under law which was in ef- 23 fect for the most recent congressional redistricting carried 24 out in the State prior to the date of the enactment of this 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:54 Jul 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2226.IS S2226 lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 2226 IS Act and which remains in effect continuously on and after 1 the date of the enactment of this Act. 2 SEC. 102. BAN ON MID-DECADE REDISTRICTING. 3 A State that has been redistricted in accordance with 4 this Act and a State described in section 101(c) or section 5 101(d) may not be redistricted again until after the next 6 apportionment of Representatives under section 22(a) 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), unless a court requires the 11 State to conduct such subsequent redistricting to comply 12 with the Constitution of the United States, the Voting 13 Rights Act of 1965 (52 U.S.C. 10301 et seq.), the Con- 14 stitution of the State, or the terms or conditions of this 15 Act. 16 TITLE II—INDEPENDENT 17 REDISTRICTING COMMISSIONS 18 SEC. 201. INDEPENDENT REDISTRICTING COMMISSION. 19 (a) APPOINTMENT OF MEMBERS.— 20 (1) IN GENERAL.—The nonpartisan agency es- 21 tablished or designated by a State under section 22 204(a) shall establish an independent redistricting 23 commission for the State, which shall consist of 15 24 members appointed by the agency as follows: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:54 Jul 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2226.IS S2226 lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 2226 IS (A) Not later than October 1 of a year 1 ending in the numeral zero, the agency shall, at 2 a public meeting held not earlier than 15 days 3 after notice of the meeting has been given to 4 the public, first appoint 6 members as follows: 5 (i) The agency shall appoint 2 mem- 6 bers on a random basis from the majority 7 category of the approved selection pool (as 8 described in section 202(b)(1)(A)). 9 (ii) The agency shall appoint 2 mem- 10 bers on a random basis from the minority 11 category of the approved selection pool (as 12 described in section 202(b)(1)(B)). 13 (iii) The agency shall appoint 2 mem- 14 bers on a random basis from the inde- 15 pendent category of the approved selection 16 pool (as described in section 202(b)(1)(C)). 17 (B) Not later than November 15 of a year 18 ending in the numeral zero, the members ap- 19 pointed by the agency under subparagraph (A) 20 shall, at a public meeting held not earlier than 21 15 days after notice of the meeting has been 22 given to the public, then appoint 9 members as 23 follows: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:54 Jul 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2226.IS S2226 lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 2226 IS (i) The members shall appoint 3 mem- 1 bers from the majority category of the ap- 2 proved selection pool (as described in sec- 3 tion 202(b)(1)(A)). 4 (ii) The members shall appoint 3 5 members from the minority category of the 6 approved selection pool (as described in 7 section 202(b)(1)(B)). 8 (iii) The members shall appoint 3 9 members from the independent category of 10 the approved selection pool (as described in 11 section 202(b)(1)(C)). 12 (2) RULES FOR APPOINTMENT OF MEMBERS 13 APPOINTED BY FIRST MEMBERS.— 14 (A) AFFIRMATIVE VOTE OF AT LEAST 4 15 MEMBERS.—The appointment of any of the 9 16 members of the independent redistricting com- 17 mission who are appointed by the first members 18 of the commission pursuant to subparagraph 19 (B) of paragraph (1), as well as the designation 20 of alternates for such members pursuant to 21 subparagraph (B) of paragraph (3) and the ap- 22 pointment of alternates to fill vacancies pursu- 23 ant to subparagraph (B) of paragraph (4), shall 24 require the affirmative vote of at least 4 of the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:54 Jul 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2226.IS S2226 lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 2226 IS members appointed by the nonpartisan agency 1 under subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1), in- 2 cluding at least one member from each of the 3 categories referred to in such subparagraph. 4 (B) ENSURING DIVERSITY.—In appointing 5 the 9 members pursuant to subparagraph (B) 6 of paragraph (1), as well as in designating al- 7 ternates pursuant to subparagraph (B) of para- 8 graph (3) and in appointing alternates to fill 9 vacancies pursuant to subparagraph (B) of 10 paragraph (4), the first members of the inde- 11 pendent redistricting commission shall ensure 12 that the membership is representative of the de- 13 mographic groups (including racial, ethnic, eco- 14 nomic, and gender) and geographic regions of 15 the State, and provides racial, ethnic, and lan- 16 guage minorities protected under the Voting 17 Rights Act of 1965 with a meaningful oppor- 18 tunity to participate in the development of the 19 State’s redistricting plan. 20 (3) DESIGNATION OF ALTERNATES TO SERVE 21 IN CASE OF VACANCIES.— 22 (A) MEMBERS APPOINTED BY AGENCY.— 23 At the time the agency appoints the members 24 of the independent redistricting commission 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:54 Jul 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2226.IS S2226 lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 2226 IS under subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) from 1 each of the categories referred to in such sub- 2 paragraph, the agency shall, on a random basis, 3 designate 2 other individuals from such cat- 4 egory to serve as alternate members who may 5 be appointed to fill vacancies in the commission 6 in accordance with paragraph (4). 7 (B) MEMBERS APPOINTED BY FIRST MEM- 8 BERS.—At the time the members appointed by 9 the agency appoint the other members of the 10 independent redistricting commission under 11 subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1) from each 12 of the categories referred to in such subpara- 13 graph, the members shall, in accordance with 14 the special rules described in paragraph (2), 15 designate 2 other individuals from such cat- 16 egory to serve as alternate members who may 17 be appointed to fill vacancies in the commission 18 in accordance with paragraph (4). 19 (4) APPOINTMENT OF ALTERNATES TO SERVE 20 IN CASE OF VACANCIES.— [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]