HB1559 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB099 04326 MGM 24353 b

99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2015 and 2016
HB1559

Introduced , by Rep. Jack D. Franks

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

New Act
10 ILCS 120/Act rep.
10 ILCS 125/Act rep.

Creates the Redistricting Standards Act. Defines terms. Establishes procedures for preparations for redistricting plans, time tables for redistricting, and redistricting standards. Creates the Temporary Redistricting Advisory Commission. Repeals the Illinois Voting Rights Act of 2011 and the Redistricting Transparency and Public Participation Act.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning elections.

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 Redistricting Standards Act.

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

"Chief election officer" means the Executive Director of the State Board of Elections.

"Commission" means the Temporary Redistricting Advisory Commission established under this Act.

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

"Four selecting authorities" means:

(a) the President of the Senate;

(b) the Minority Leader of the Senate;

(c) the Speaker of the House; and

(d) the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives.

"Partisan public office" means:

(a) an elective or appointive office in the executive or legislative branch or in an independent establishment of the federal government;

(b) an elective office in the executive or legislative branch of the government of this State, or an office which is filled by appointment and is exempt from any portion or all of the Personnel Code; or

(c) an office of a county, city or other political subdivision of this State which is filled by an election process involving nomination and election of candidates on a partisan basis.

"Plan" means a plan for Legislative, Representative, and Congressional District reapportionment drawn up under the requirements of this Act.

"Political party office" means an elective office in the national, State, or local 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.

Section 10. Preparations for redistricting.

(a) The State Board of Elections shall acquire appropriate information, review and evaluate available facilities, and develop programs and procedures in preparation for drawing congressional, representative, and legislative redistricting plans on the basis of each federal census.

(b) By December 31 of each year ending in zero, the State Board of Elections 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 State Board of Elections shall use the data received from the United States Bureau of the Census to:

(1) prepare necessary descriptions of geographic and political units for which census data will be reported, and which are suitable for use as components of Congressional, Legislative, and Representative Districts; and

(2) prepare maps of counties, cities, and other geographic units within the State, which may be used to illustrate the locations of Congressional, Legislative, and Representative 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 State Board of Elections shall obtain from the United States Bureau of the Census the population data needed for legislative redistricting which the Census Bureau is required to provide this State under United States Pub. L. No. 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 under paragraph (1) of subsection (b) of this Section. Upon completing that task, the State Board of Elections shall begin the preparation of Congressional, Legislative, and Representative redistricting plans as required by Section 15.

(d) Upon each delivery by the State Board of Elections to the General Assembly of a bill embodying a plan, pursuant to Section 15, the State Board of Elections shall at the earliest feasible time make available to the public the following information:

(1) copies of the bill delivered by the State Board of Elections to the General Assembly;

(2) maps illustrating the plan;

(3) a summary of the standards prescribed by Section 15 for development of the plan; and

(4) 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.

Section 15. Timetable for preparation of plan.

(a) No later than April 1 of each year ending in one, the State Board of Elections shall deliver to the Secretary of the Senate and the Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives identical bills embodying a plan of Legislative, Representative, and Congressional redistricting 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 3 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. If the bill embodying the plan submitted by the State Board of Elections under this subsection fails to be approved by a majority in either the Senate or the House of Representatives, the Secretary of the Senate or the Chief Clerk of the House, as the case may be, shall at once, but in no event later than 7 days after the date the bill failed to be approved, transmit to the State Board of Elections information which the Senate or House of Representatives may direct by resolution regarding reasons why the plan was not approved.

(b) However, if the population data for Congressional, Representative, and Legislative redistricting which the United States Bureau of the Census is required to provide this State under Pub. L. No. 94-171 and the corresponding topologically integrated geographic encoding and referencing data file for that population data, if used by the State Board of Elections, are not available to the State Board of Elections on or before February 15 of the year ending in one, the dates set forth in subsection (a) shall be extended by a number of days equal to the number of days after February 15 of the year ending in one that the federal census population data and the topologically integrated geographic encoding and referencing data file for redistricting become available.

(c) If the bill embodying the plan submitted by the State Board of Elections under subsection (a) fails to be enacted, the State Board of Elections shall prepare a bill embodying a second plan of Legislative, Representative, and Congressional redistricting. The bill shall be prepared in accordance with Section 20, and, insofar as it is possible to do so within the requirements of Section 20, with the reasons cited by the Senate or House of Representatives by resolution, or the Governor by veto message, for the failure to approve the plan. If a second plan is required under this subsection (c), the bill embodying the plan shall be delivered to the Secretary of the Senate and the Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives no later than 15 days after: (1) the date of the vote by which the Senate or the House of Representatives fails to approve the bill submitted under subsection (a) or (b); or (2) the date the Governor vetoes or fails to approve the bill, but only if such bill can be delivered before July 1 of that year. If it is necessary to submit a bill under this subsection (c), the bill shall be brought to a vote no less than 7 days after the bill is submitted 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. If the bill embodying the plan submitted by the State Board of Elections under this subsection (c) fails to be approved by a majority in either the Senate or the House of Representatives, the Secretary of the Senate or the Chief Clerk of the House, as the case may be, shall transmit to the State Board of Elections in the same manner as described in subsections (a) and (b), information which the Senate or House of Representatives may direct by resolution regarding reasons why the plan was not approved.

(d) If the bill embodying the plan submitted by the State Board of Elections under subsection (c) fails to be enacted, the same procedure as prescribed by subsection (c) shall be followed. If a third plan is required under this subsection (d), the bill embodying it shall be delivered to the Secretary of the Senate and the Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives no later than 15 days after: (1) the date of the vote by which the Senate or the House of Representatives fails to approve the bill submitted under subsection (c); or (2) the date the Governor vetoes or fails to approve the bill, but only if such bill can be delivered before July of that year.

If it is necessary to submit a bill under this subsection (d), the bill shall be brought to a vote within the same time period after its delivery to the Secretary of the Senate and the Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives as is prescribed for the bill submitted under subsection (c), but shall be subject to amendment in the same manner as other bills.

Section 20. Redistricting standards.

(a) Legislative, Representative, and Congressional Districts shall be established on the basis of population.

(b) Legislative and Representative Districts, respectively, shall each have a population as nearly equal as practicable to the ideal population for such districts, determined by dividing the number of districts to be established into the population of the State reported in the federal census. Legislative 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 one percent of the applicable ideal district population. No Legislative District shall have a population which exceeds that of any other Legislative District by more than 5 percent, and no Representative District shall have a population which exceeds that of any other Representative District by more than 5 percent.

(c) Congressional districts shall each have a population as nearly equal as practicable to the ideal district population, derived as prescribed in paragraph (b) of this Section. No Congressional district shall have a population which varies by more than one percent from the applicable ideal district population.

(d) 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 one percent between the population of a district and the applicable ideal district population.

(e) To the extent consistent with subsections (a) through (d), district boundaries shall coincide with the boundaries of political subdivisions of the State. The number of counties and cities 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 or Representative District boundary drawn along a county line which passes through a city that lies in more than one county.

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

(g) Districts shall be reasonably compact in form, to the extent consistent with the standards established by subsections (a) through (f). In general, reasonably compact districts are those which are square, rectangular, or hexagonal in shape, and not irregularly shaped, to the extent permitted by natural or political boundaries. If it is necessary to compare the relative compactness of 2 or more districts, or of 2 or more alternative redistricting plans, the tests prescribed by subsections (h) and (i) shall be used.

(h) 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. In general, the length-width compactness of a district is calculated by measuring 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. 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 redistricting plans for the State, or for a portion of the State.

(i) The compactness of a district is greatest when the distance needed to traverse the perimeter boundary of a district is as short as possible. The total perimeter distance 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 redistricting plans for the State, or for a portion of the State.

(j) 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; or

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

(k) In order to minimize electoral confusion and to facilitate communication within Legislative and Representative Districts, each plan drawn under this Section shall provide that each Representative District is wholly included within a single Legislative District and that, so far as possible, each Representative and each Legislative District shall be included within a single Congressional District. However, the standards established by subsections (a) through (j) shall take precedence where a conflict arises between these standards and the requirement, so far as possible, of including a Legislative or Representative District within a single Congressional District.

(l) Each bill embodying a plan drawn under this Section shall provide that any vacancy in the General Assembly which takes office in the year ending in one, occurring at a time which makes it necessary to fill the vacancy at a special election, shall be filled from the same district which elected the Senator or Representative whose seat is vacant.

Section 25. Temporary Redistricting Advisory Commission.

(a) No 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.

(b) Each of the 4 selecting authorities shall certify to the chief election officer the authority's appointment of a person to serve on the Commission. The certifications may be made at any time after the President and Minority Leader of the Senate and the Speaker and Minority Leader of the House of Representatives have been selected for the General Assembly which takes office in the year ending in one, even though that General Assembly's term of office has not actually begun.

(c) Within 30 days after the 4 selecting authorities 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 chief election officer the fifth Commission member, who shall serve as chairperson.

(d) A vacancy on the Commission shall be filled by the initial selecting authority within 15 days after the vacancy occurs.

(e) Members of the Commission shall receive a per diem and travel expenses at the rates allowed under the General Assembly Compensation Act, and such expenses and per diems shall be paid from the same fund used to pay per diems and travel expenses to members on session days. Members shall also receive reimbursement for other necessary expenses incurred in performing their duties under this Section and Section 30.

(f) No person shall be appointed to the Commission who:

(1) is not an eligible elector of the State at the time of appointment;

(2) holds partisan public office or political party office; or

(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 the Commission.

(a) The functions of the Commission shall be as follows:

(1) If, in preparation of plans as required by this Act, the State Board of Elections is confronted with the necessity to make any decision for which no clearly applicable guideline is provided by Section 20, the State Board of Elections 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 Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives in accordance with Section 15, the State Board of Elections shall provide to persons outside State Board of Elections staff only such information regarding the plan as may be required by policies agreed upon by the Commission. This subsection does not apply to population data furnished to the State Board of Elections by the United States Bureau of the Census.

(3) Upon the delivery by the State Board of Elections 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 4 public hearings, in different geographic regions of the State, on the plan embodied in the bill delivered by the State Board of Elections to the General Assembly.

(B) Following the hearings, promptly prepare and submit to the Secretary of the Senate and the Chief 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 which its members deem appropriate on the information and testimony received at the hearings, or otherwise presented to the Commission. The report shall be submitted no later than 14 days after the date the bill embodying an initial plan of Congressional, Representative, and Legislative redistricting is delivered to the General Assembly.

(10 ILCS 120/Act rep.)

Section 35. The Illinois Voting Rights Act of 2011 is repealed.

(10 ILCS 125/Act rep.)

Section 40. The Redistricting Transparency and Public Participation Act is repealed.