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2005 SESSION
056789212RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, a majority of the members elected to each house agreeing, That the following amendments to the Constitution of Virginia be, and the same hereby are, proposed and referred to the General Assembly at its first regular session held after the next general election of members of the House of Delegates for its concurrence in conformity with the provisions of Section 1 of Article XII of the Constitution of Virginia, namely:
Amend Section 6 of Article II and Sections 2 and 3 of Article IV of the Constitution of Virginia as follows:
Section 6. Apportionment Districts for the House
of Representatives and General Assembly; the Virginia Redistricting Commission.
(a) Members of the House of
Representatives of the United States and members of the Senate and of the House
of Delegates of the General Assembly shall be elected from electoral districts
established by the General Assembly Virginia
Redistricting Commission.
Every
electoral district shall be composed of contiguous and compact territory and
shall be so constituted as to give, as nearly as is practicable, representation
in proportion to the population of the district
The General Assembly shall reapportion the
Commonwealth into electoral districts in accordance with this section in the
year 2011 and every ten years
thereafter.
Any such decennial reapportionment law shall take effect immediately and not be subject to the
limitations contained in Article IV, Section 13, of this Constitution.
(b) By January 31 of each year that ends in one, an independent redistricting commission to be known as the Virginia Redistricting Commission (Commission) shall be established to provide for the redistricting of congressional and General Assembly districts. The Commission shall consist of five members. No more than two members shall be members of the same political party. Of the first four members appointed, no more than one shall reside in any single county or city. Each member shall be a registered voter of the Commonwealth who has been continuously registered for three or more years immediately preceding appointment and who is committed to applying the provisions of this section in an honest, independent, and impartial fashion, and to upholding public confidence in the integrity of the redistricting process. Within the three years prior to appointment, members shall not have been appointed to, elected to, or a candidate for any other public office, excluding school board member or officer, and shall not have served as an officer of a political party, a registered paid lobbyist, or an officer of a candidate's campaign committee.
(c) By December 8 of years ending in zero, the Supreme Court shall establish a pool of persons who are willing to serve on and are qualified for appointment to the Commission. The pool of candidates shall consist of twenty-five nominees, with (i) ten nominees representing each of the two political parties which, at the most recent general statewide election preceding their nomination, cast the highest and next highest number of votes and (ii) five who represent no political party and shall be considered independents.
(d) Appointments to the Commission shall be made in the order set forth below. No later than December 31 of years ending in zero, the Speaker of the House of Delegates shall make one appointment from the pool of nominees, followed by one appointment from the pool made in turn by each of the following: the minority party leader of the House of Delegates; the President pro tempore of the Senate of Virginia; and the minority party leader of the Senate. Each such official shall have a seven-day period in which to make an appointment. Any official who fails to make an appointment within the specified time period will forfeit the appointment privilege.
(e) Any vacancy in the above four independent redistricting commission positions remaining as of February 1 of a year ending in one shall be filled from the pool of nominees by the Supreme Court. The appointing body shall strive for political balance and fairness.
(f) At a meeting called by the Secretary of the Commonwealth or his successor, the four redistricting commission members shall select by majority vote from the nomination pool a fifth member who shall be an independent and shall serve as chair. If the four commissioners fail to appoint a fifth member within seven days, the Supreme Court, striving for political balance and fairness, shall appoint a fifth member from the nomination pool, who shall serve as chair.
(g) The five commissioners shall then select by majority vote one of their members to serve as vice-chair.
(h) After having been served written notice and provided with an opportunity for a response, a member of the Commission may be removed by the Governor, with the concurrence of two-thirds of the Senate, for substantial neglect of duty, gross misconduct in office, or inability to discharge the duties of office.
(i) If a commissioner or chair does not complete the term of office for any reason, the Supreme Court shall nominate a pool of three candidates within the first fifteen days after the vacancy occurs. The nominees shall be of the same political party or status as was the member who vacated the office at the time of his appointment, and the appointment other than the chair shall be made by the current holder of the office designated to make the original appointment. The appointment of a new chair shall be made by the remaining commissioners. If the appointment of a replacement commissioner or chair is not made within seven days following the presentation of the nominees, the Supreme Court shall make the appointment, striving for political balance and fairness. The newly appointed commissioner shall serve out the remainder of the original term.
(j) Three commissioners, including the chair or vice-chair, constitute a quorum. Three or more affirmative votes are required for any official action. Where a quorum is present, the Commission shall conduct business in meetings open to the public, with two or more days' public notice provided.
(k) A commissioner, during the commissioner's term of office and for three years thereafter, shall be ineligible for Virginia public office or for registration as a paid lobbyist.
(l) The Commission shall establish (i) General Assembly districts by March 1 of the year ending in one or within one month of the receipt of the decennial redistricting data from the United States Bureau of the Census, whichever is later and (ii) congressional districts by June 1 of the year ending in one. The mapping process for both the congressional and General Assembly districts shall be designed to create districts of equal population and to meet the goals as set forth below:
(1) Districts shall comply with the United States Constitution and the United States voting rights act;
(2) Congressional, House of Delegates, and Senate of Virginia districts shall have equal population to the extent practicable;
(3) Districts shall be geographically compact and contiguous to the extent practicable;
(4) District boundaries shall respect communities of interest to the extent practicable;
(5) To the extent practicable, district lines shall use visible geographic features, city, town and county boundaries, and undivided census tracts;
(6) To the extent practicable, competitive districts shall be favored as long as doing so does not create significant detriment to the other goals.
(m) Party registration data, if any, and voting history data shall be excluded from the initial phase of the mapping process but may be used to test maps for compliance with the above goals. The places of residence of incumbents or candidates shall not be identified or considered.
(n) The Commission shall advertise a draft map of congressional districts and a draft map of General Assembly districts to the public for comment, which comment shall be taken for at least fifteen days. Either or both houses of the General Assembly may act within this period to make recommendations to the Commission by resolution or by minority report, which recommendations shall be considered by the Commission. The Commission shall then establish final district boundaries.
(o) The
districts delineated in the decennial reapportionment law established
by the Commission shall be implemented for the November general
election for the United States House of Representatives, Senate, or House of
Delegates, respectively, that is held immediately prior to the expiration of
the term being served in the year that the reapportionment
law is required to be enacted Commission establishes
final district boundaries. A member in office at the time that a
decennial redistricting law is enacted the Commission
establishes new districts shall complete his term of office and
shall continue to represent the district from which he was elected for the
duration of such term of office so long as he does not move his residence from
the district from which he was elected. Any vacancy occurring during such term
shall be filled from the same district that elected the member whose vacancy is
being filled.
(p) The provisions regarding this section are self-executing. The Commission shall certify to the Secretary of the Commonwealth or his successor the establishment of congressional and General Assembly districts.
(q) Upon approval of this amendment, the Department of General Services or its successor shall prepare to make adequate office space available for the Commission. In years ending in eight or nine after the year 2001, the Department of General Services or its successor shall submit to the General Assembly a recommendation for an appropriation for adequate redistricting expenses. The General Assembly shall make the necessary appropriations by a majority vote.
(r) The Commission shall have procurement and contracting authority and may hire staff and consultants for the purposes of this section, including legal representation.
(s) The Commission shall have standing in legal actions regarding the redistricting plan and the adequacy of resources provided for the operation of the Commission. The Commission shall have sole authority to determine whether the Attorney General or counsel hired or selected by the Commission shall represent the Commonwealth in the legal defense of a redistricting plan.
(t) Members of the Commission shall be eligible for reimbursement of expenses pursuant to law.
(u) Each commissioner's duties established by this section shall expire upon the appointment of the first member of the next Virginia Redistricting Commission. The Commission shall not meet or incur expenses after the redistricting plan is completed, except if litigation or any government approval of the plan is pending, or to revise districts if required by court decisions or if the number of congressional or General Assembly districts is changed.
Section 2. Senate.
The Senate shall consist of not more than forty
and
not less than thirty-three members, who shall be elected
quadrennially by the voters of the several senatorial districts on the Tuesday
succeeding the first Monday in November.
Section 3. House of Delegates.
The House of Delegates shall consist of not more than one
hundred and not less than ninety members, who
shall be elected biennially by the voters of the several house districts on the
Tuesday succeeding the first Monday in November.