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Redistricting Position Statement

A statewide study on redistricting was completed in January of 1994 and the following position was reached by concurrence:

Congressional districts, both houses of the state legislature, as well as municipal government districts including boards of education, should be apportioned primarily according to population. Districts should be single-member, compact, convenient, contiguous and should reflect a community of interest. Specific standards of fair representation as required by the National Voting Rights Act should be assured.

The responsibility for redistricting and reapportioning should rest with an independent agency commissioned by the legislature once every ten years; the agency plan (for redistricting) should be submitted for legislative approval without amendment. The independent agency should not be a court. While the agency should reflect the geographic, racial and gender make-up of the state population, no elected official should be a member. As a creature of the legislature, the agency should be subject to the Open Meetings Law. Definite provisions should be made for compensation and staff services of the independent agency.

A process should be provided to effect automatic, compulsory and periodic redistricting and reapportioning. Measures to enact this process should include: authority, enforcement powers, time schedule and funding. The specific measure may take the form of a constitutional amendment or legislation.

Specific provisions should be made for court review of redistricting and reapportioning measures and for courts to require the independent agency to act on a specific schedule.

The state and its political subdivisions should be redistricted and reapportioned every ten years within a year of certification of the census.

Definite time limits should be set for an agency to act after the decennial census figures are available in order to comply with federal Voting Rights legislation. Time limits should be set for initiating court review of the constitutionality of measures.

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