HB 1256

Abstract

Redistricting; Virginia Redistricting Advisory Commission; standards and criteria. Establishes the Virginia Redistricting Advisory Commission (the Commission), a statutory legislative commission tasked with proposing districts for the United States House of Representatives and for the Senate and the House of Delegates of the General Assembly that adhere to certain constitutional and statutory criteria and that will be submitted for consideration and adoption by the General Assembly. The Commission will consist of eight legislative commissioners and eight citizen commissioners. The legislative commissioners consist of four members of the Senate of Virginia and four members of the House of Delegates, with equal representation given to the political parties having the highest and next highest number of members in their respective houses. The citizen commissioners are chosen by a selection committee consisting of five retired judges of the circuit courts of Virginia, from lists submitted to the selection committee by the Speaker of the House of Delegates, the leader in the House of Delegates of the political party having the next highest number of members in the House of Delegates, the President pro tempore of the Senate of Virginia, and the leader in the Senate of the political party having the next highest number of members in the Senate. The bill contains eligibility requirements for the citizen commissioners, including restrictions on holding or having held partisan national or state public office. As part of the application process for service on the Commission, the Division of Legislative Services acts as a repository for applications submitted by interested persons and is tasked with screening out applicants who are ineligible or submit incomplete applications. The applications of the citizen candidates selected by political leadership and submitted for consideration to the selection committee are public records.The bill also directs the Division of Legislative Services to provide staff support to the Commission in the redistricting of congressional and state legislative districts. The Commission is required to submit to the General Assembly plans of districts within certain time periods, and the bill sets out criteria by which the districts are to be drawn, including equal population, racial and ethnic fairness, communities of interest, contiguity, and compactness. The bill prohibits a map of districts from unduly favoring or disfavoring any political party when considered on a statewide basis.The bill provides for the preparation and use of adjusted population data for redistricting and reapportionment purposes to reflect the reallocation of persons incarcerated in federal, state, and local correctional facilities. Persons incarcerated in such a facility whose address at the time of incarceration was in the Commonwealth are to be counted at that address and persons incarcerated in such a facility whose address at the time of incarceration was outside of the Commonwealth or cannot be determined are to be counted at the facility.Provisions to ensure public participation in the redistricting process are included, including requirements that meetings are video recorded and transcribed and the archived videos and transcripts be made available on the Commission's website. The bill also requires a series of public hearings to be conducted prior receipt of Census data and at least public hearings to be held prior to voting to submit any plan to the General Assembly. The General Assembly may reject initial plans developed by the Commission and provide information to the Commission regarding the reasons for rejecting such plans. The General Assembly is limited in its ability to amend plans until multiple plans have been submitted and rejected.

Redistricting; Virginia Redistricting Advisory Commission.Establishes the Virginia Redistricting Advisory Commission, an 11-personcommission tasked with proposing districts for the United States House ofRepresentatives and for the Senate and the House of Delegates of the GeneralAssembly that adhere to certain constitutional and statutory criteria and arebased on public input and that will be submitted for consideration and adoptionby the General Assembly. Four of the commissioners are to be affiliated withthe political party receiving the highest number of votes for Governor at theimmediately preceding gubernatorial election, four are to be affiliated withthe political party receiving the next highest number of votes for Governor atthe immediately preceding gubernatorial election, and three are to beunaffiliated with either of those political parties. The Auditor of PublicAccounts is required to adopt an application and process by which residents ofthe Commonwealth may apply to serve on the Commission. The Auditor also acts asa repository for applications submitted by interested persons and is taskedwith screening out applicants who are ineligible or submit incompleteapplications and sorting eligible applicants into applicant pools by politicalparty affiliation. Political leadership and the Auditor of Public Accounts eachselect one commissioner from the narrowed-down applicant pool, and then thosefive commissioners select the remaining six commissioners from the sameapplicant pools.The Commission selects an executive director and hires its ownfull-time staff. Responsibilities related to preparation for the decennialCensus and the redistricting process that are currently given to the JointReapportionment Committee are shifted to the Commission. The Commission is alsotasked with maintaining current election district and precinct boundaries aspart of its computer-assisted mapping and redistricting systems, both currentlythe responsibility of the Division of Legislative Services.The Commission is required to develop and hold hearings onpreliminary maps before submitting any proposed map to the General Assembly;the bill contains deadlines for both. The General Assembly may reject initialplans developed by the Commission and provide information to the Commissionregarding the reasons for rejecting such plans. The General Assembly is limitedin its ability to amend plans until multiple plans have been submitted andrejected. The bill sets out criteria by which the districts are to be drawn,including equal population, contiguity, racial and ethnic fairness, and respectfor existing communities of interest. The bill prohibits districts from beingdrawn for the purpose of favoring or disfavoring any political party, incumbentlegislator or member of Congress, or other individual or entity. Provisions toensure public participation in the redistricting process are included.