HJ 71

Abstract

Constitutional amendment (second resolution);apportionment; Virginia Redistricting Commission. Establishes the VirginiaRedistricting Commission, a 16-member Commission tasked with establishingdistricts for the United States House of Representatives and for the Senate andthe House of Delegates of the General Assembly. The Commission consists ofeight legislative members and eight citizen members. The legislative membersconsist of four members of the Senate of Virginia and four members of the Houseof Delegates, with equal representation given to the political parties havingthe highest and next highest number of members in their respective houses. Thecitizen members are selected by a selection committee consisting of fiveretired judges of the circuit courts of Virginia, from lists submitted to theselection committee by the Speaker of the House of Delegates, the leader in theHouse of Delegates of the political party having the next highest number ofmembers in the House of Delegates, the President pro tempore of the Senate ofVirginia, and the leader in the Senate of the political party having the nexthighest number of members in the Senate. The Commission is required to submit tothe General Assembly plans of districts for the Senate and the House ofDelegates of the General Assembly no later than 45 days following the receiptof census data and plans of districts for the United States House ofRepresentatives no later than 60 days following the receipt of census data, orJuly 1 of that year, whichever occurs later. The measure requires certain votethresholds for plans, depending on the type of district, in order to besubmitted to the General Assembly. No amendments may be made to a plan by theGeneral Assembly, and any plan approved by the General Assembly becomes lawwithout the signature of the Governor. The measure requires additional plans tobe submitted, or additional time to be given to submit a plan, in certaincircumstances, and further provides that districts will be drawn by the SupremeCourt of Virginia if such efforts fail.