SENATE BILL NO. 1195
December 05, 2024, Introduced by Senator WOJNO and referred to the Committee on Elections
and Ethics.
A bill to amend 1966 PA 293, entitled
"An act to provide for the establishment of charter counties; to
provide for the election of charter commissioners; to prescribe
their powers and duties; to prohibit certain acts of a county board
of commissioners after the approval of the election of a charter
commission; to prescribe the mandatory and permissive provisions of
a charter; to provide for the exercise by a charter county of
certain powers whether or not authorized by its charter; and to
prescribe penalties and provide remedies,"
by amending sections 4, 5, 12, and 14 (MCL 45.504, 45.505, 45.512,
and 45.514), section 4 as amended by 2014 PA 309, section 5 as
amended by 1980 PA 7, and section 14 as amended by 2021 PA 121.
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THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
1 Sec. 4. (1) The county apportionment commission shall set
2 forth the number of charter commissioners to be elected as follows:
3 County Population Number of Charter Commissioners
4 Under 5,001100,000 Not more than 75 to 9
5 5,001 100,000 to Not more than 119 to 15
6 10,000500,000
7 10,001 to 50,000 Not more than 15
8 50,001 to 600,000 Not more than 21
9 Over 600,000500,000 13 15 to 3521
10 (2) The resolution shall must require that a candidate for
11 election to the office of charter commissioner shall have been be a
12 qualified elector in the candidate's district for not less than 6
13 months.
14 (3) An elected county official shall not be a candidate for
15 election to the office of charter commissioner unless the person
16 individual has resigned from the elected position.
17 (4) A member or former member of the county board of
18 commissioners shall not serve as chief administrative officer of
19 the county until at least 2 years after his or her the member or
20 former member's termination from membership on the board.
21 Sec. 5. (1) The resolution shall must provide for a partisan
22 election of a charter commission, for the nomination of candidates
23 for the charter commission by petitioning or filing a fee, and for
24 a primary election of charter commission candidates. A charter
25 commission candidate who elects to pay a filing fee shall pay the
26 fee not less than 3 days before the final day upon which that
27 petitions may be filed. The resolution shall must provide for the
28 election of charter commissioners from districts established by the
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1 county apportionment commission. The county apportionment
2 commission shall consist of the county clerk, the county treasurer,
3 the prosecuting attorney, and the statutory county chairperson of
4 each of the 2 major political parties, receiving the greatest
5 number of votes cast for the office of secretary of state in the
6 last general election in which a secretary of state was elected.
7 and 1 additional member from each major political party chosen by
8 the county board of commissioners from a list of 3 individuals
9 submitted by the statutory county chairperson of each major
10 political party. If a county does not have a statutory county
11 chairperson of a major political party, the 2 additional members
12 shall be a party representative from each of the 2 political
13 parties receiving the greatest number of votes cast for the office
14 of secretary of state in the last general election in which a
15 secretary of state was elected and appointed by the chairperson of
16 the state central committee for each of the political parties. The
17 county clerk shall convene the county apportionment commission and
18 the county apportionment commission shall adopt the rules of
19 procedure. Three members of the county apportionment commission are
20 a quorum sufficient to conduct its business. chairperson of the
21 major political party's state central committee shall appoint a
22 statutory county chairperson to perform the duties required under
23 this act. The county clerk shall convene the county apportionment
24 commission, and the commission shall adopt rules of procedure. A
25 majority of the members of the commission is a quorum sufficient to
26 conduct the commission's business. All action of the county
27 apportionment commission shall must be by majority vote of the
28 apportionment commission.
29 (2) The county apportionment commission, within 30 no later
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1 than 60 days after the adoption of the resolution by the county
2 board of commissioners, shall establish charter commission
3 districts equal to the number of charter commissioners to be
4 elected. All districts shall be single member districts and as
5 equal in population as practicable. The latest official published
6 figures of the United States official census shall be used in this
7 determination, except that in cases requiring a division of
8 official census units to meet the population standard, an actual
9 population count may be used to make the division. Other
10 governmental census figures of total population may be used if
11 taken after the last decennial United States census and the United
12 States census figures are not adequate for the purposes of this
13 act. The secretary of state shall furnish the latest official
14 published figures to the county apportionment commission within 15
15 days after publication of subsequent United States official census
16 figures. A contract may be entered into with the United States
17 census bureau to conduct a special census if the latest United
18 States decennial census figures are not adequate. Each district
19 shall be contiguous, compact, and as nearly square in shape as is
20 practicable, depending on the geography of the county area
21 involved, and shall be drawn without regard to partisan political
22 advantage. Each city and township shall be apportioned so that it
23 shall have the largest possible number of complete districts within
24 its boundaries before any part of the city or township is joined to
25 territory outside the boundaries of the city or township to form a
26 district. Townships, villages, cities, and precincts shall be
27 divided only if necessary to meet the population standard.
28 (3) If the apportionment of a county into charter commission
29 districts is not finalized within the 60-day time limit under this
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1 section, a panel of 3 judges who are selected as provided in this
2 subsection shall apportion the county into charter commission
3 districts. Five judges from the court of appeals in this state must
4 be randomly selected. The statutory county chairperson of each of
5 the 2 major political parties shall each strike 1 of the 5 selected
6 judges, and the remaining 3 judges constitute the panel under this
7 subsection. When apportioning a county into charter commission
8 districts, the panel of 3 judges must follow the guidelines under
9 this section and section 4.
10 (4) Except for a meeting or part of a meeting held in closed
11 session, a meeting of the county apportionment commission must be
12 transcribed or videorecorded with sound and picture and be made
13 available to the public.
14 (5) If the county apportionment commission is for a county
15 with a population greater than 250,000, the commission shall hold
16 at least 3 public hearings to inform the public about the
17 apportionment process and standards before preparing, considering,
18 or adopting an apportionment plan. The hearings must be held on 3
19 different dates at 3 different locations within the county.
20 (6) A county apportionment committee shall not adopt an
21 apportionment plan, partial apportionment plan, or district at the
22 meeting in which the plan, partial plan, or district was proposed.
23 Subject to subsection (5), before a proposed apportionment plan,
24 partial apportionment plan, or district may be adopted, the
25 proposed apportionment plan, partial apportionment plan, or
26 district must be published for public review and available to the
27 public for at least 7 days after the plan was proposed.
28 (7) In apportioning the county into charter commission
29 districts, the county apportionment commission is governed by the
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1 following guidelines in the stated order of importance so that
2 higher ranked guidelines must be satisfied before lower ranked
3 guidelines may be considered:
4 (a) The plan and all districts must follow all applicable
5 federal laws, including, but not limited to, the voting rights act
6 of 1965, Public Law 89-110.
7 (b) All districts must be single-member districts contiguous
8 by land. An island is considered contiguous to the city or township
9 of which the island is a part. If an island constitutes its own
10 city or township, the island is considered contiguous to the
11 nearest city or township. Areas that meet only at the points of
12 adjoining corners are not contiguous.
13 (c) A district's population must not exceed a 5% deviation
14 from the target population, and the difference in population
15 between the most and least populous districts must not exceed 10%
16 of the target population. The secretary of state shall furnish to
17 each county apportionment commission the latest official published
18 figures by the United States Census Bureau. As used in this
19 subsection, "target population" means the sum of the individuals
20 counted in the United States Census for the county divided by the
21 total number of districts in the county.
22 (d) The apportionment of a county into charter commission
23 districts must not result in a partisan advantage to any major
24 political party. The standard under this subdivision requires that
25 the county apportionment commission adopt the best plan. The best
26 plan must apportion the county into charter commission districts in
27 such a way as to provide the least degree possible of partisan
28 advantage for a major political party without violating subdivision
29 (a), (b), or (c).
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1 (e) A district must not be drawn to favor an incumbent elected
2 official or candidate.
3 (f) The commission may consider the compactness of districts
4 and the boundaries of cities and townships in preparing districts.
5 (8) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (9), partisan
6 advantage must be determined in the following manner:
7 (a) The difference between the actual number of minority party
8 districts and the target number of minority party districts must
9 not exceed 1.
10 (b) The proportional number of minority party districts must
11 be determined by multiplying the minority party vote share in the
12 county by the number of districts in the county and must not be
13 rounded to the nearest whole number.
14 (c) If at least 1 member of the county apportionment
15 commission demonstrates that it is possible to draw the
16 proportional number of minority party districts while complying
17 with the higher ranked criteria, the target number of minority
18 party districts is equal to the proportional number of minority
19 districts. If no member demonstrates that it is possible to draw
20 the proportional number of minority party districts while complying
21 with the higher ranked criteria, the target number of minority
22 party districts is the maximum number of demonstrably possible
23 minority party districts that comply with the higher ranked
24 criteria.
25 (9) In a county where the proportionality criterion results in
26 an apportionment plan that results in each major political party
27 having the same number of seats or that gives a major political
28 party a 1- or 2-seat majority, partisan advantage must be
29 determined by the mean-median difference. The apportionment plan
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1 resulting in a mean-median difference with an absolute value
2 closest to zero is the best map under this criterion.
3 (10) The mean-median difference under subsection (9) must be
4 calculated in the following manner:
5 (a) Sum the votes cast for each major political party's
6 candidate for state board of education within each district for the
7 2 most recent general elections in which county commissioners were
8 elected, excluding special elections for partial terms.
9 (b) Find the district-level vote share in each district by
10 dividing the total votes cast for candidates of 1 major political
11 party in the district by the summed votes for both major political
12 parties in the district.
13 (c) Calculate the mean of the district-level vote share by
14 summing the district-level vote shares for all districts in the
15 county and dividing by the number of districts in the county. The
16 district-level vote share must be calculated in the following
17 manner:
18 (i) Sort the district vote shares from lowest to highest.
19 (ii) If the number of districts is odd, the median is the vote
20 share of the middle district, where an equal number of districts
21 have higher and lower vote shares.
22 (iii) If the number of districts is even, the median is the
23 average of the 2 middle district vote shares, where an equal number
24 of districts have higher and lower vote shares than the 2 middle
25 districts.
26 (d) Subtract the mean from the median.
27 (11) (3) In a county having a population of less than
28 1,500,000, the date of the primary election for charter
29 commissioners may be the same as the date for the submisson
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1 submission of the question as provided in section 3. Otherwise, the
2 date of the primary election for charter commissioners shall must
3 be the same as the date for the submission of the question as
4 provided in section 3. The election of the charter commission shall
5 must be at the next primary or general election occurring not less
6 than 60 days after the primary election for charter commissioners.
7 If a regular primary or general election does not occur within 180
8 days after the date of the primary, the county board of
9 commissioners shall provide, in the resolution, for a date on which
10 the final election of the commission shall be held.
11 (12) (4) The apportionment plan approved by the apportionment
12 commission shall must be filed in the office of the county clerk.
13 at which time On filing, the plan shall become becomes effective,
14 and copies of the plan immediately shall must be forwarded by the
15 county clerk to the secretary of state for filing. The plan shall
16 must be made available at cost to any registered voter of the
17 county.
18 (13) (5) Any registered voter of the county, within no later
19 than 30 days after the filing of the plan for his or her the
20 registered voter's county, may petition the court of appeals to
21 review the plan to determine if the plan meets the requirements of
22 the laws of this state. A finding of the court of appeals may be
23 appealed to the supreme court of this state as provided by law.
24 (14) (6) If the apportionment commission has failed to submit
25 a plan for its county within 60 days but not less than 30 days
26 after the latest official published census figures are available or
27 within an additional time as may be granted by the court of appeals
28 for good cause shown on petition from the apportionment commission,
29 any registered voter of the county may submit a plan to the
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1 commission for approval. The apportionment commission shall choose,
2 from among those plans submitted, a plan meeting the requirements
3 of the laws of this state and shall file the plan in the office of
4 the county clerk as provided in this section within 30 days after
5 the deadline for filing of the apportionment commission's own plan
6 or any extension granted on the filing of the plan.A reviewing
7 court shall review de novo the following county apportionment
8 commission actions and decisions:
9 (a) The decisions as to how many districts a county has under
10 section 4.
11 (b) Compliance with section 4.
12 (c) The adopted plan's compliance with this section.
13 (15) The county apportionment commission has the burden of
14 proof on the issues to be considered under subsection (14).
15 (16) Except for federal court decisions concerning questions
16 of federal law, a reviewing court shall not use or apply any
17 standard of review, test, or analysis taken from, based on, or
18 derived from a judicial decision made before the effective date of
19 th