[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7910 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 7910
To require States to carry out congressional redistricting in
accordance with a redistricting plan developed by an independent
redistricting commission, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 9, 2024
Mr. Nickel (for himself and Ms. Lofgren) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require States to carry out congressional redistricting in
accordance with a redistricting plan developed by an independent
redistricting commission, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDING OF CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY; TABLE OF
CONTENTS.
(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Fair And Impartial
Redistricting for Meaningful and Accountable Political Systems Act'' or
the ``FAIR MAPS Act''.
(b) Finding of Constitutional Authority.--Congress finds that it
has the authority to establish the terms and conditions States must
follow in carrying out congressional redistricting after an
apportionment of Members of the House of Representatives because--
(1) the authority granted to Congress under article I,
section 4 of the Constitution of the United States gives
Congress the power to enact laws governing the time, place, and
manner of elections for Members of the House of
Representatives; and
(2) the authority granted to Congress under section 5 of
the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution gives Congress the
power to enact laws to enforce section 2 of such amendment,
which requires Representatives to be apportioned among the
several States according to their number.
(c) Table of Contents.--The table of contents of this Act is as
follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; finding of constitutional authority; table of
contents.
TITLE I--REQUIREMENTS FOR CONGRESSIONAL REDISTRICTING
Sec. 101. Requiring congressional redistricting to be conducted through
plan of independent State commission.
Sec. 102. Ban on mid-decade redistricting.
Sec. 103. Criteria for redistricting.
TITLE II--INDEPENDENT REDISTRICTING COMMISSIONS
Sec. 201. Independent redistricting commission.
Sec. 202. Establishment of selection pool of individuals eligible to
serve as members of commission.
Sec. 203. Public notice and input.
Sec. 204. Establishment of related entities.
Sec. 205. Report on diversity of memberships of independent
redistricting commissions.
TITLE III--ROLE OF COURTS IN DEVELOPMENT OF REDISTRICTING PLANS
Sec. 301. Enactment of plan developed by 3-judge court.
Sec. 302. Special rule for redistricting conducted under order of
Federal court.
TITLE IV--ADMINISTRATIVE AND MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS
Sec. 401. Payments to States for carrying out redistricting.
Sec. 402. Civil enforcement.
Sec. 403. State apportionment notice defined.
Sec. 404. No effect on elections for State and local office.
Sec. 405. Effective date.
TITLE V--REQUIREMENTS FOR REDISTRICTING CARRIED OUT PURSUANT TO 2020
CENSUS
Subtitle A--Application of Certain Requirements for Redistricting
Carried Out Pursuant to 2020 Census
Sec. 501. Application of certain requirements for redistricting carried
out pursuant to 2020 Census.
Sec. 502. Triggering events.
Subtitle B--Independent Redistricting Commissions for Redistricting
Carried Out Pursuant to 2020 Census
Sec. 511. Use of independent redistricting commissions for
redistricting carried out pursuant to 2020
Census.
Sec. 512. Establishment of selection pool of individuals eligible to
serve as members of commission.
Sec. 513. Criteria for redistricting plan; public notice and input.
Sec. 514. Establishment of related entities.
Sec. 515. Report on diversity of memberships of independent
redistricting commissions.
TITLE I--REQUIREMENTS FOR CONGRESSIONAL REDISTRICTING
SEC. 101. REQUIRING CONGRESSIONAL REDISTRICTING TO BE CONDUCTED THROUGH
PLAN OF INDEPENDENT STATE COMMISSION.
(a) Use of Plan Required.--Notwithstanding any other provision of
law, and except as provided in subsection (c) and subsection (d), any
congressional redistricting conducted by a State shall be conducted in
accordance with--
(1) the redistricting plan developed and enacted into law
by the independent redistricting commission established in the
State, in accordance with title II; or
(2) if a plan developed by such commission is not enacted
into law, the redistricting plan developed and enacted into law
by a 3-judge court, in accordance with section 301.
(b) Conforming Amendment.--Section 22(c) of the Act entitled ``An
Act to provide for the fifteenth and subsequent decennial censuses and
to provide for an apportionment of Representatives in Congress'',
approved June 18, 1929 (2 U.S.C. 2a(c)), is amended by striking ``in
the manner provided by the law thereof'' and inserting: ``in the manner
provided by the FAIR MAPS Act''.
(c) Special Rule for Existing Commissions.--Subsection (a) does not
apply to any State in which, under law in effect continuously on and
after the date of the enactment of this Act, congressional
redistricting is carried out in accordance with a plan developed and
approved by an independent redistricting commission which is in
compliance with each of the following requirements:
(1) Publicly available application process.--Membership on
the commission is open to citizens of the State through a
publicly available application process.
(2) Disqualifications for government service and political
appointment.--Individuals who, for a covered period of time as
established by the State, hold or have held public office,
individuals who are or have been candidates for elected public
office, and individuals who serve or have served as an officer,
employee, or paid consultant of a campaign committee of a
candidate for public office are disqualified from serving on
the commission.
(3) Screening for conflicts.--Individuals who apply to
serve on the commission are screened through a process that
excludes persons with conflicts of interest from the pool of
potential commissioners.
(4) Multi-partisan composition.--Membership on the
commission represents those who are affiliated with the two
political parties whose candidates received the most votes in
the most recent statewide election for Federal office held in
the State, as well as those who are unaffiliated with any party
or who are affiliated with political parties other than the two
political parties whose candidates received the most votes in
the most recent statewide election for Federal office held in
the State.
(5) Criteria for redistricting.--Members of the commission
are required to meet certain criteria in the map drawing
process, including minimizing the division of communities of
interest and a ban on drawing maps to favor a political party.
(6) Public input.--Public hearings are held and comments
from the public are accepted before a final map is approved.
(7) Broad-based support for approval of final plan.--The
approval of the final redistricting plan requires a majority
vote of the members of the commission, including the support of
at least one member of each of the following:
(A) Members who are affiliated with the political
party whose candidate received the most votes in the
most recent statewide election for Federal office held
in the State.
(B) Members who are affiliated with the political
party whose candidate received the second most votes in
the most recent statewide election for Federal office
held in the State.
(C) Members who are not affiliated with any
political party or who are affiliated with political
parties other than the political parties described in
subparagraphs (A) and (B).
(d) Treatment of State of Iowa.--Subsection (a) does not apply to
the State of Iowa, so long as congressional redistricting in such State
is carried out in accordance with a plan developed by the Iowa
Legislative Services Agency with the assistance of a Temporary
Redistricting Advisory Commission, under law which was in effect for
the most recent congressional redistricting carried out in the State
prior to the date of the enactment of this Act and which remains in
effect continuously on and after the date of the enactment of this Act.
SEC. 102. BAN ON MID-DECADE REDISTRICTING.
A State that has been redistricted in accordance with this Act and
a State described in section 101(c) or section 101(d) may not be
redistricted again until after the next apportionment of
Representatives under section 22(a) of the Act entitled ``An Act to
provide for the fifteenth and subsequent decennial censuses and to
provide for an apportionment of Representatives in Congress'', approved
June 18, 1929 (2 U.S.C. 2a), unless a court requires the State to
conduct such subsequent redistricting to comply with the Constitution
of the United States, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (52 U.S.C. 10301 et
seq.), the Constitution of the State, or the terms or conditions of
this Act.
SEC. 103. CRITERIA FOR REDISTRICTING.
(a) Criteria.--Under the redistricting plan of a State, there shall
be established single-member congressional districts using the
following criteria as set forth in the following order of priority:
(1) Districts shall comply with the United States
Constitution, including the requirement that they equalize
total population.
(2) Districts shall comply with the Voting Rights Act of
1965 (52 U.S.C. 10301 et seq.), including by creating any
districts where two or more politically cohesive groups
protected by such Act are able to elect representatives of
choice in coalition with one another, and all applicable
Federal laws.
(3) Districts shall be drawn, to the extent that the
totality of the circumstances warrant, to ensure the practical
ability of a group protected under the Voting Rights Act of
1965 (52 U.S.C. 10301 et seq.) to participate in the political
process and to nominate candidates and to elect representatives
of choice is not diluted or diminished, regardless of whether
or not such protected group constitutes a majority of a
district's citizen voting age population.
(4) Districts shall respect communities of interest,
neighborhoods, and political subdivisions to the extent
practicable and after compliance with the requirements of
paragraphs (1) through (3). A community of interest is defined
as an area with recognized similarities of interests, including
but not limited to ethnic, racial, economic, tribal, social,
cultural, geographic or historic identities. The term
communities of interest may, in certain circumstances, include
political subdivisions such as counties, municipalities, tribal
lands and reservations, or school districts, but shall not
include common relationships with political parties or
political candidates.
(b) No Favoring or Disfavoring of Political Parties.--
(1) Prohibition.--The redistricting plan enacted by a State
shall not, when considered on a Statewide basis, be drawn with
the intent or the effect of unduly favoring or disfavoring any
political party.
(2) Determination of effect.--
(A) Totality of circumstances.--For purposes of
paragraph (1), the determination of whether a
redistricting plan has the effect of unduly favoring or
disfavoring a political party shall be based on the
totality of circumstances, including evidence regarding
the durability and severity of a plan's partisan bias.
(B) Plans deemed to have effect of unduly favoring
or disfavoring a political party.--Without limiting
other ways in which a redistricting plan may be
determined to have the effect of unduly favoring or
disfavoring a political party under the totality of
circumstances under subparagraph (A), a redistricting
plan shall be deemed to have the effect of unduly
favoring or disfavoring a political party if--
(i) modeling based on relevant historical
voting patterns shows that the plan is
statistically likely to result in a partisan
bias of more than one seat in States with 20 or
fewer congressional districts or a partisan
bias of more than 2 seats in States with more
than 20 congressional districts, as determined
using quantitative measures of partisan
fairness, which may include, but are not
limited to, the seats-to-votes curve for an
enacted plan, the efficiency gap, the
declination, partisan asymmetry, and the mean-
median difference, and
(ii) alternative plans, which may include,
but are not limited to, those generated by
redistricting algorithms, exist that could have
complied with the requirements of law and not
been in violation of paragraph (1).
(3) Determination of intent.--For purposes of paragraph
(A), a rebuttable presumption shall exist that a redistricting
plan enacted by the legislature of a State was not enacted with
the intent of unduly favoring or disfavoring a political party
if the plan was enacted with the support of at least a third of
the members of the second largest political party in each house
of the legislature.
(4) No violation based on certain criteria.--No
redistricting plan shall be found to be in violation of
paragraph (1) because of partisan bias attributable to the
application of the criteria set forth in paragraphs (1), (2),
or (3) of subsection (a), unless one or more alternative plans
could have complied with such paragraphs without having the
effect of unduly favoring or disfavoring a political party.
(c) Factors Prohibited From Consideration.--In developing the
redistricting plan for the State, the independent redistricting
commission may not take into consideration any of the following
factors, except to the extent necessary to comply with the criteria
described in paragraphs (1) through (3) of subsection (a), subsection
(b), and to enable the redistricting plan to be measured against the
external metrics described in section 203(d):
(1) The residence of any Member of the House of
Representatives or candidate.
(2) The political party affiliation or voting history of
the population of a district.
(d) Applicability.--This section applies to any authority, whether
appointed, elected, judicial, or otherwise, that designs or enacts a
congressional redistricting plan of a State.
(e) Severability of Criteria.--If any of the criteria set forth in
this section, or the application of such criteria to any person or
circumstance, is held to be unconstitutional, the remaining criteria
set forth in this section, and the application of such criteria to any
person or circumstance, shall not be affected by the holding.
TITLE II--INDEPENDENT REDISTRICTING COMMISSIONS
SEC. 201. INDEPENDENT REDISTRICTING COMMISSION.
(a) Appointment of Members.--
(1) In general.--The nonpartisan agency established or
designated by a State under section 204(a) shall establish an
independent redistricting commission for the State, which shall
consist of 15 members appointed by the agency as follows:
(A) Not later than October 1 of a year ending in
the numeral zero, the agency shall, at a public meeting
held not earlier than 15 days after notice of the
meeting has been given to the public, first appoint 6
members as follows:
(i) The agency shall appoint 2 members on a
random basis from the majority category of the
approved selection pool (as described in
section 202(b)(1)(A)).
(ii) The agency shall appoint 2 members on
a random basis from the minority category of
the approved selection pool (as described in
section 202(b)(1)(B)).
(iii) The agency shall appoint 2 members on
a random basis from the independent category of
the approved selection pool (as described in
section 202(b)(1)(C)).
(B) Not later than November 15 of a year ending in
the numeral zero, the members appointed by the agency
under subparagraph (A) shall, at a public meeting held
not earlier than 15 days after notice of the meeting
has been given to the public, then appoint 9 members as
follows:
(i) The members shall appoint 3 members
from the majority category of the approved
selection pool (as described in section
202(b)(1)(A)).
(ii) The members shall appoint 3 members
from the minority category of the approved
selection pool (as described in section
202(b)(1)(B)).
(iii) The members shall appoint 3 members
from the independent category of the approved
selection pool (as described in section
202(b)(1)(C)).