GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1999

S	1 

SENATE BILL 409*

Short Title:  Independent Redistricting Comm.	(Public)

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Sponsors: Senators Horton; Allran, Ballantine, Carpenter, Carrington, Cochrane, East, Forrester, Foxx, Garwood, Hartsell, Moore, Rucho, and Shaw of Guilford.

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Referred to:  Judiciary I.

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March 18, 1999

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO AMEND THE CONSTITUTION OF NORTH CAROLINA TO ESTABLISH AN INDEPENDENT REDISTRICTING COMMISSION.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  Section 3 of Article II of the Constitution of North Carolina reads as rewritten:
	"Sec. 3.  Senate districts; apportionment of Senators. 
The Senators shall be elected from districts. The Independent Redistricting Commission, beginning as soon as practical after the return of every decennial census of population taken by order of Congress, shall revise the senate districts and the apportionment of Senators among those districts, subject to the following requirements:
(1)	Each Senator shall represent, as nearly as may be, an equal number of inhabitants, and the Commission, to the extent it deems practical, shall avoid establishing districts represented by more than one Senator;
(2)	Each senate district shall at all times consist of compact and contiguous territory; 
(3)	The Commission, to the extent it deems practical, shall avoid establishing district boundaries that cross county boundaries;
	(4)	When established, the senate districts and the apportionment of Senators shall remain unaltered until the return of another decennial census of population taken by order of Congress."
Section 2.  Section 5 of Article II of the Constitution of North Carolina reads as rewritten:
"Sec. 5.  Representative districts; apportionment of Representatives.
The Representatives shall be elected from districts.  The  Independent Redistricting Commission, as soon as practical after the return of every decennial census of population taken by order of Congress, shall revise the representative districts and the apportionment of Representatives among those districts, subject to the following requirements:
(1)	Each Representative shall represent, as nearly as may be, an equal number of inhabitants, and the Commission, to the extent it deems practical, shall avoid establishing districts with more than one Representative;
(2)	Each representative district shall at all times consist of compact and contiguous territory;
(3)	The Commission, to the extent it deems practical, shall avoid establishing district boundaries that cross county boundaries;
	(4)	When established, the representative districts and the apportionment of Representatives shall remain unaltered until the return of another decennial census of population taken by order of Congress."
Section 3.  Article II of the Constitution of North Carolina is amended by adding a new section to read:
"Sec. 25.  Independent Redistricting Commission.
	(1) Establishment and membership. There is established the Independent Redistricting Commission to consist of nine persons appointed as follows:
(a)	Two by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, with no more than one affiliated with the same political party;
(b)	Three by the Governor, with no more than two affiliated with the same political party;
(c)	Two by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, with no more than one affiliated with the same political party; and
(d)	Two by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, with no more than one affiliated with the same political party.
The appointing officers shall make their initial appointments no earlier than February 1 of the year prior to the year in which the appointed members are to take office under subsection (2) of this section and no later than June 1 of the year in which the members are to take office under subsection (2) of this section.
(2)	Term of office; vacancies, chair. The members of the Independent Redistricting Commission shall take office on the first day of July of each year ending in the number 0 and shall continue in office until their successors are appointed and qualified. Any vacancy occurring in the membership of the Commission shall be filled for the remainder of the unexpired term by the officer who appointed the vacating member. The Independent Redistricting Commission shall elect from its members a Chair, who will serve throughout the term of the Commission unless replaced by vote of the Commission.
(3)	Eligibility. To be eligible for appointment to the Independent Redistricting Commission, a person must be a resident of North Carolina.  No person may serve on the Commission who has held elective public office or been a candidate for elective public office in the four years prior to commencement of service on the Independent Redistricting Commission.  No person who has served as a member of the Independent Redistricting Commission shall be eligible to hold any elective public office for four years after termination of service on the Independent Redistricting Commission.
	(4) Legislative plans. The Independent Redistricting Commission shall adopt, in accordance with Sections 3 and 5 of this Article, plans for revising the senate districts and representative districts, which shall have the force and effect of acts of the General Assembly.  The General Assembly shall not adopt any legislative district plan.
	(5) Congressional plans. The Independent Redistricting Commission is responsible for adopting a district plan for election of members of the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United States.  The General Assembly shall not adopt any district plan for election of members of the United States House of Representatives.
	(6) Preparation and adoption of plans. The Independent Redistricting Commission shall adopt district plans as required by subsections (4) and (5) of this section no later than October 1 of the year following each decennial census of population taken by order of Congress. In preparing or adopting its plans, the Independent Redistricting Commission shall not consider the following information:
(a)	The political affiliation of voters;
(b)	Voting data from previous elections;
(c)	The location of incumbents' residences; or
(d)	Demographic data from sources other than the United States Bureau of the Census.
There shall be a minimum period of 45 days of public comment on a plan before it is finally adopted.
	(7) In case plan held invalid. The Independent Redistricting Commission shall adopt a new district plan in the event that a plan it has adopted is held invalid.
(8)	Federal law. In adopting any plan under this section, the Independent Redistricting Commission shall take into consideration all relevant requirements of the United States Constitution and Acts of Congress.
(9)	Local redistricting. The General Assembly may by law assign to the Independent Redistricting Commission the duty to adopt districting and redistricting plans for any county, city, town, special district, and other governmental subdivision if the governing board of the unit or a court of competent jurisdiction so requests."
Section 4.  Subsection (5) of Section 22 of Article II of the Constitution of North Carolina reads as rewritten:
"(5)	Appointments to office. Every 
	bill in which the General Assembly makes an appointment or appointments to public office and which contains no other 
			matter shall be read three times in each house before it becomes law and shall be signed by the presiding officers of both houses."
Section 5.  The amendments set out in Sections 1 through 4 of this act shall be submitted to the qualified voters of the State at the general election in November 2000, which election shall be conducted under the laws then governing elections in the State.  Ballots, voting systems, or both may be used in accordance with Chapter 163 of the General Statutes.  The question to be used in the voting systems and ballots shall be:
"[ ] FOR    [ ] AGAINST
A constitutional amendment providing for an Independent Redistricting Commission to redistrict the State for the purpose of electing members of the General Assembly and members of the United States House of Representatives."
Section 6. If a majority of votes cast on the question are in favor of the amendments set out in Sections 1 through 4 of this act, the State Board of Elections shall certify the amendments to the Secretary of State.  The amendments become effective upon this certification.  The Secretary of State shall enroll the amendments so certified among the permanent records of that office.
Section 7. This act is effective when it becomes law.