as introduced - 92nd Legislature (2021 - 2022) Posted on 03/04/2021 02:43pm
A bill for an act
relating to redistricting; establishing redistricting principles for legislative and
congressional districts; proposing coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter
2.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:
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The principles in this
section apply to legislative and congressional districts.
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The districts must be composed of
convenient, contiguous, and compact territory. Contiguity by water is sufficient if the water
is not a serious obstacle to travel within the district. Point contiguity is not sufficient.
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A representative district may not be divided in the formation of a
senate district.
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(a) Legislative districts must be numbered in a regular series,
beginning with house district 1A in the northwest corner of the state and proceeding across
the state from west to east, north to south, but bypassing the 11-county metropolitan area
until the southeast corner has been reached; then to the 11-county metropolitan area outside
the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul; then in Minneapolis and St. Paul.
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(b) Congressional district numbers must begin with district one in the southeast corner
of the state and end with district eight in the northeast corner of the state.
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(a) Legislative districts must be as nearly equal in population
as practicable. The population of a legislative district must not deviate from the ideal by
more than one percent, plus or minus.
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(b) Congressional districts must be as nearly equal in population as practicable.
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(a) A county, city, or town must not be unduly divided
unless required to meet equal population requirements or to form districts composed of
convenient, contiguous territory.
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(b) A county, city, or town is not unduly divided in the formation of a legislative or
congressional district if:
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(1) the division occurs because a portion of a city or town is noncontiguous with another
portion of the same city or town; or
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(2) despite the division, the known population of any affected county, city, or town
remains wholly located within a single district.
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A district must not be drawn purposely to favor or disfavor
any political party or political group.
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(a) The dilution of racial or ethnic minority voting
strength is contrary to the laws of the United States and Minnesota. These principles must
not be construed to supersede any provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended.
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(b) A redistricting plan must not have the intent or effect of dispersing or concentrating
minority population in a manner that prevents minority communities from electing their
candidates of choice.
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(a) Districts should attempt to preserve
identifiable communities of interest where that can be done in compliance with the principles
under this section.
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(b) For purposes of this subdivision, "communities of interest" means recognizable areas
with similarities of interests including but not limited to racial, ethnic, geographic, social,
or cultural interests.
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The geographic areas and population counts used in maps,
tables, and legal descriptions of the districts must be those used by the Geographic
Information Systems (GIS) Office of the Legislative Coordinating Commission. The
population counts shall be the block population counts provided to the state under Public
Law 94-171 after each decennial census, subject to correction of any errors acknowledged
by the United States Census Bureau.
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A redistricting plan must not be considered for
adoption by the senate or house of representatives until the redistricting plan's block
equivalency file has been submitted to the GIS Office in a form prescribed by the GIS
Office. The block equivalency file must show the district to which each census block has
been assigned.
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Where it is not possible to fully comply with the
principles contained in subdivisions 2 to 9, a redistricting plan must comply with the
principles contained in subdivisions 2 to 7 and then give priority to those principles in
subdivisions 7 and 8 in the order in which they are listed in this section, except to the extent
that doing so would violate federal or state law.
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This section is effective the day following final enactment and
applies to any plan for districts enacted or established on or after that date.
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