HF 1855

1st Engrossment - 91st Legislature (2019 - 2020) Posted on 03/20/2019 12:05pm

A bill for an act
proposing an amendment to the Minnesota Constitution, article IV, section 3;
establishing a redistricting commission to prescribe the boundaries of congressional
and legislative districts following each federal decennial census; establishing
districting principles for congressional and legislative plans.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1. new text begin CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT PROPOSED.
new text end

new text begin An amendment to the Minnesota Constitution is proposed to the people. If the amendment
is adopted, article IV, section 3, will read:
new text end

Sec. 3.

deleted text begin At its first session deleted text end new text begin (a) new text end After each enumeration of the inhabitants of this state
made by the authority of the United States, deleted text begin the legislature deleted text end new text begin a commission new text end shall deleted text begin have the
power to deleted text end prescribe the bounds of congressional and legislative districts. new text begin The commission
consists of five retired judges of the appellate or district courts of this state who have not
served in a party-designated or party-endorsed position, such as legislator, and 12 public
members. By January 15 of each year ending in one, after consulting with each other in an
effort to attain geographic balance in their appointments, the majority and minority leaders
of the senate and the speaker and minority leader of the house of representatives shall each
appoint one retired judge. If any of the four leaders fails to make an appointment by the
deadline, the supreme court must fill the vacancy by January 22 of that year. The four retired
judges shall meet by January 29 of that year and, by a vote of at least three retired judges,
choose the fifth retired judge. A public member must be eligible to vote but must not have
been deeply engaged in partisan politics during the previous decade. The public members
must be appointed in a manner provided by law.
new text end

new text begin (b) After notice and a hearing, by a vote of at least 12 of its members, including at least
one retired judge, the commission may remove a commissioner, for reasons that would
justify recall of a state official other than a judge under article VIII, section 6. Except for
vacancies filled by the supreme court, vacancies on the commission must be filled within
30 days after the vacancy occurs by the appointing authority that made the initial
appointment.
new text end

new text begin (c) The commission shall hold at least one public hearing in each congressional district
before adopting the first redistricting plans. The commission must request advice on how
to define communities of interest. The commission must publish on its website a preliminary
draft of each plan and their accompanying reports at least one week before the hearing and
accept comments on each plan for at least one week after the hearing.
new text end

new text begin (d) The commission shall file with the secretary of state plans prescribing the bounds
of congressional and legislative districts by September 1 of the year ending in one. Adoption
of a plan requires the affirmative vote of at least 12 members of the commission, including
at least one retired judge. The distribution of votes required from various categories of
public members must be provided by law. If the commission fails to adopt a plan by the
deadline, the supreme court shall adopt a replacement for the missing plan by February 1
of the year ending in two.
new text end

new text begin (e) The legislature may amend a redistricting plan adopted by the commission, but must
do so by a two-thirds vote of the legislators elected to each house. Any amendment must
pass both houses by the end of the 30th calendar day of the first session convened after the
commission adopts a plan. After that day, the plan, with any legislative amendments,
constitutes the state districting law.
new text end

new text begin (f) The commission expires when congressional and legislative redistricting plans are
enacted into law or adopted by court order and any legal challenges to the plans have been
resolved. If use of a plan is enjoined after the commission expires, the court enjoining the
plan may direct that a new commission be appointed under this section to draft a remedial
plan for presentation to the secretary of state in accordance with deadlines established by
order of the court.
new text end

new text begin (g) Districts must not be drawn with either the purpose or effect of denying or abridging
the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or membership in a
language minority group. The districts must ensure that members of the minority have a
realistic opportunity to elect candidates of their choice, where a concentration of a racial or
language minority population makes that possible and can be done in compliance with the
other principles in this section.
new text end

new text begin (h) new text end Senators shall be chosen by single districts of convenient contiguous territory.

new text begin (i) Districts should be compact.
new text end

new text begin (j) A county, city, town, or precinct must not be divided into more than one district
except as necessary to meet equal population requirements or to form districts that are
composed of convenient, contiguous, and compact territory. When a county, city, town, or
precinct must be divided into more than one district, it must be divided into as few districts
as possible.
new text end

new text begin (k) Districts should attempt to preserve identifiable communities of interest.
new text end

new text begin (l) A district or plan must not be drawn with the intent or effect of unduly favoring or
disfavoring a political party.
new text end

new text begin (m) A district or plan must not be drawn with the intent to protect or defeat an incumbent.
new text end

new text begin (n) Districts should be drawn to encourage electoral competition.
new text end

new text begin (o) The statewide proportion of districts whose voters have historically favored each
political party should not be significantly smaller than the statewide proportion of votes the
candidates of the party have historically received, nor should a majority of districts have a
majority of voters who have historically favored a minority party. Both proportions must
be based on statewide state and federal partisan general election results during the last ten
years.
new text end

new text begin (p) new text end No representative district shall be divided in the formation of a senate district.

new text begin (q) new text end The senate districts shall be numbered in a regular series.

new text begin (r) Where it is not possible to fully comply with the principles in this section, a
redistricting plan must give priority to those principles in the order in which they are listed,
except to the extent that doing so would violate federal law.
new text end

Sec. 2. new text begin SUBMISSION TO VOTERS.
new text end

new text begin The proposed amendment must be submitted to the people at the 2020 general election.
The question submitted must be:
new text end

new text begin "Shall the Minnesota Constitution be amended to transfer from the legislature to an
independent redistricting commission the power to draw congressional and legislative
districts?
new text end

	new text begin Yes . new text end
	new text begin No . new text end	new text begin " new text end