SF 2308

1st Engrossment - 92nd Legislature (2021 - 2022) Posted on 05/11/2021 08:22am

A bill for an act
relating to redistricting; establishing redistricting principles; providing measures
for evaluating redistricting plans.

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

Section 1. new text begin REDISTRICTING; STATEMENT OF PURPOSE.
new text end

new text begin Minnesota legislative and congressional districts should be created using a fair and open
process that limits the ability of legislators to draw districts that favor themselves or their
party. Legislative and congressional districts should be as free from political bias as possible.
Ideally, legislative and congressional districts should be drawn by a nonpartisan redistricting
commission. However, because no such commission exists in Minnesota, the principles set
forth in section 2 must be used to draw legislative and congressional districts.
new text end

Sec. 2. new text begin DISTRICTING PRINCIPLES.
new text end

new text begin Subdivision 1. new text end

new text begin Applicability. new text end

new text begin The principles in this section apply to legislative and
congressional districts.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 2. new text end

new text begin Numbering. new text end

new text begin (a) The congressional district numbers shall begin with
Congressional District 1 in the southeast corner of the state and end with Congressional
District 8 in the northeast corner of the state.
new text end

new text begin (b) The legislative districts shall 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, as defined in Minnesota
Statutes, section 200.02, subdivision 24, outside the cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul;
then to Minneapolis and Saint Paul.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 3. new text end

new text begin Nesting. new text end

new text begin A state house district must not be divided in the formation of a senate
district.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 4. new text end

new text begin Political parties. new text end

new text begin A district or plan must not be drawn with the intent to favor
or disfavor a political party or candidate. Incumbent addresses must not be considered when
drawing districts. The incumbent report required by section 4 must not be used in any manner
during the process of drawing a district or plan.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 5. new text end

new text begin Population equality. new text end

new text begin (a) The congressional districts must be as nearly equal
in population as is practicable.
new text end

new text begin (b) Legislative districts must be substantially equal in population. The population of a
legislative district must not deviate from the ideal by more than one percent, plus or minus.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 6. new text end

new text begin Convenient; contiguity. new text end

new text begin Districts must be composed of convenient, contiguous
territory. Contiguity by water is sufficient if the water does not pose a serious obstacle to
travel within the district. Districts with areas that touch only at a point are not contiguous.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 7. new text end

new text begin American Indian reservations. new text end

new text begin A federally recognized American Indian
reservation must not be divided into more than one district except as necessary to meet
constitutional requirements. When a federally recognized American Indian reservation must
be divided into more than one district, it must be divided into as few districts as possible.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 8. new text end

new text begin Preserving political subdivisions. new text end

new text begin To the extent possible, counties, cities, and
townships must not be divided. When a county, city, or township must be divided into more
than one district, it must be divided into as few districts as possible.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 9. new text end

new text begin Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. new text end

new text begin Districts must not be drawn with
the purpose or effect of dispersing or concentrating Black people, Indigenous people, People
of Color, or members of a language minority group and must comply with the Fourteenth
and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and the Voting Rights Act of
1965, as amended.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 10. new text end

new text begin Communities of interest. new text end

new text begin Districts must attempt to preserve identifiable
communities of interest. A community of interest may include an ethnic or language group
or any group with shared experiences and concerns, including but not limited to geographic,
governmental, regional, social, cultural, historic, socioeconomic, occupational, trade, or
transportation interests. Communities of interest do not include relationships with political
parties, incumbents, or political candidates.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 11. new text end

new text begin Compactness. new text end

new text begin Districts must be structured into compact units.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 12. new text end

new text begin Cores of prior districts. new text end

new text begin Districts must attempt to preserve the cores of prior
districts to the extent possible.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 13. new text end

new text begin Priority of principles. new text end

new text begin Where it is not possible to fully comply with the
principles contained in subdivisions 2 to 12, a redistricting plan must give priority to those
principles in the order in which they are listed in this section, except to the extent that doing
so would violate federal or state law.
new text end

Sec. 3. new text begin EVALUATING MAPS.
new text end

new text begin A redistricting plan must not be considered for adoption by the house of representatives
or senate until the house of representatives or senate committee with jurisdiction over
redistricting evaluates the plan based on the following measures:
new text end

new text begin (1) how well the plans preserved communities of interest, including those communities
of interest identified at public hearings regardless of whether those communities are
recognized on the map;
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new text begin (2) the overall compactness measures of the districts and whether the total compactness
scores are consistent across districts;
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new text begin (3) whether the statewide proportion of districts whose voters favor each political party
corresponds closely to the statewide preferences of the voters of Minnesota, based on
statewide state and federal partisan general election results during the last ten years;
new text end

new text begin (4) whether incumbent competition disproportionately burdens either major political
party or incumbents that are Black, Indigenous, Persons of Color, or female; and
new text end

new text begin (5) how well the plans comply with the principles established in section 2.
new text end

Sec. 4. new text begin REDISTRICTING; DATABASE; REPORTS.
new text end

new text begin Subdivision 1. new text end

new text begin Database. new text end

new text begin (a) The geographic areas and population counts used in maps,
tables, and legal descriptions of legislative and congressional districts considered by the
legislature must be those used by the Geographic Information Services (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.
new text end

new text begin (b) Nothing in this subdivision prohibits the use of additional data, as determined by the
legislature.
new text end

new text begin (c) The database that stores the information described in paragraph (a) must be made
available on the GIS Office website.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 2. new text end

new text begin Publication; consideration of plans. new text end

new text begin 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. The GIS Office shall publish each plan submitted to it on the GIS Office
website.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 3. new text end

new text begin Reports. new text end

new text begin Publication of a plan must include the following reports described as
follows:
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new text begin (1) A population equality report, listing each district in the plan, its population as the
total number of persons, and deviations from the ideal as both a number of persons and as
a percentage of the population. The report must also show the populations of the largest
and smallest districts and the overall range of deviations of the districts.
new text end

new text begin (2) A Black, Indigenous, and People of Color voting age population report, listing for
each district the voting age population of each group and the total voting age population
for each group, according to the categories recommended by the U.S. Department of Justice.
The report must also highlight each district with 30 percent or more total voting age
populations of Black, Indigenous, or People of Color.
new text end

new text begin (3) A contiguity report, listing for each district the number of distinct polygons within
it. The report must also show the number of districts with more than one polygon.
new text end

new text begin (4) A measures of compactness report, listing for each district the results of at least the
Reock, Polsby-Popper, Minimum Convex Hull, Population Polygon, Population Circle,
Ehrenburg, Perimeter, Length-Width, and Schwartzberg measures of compactness. The
report must also state for all the districts in a plan the sum of its perimeters and the mean
of its other measurements.
new text end

new text begin (5) A political subdivision splits report, listing any split counties, cities, towns,
unorganized territories, and precincts, and the district to which each portion of a split
subdivision is assigned. The report must also show the number of subdivisions split and the
number of times a subdivision is split.
new text end

new text begin (6) A federally recognized American Indian reservation split report, listing any split
American Indian reservations and the district to which each portion of a split American
Indian reservation is assigned. The report must also show the number of American Indian
reservations split and the number of times an American Indian reservation is split.
new text end

new text begin (7) A communities of interest report, listing any district or districts to which a community
of interest has been assigned. If the chief author of a plan asserts that it preserves a
community of interest, maps of the plan must include a layer identifying the census blocks
within the community of interest. The report must also show the number of communities
of interest that are split and the number of times a community of interest is split.
new text end

new text begin (8) A cores of prior districts report, listing for each district the total population, voting
age population, percentage of the population taken from the territory of a prior district, and
the number of persons that were moved into the district and thus not part of its core. The
report must also show the number of districts changed from a prior district, the number of
persons moved from one district to another, and the average percentage core of a prior
district's voting age population for all districts in the plan.
new text end

new text begin (9) An incumbents by district report, listing for each district any incumbents residing in
it, their political party, and the number of the prior district in which they resided. The report
must also show the number of incumbents paired, whether they have been paired with an
incumbent of their own party or of another party, and the number of open seats. This report
must be used only for evaluating a map as provided in section 2. This report and any data
included in the report must not be used during the process of drawing a map.
new text end

new text begin (10) A plan components report, listing for each district the names and populations of
the counties within it and, where a county is split between or among districts, the names
and populations of the portion of the split county and each of the split county's whole or
partial cities, townships, unorganized territories, and precincts within each district.
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Sec. 5. new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE.
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new text begin This act is effective the day following final enactment and applies to plans drawn on or
after that date but before the 2030 P.L. 94-171 data is released to the state.
new text end