Article
XXI Reapportionment of Senate, Assembly, Congressional, and State Board of Equalization Districts
SECTION 1.
(a) Each member of the Senate, Assembly, Congress, and the State Board of Equalization shall be elected from a single-member district.(b) By February 28 of each year ending in the number one, the Independent Redistricting Commission shall be established pursuant to this article to provide for the redistricting of Senate, Assembly, congressional, and State Board of Equalization districts. As used in this article, “commission” means the Independent Redistricting Commission.
(c) The commission shall consist of 11 members, and all of the following shall apply:
(1) No more than four members of the commission may be
members of the same political party.
(2) Of the eight commission members appointed pursuant to subdivisions (b) and (c) of Section 2, no more than two may reside in the same county.
(3) Each commission member shall be registered to vote in this state, and shall have been continuously registered with the same political party, or as unaffiliated with a political party, for not less than three years immediately preceding appointment.
(4) Each commission member shall commit to applying this article in an honest, independent, and impartial fashion, and to upholding public confidence in the integrity of the redistricting process.
(d) (1) A person is not eligible to serve on the commission if, within the three years immediately preceding
the date of the appointment, the person, or a member of his or her immediate family, has done any of the following:
(A) Been appointed or elected to, or have been a candidate for, any other public office.
(B) Served as an officer of a political party, or as an officer, employee, or paid consultant of a campaign committee of a candidate for elective public office.
(C) Been a registered lobbyist, an employee of, or a paid consultant to, a registered lobbyist.
(2) Legislative and congressional staff and consultants, persons under a contract with the Legislature, and any person who has contributed ten thousand dollars ($10,000) or more to, has a financial relationship with, or is an immediate family member of, the Governor, a Member of the Legislature, a
Member of Congress, or a member of the State Board of Equalization are not eligible to serve as members of the commission.
(3) A member of the commission shall be ineligible, during his or her term of office, and for three years thereafter, to hold elective public office in this State or to register as a lobbyist.
(4) For purposes of this subdivision, a member of a person’s “immediate family” is one with whom the person has a bona fide relationship established through blood or legal relation, including, but not limited to, parents, children, siblings, and in-laws.
SEC. 2.
(a) (1) The Judicial Council, panelists, Members of the Legislature, and the Fair Political Practices Commission, or its successor agency, shall work to ensure that the panelists, pool of candidates, and commissioners, as applicable, are representative of this State’s racial, ethnic, cultural, geographic, and gender diversity.(2) A panel of 10 retired superior court judges or judges of the Court of Appeal, appointed by the Judicial Council, shall nominate candidates for appointment to the commission. The Judicial Council shall adopt rules and procedures for appointing qualified panelists and for selecting alternates in the event that a panelist is unable to carry out his or her duties.
(3) Of the 10 panelists, five shall be registered voters affiliated with each of the two largest political parties in California based on party registration.
(4) Each panelist shall be a registered voter in this State who has been continuously registered with the same political party for not less than three years immediately preceding his or her appointment.
(5) By January 8 of each year ending in the number one, the panel shall establish a pool of qualified persons who are willing to serve on the commission, and submit a list of the names of those persons to the President pro Tempore of the Senate, the Minority Floor Leader of the Senate, the Speaker of the Assembly, the Minority Floor Leader of the Assembly, and the Fair Political Practices Commission or its successor agency.
(6) The pool of candidates shall consist of 55 nominees, with 20 nominees from each of the two largest political parties in California based on party registration, and 15 who are not registered with either of those two political parties.
(b) (1) No later than January 31 of each year ending in the number one, the President pro Tempore of the Senate, the Minority Floor Leader of the Senate, the Speaker of the Assembly and the Minority Floor Leader of the Assembly may each strike from the pool of candidates up to two candidates. Each legislative leader shall, in the following order, appoint to the commission from the remaining candidates in the pool two candidates who are registered with the same political party as that legislative leader:
(A) The President pro Tempore of the Senate.
(B) The Minority Floor Leader of the Senate.
(C) The Speaker of the Assembly.
(D) The Minority Floor Leader of the Assembly.
(2) The Fair Political Practices Commission, or its successor agency, shall appoint three persons, by random selection from the pool of candidates, who are not registered with either of the two largest political parties in this State, under a process that is open to public disclosure.
(c) Any vacancy in the 11 commission positions described in subdivision (b) that remains as of March 1 of a year ending in the number one shall be filled from the pool of nominees by the panel of retired judges described in subdivision (a).
(d) The 11 members of the commission shall, by affirmative vote of six or more members, select one of the three members appointed pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) to serve as the chair of the commission.
(e) The term of office of each member of the commission expires upon the appointment of the first member of the succeeding commission.
SEC. 3.
(a) After having been served written notice and provided with an opportunity for a response, a member of the commission may be removed by the Governor, with the concurrence of two-thirds of the Senate, for substantial neglect of duty, gross misconduct in office, or inability to discharge the duties of office.(b) (1) If a member of the commission vacates his or her office or is removed pursuant to subdivision (a) prior to the completion of his or her term for any reason, the panel of retired judges described in subdivision (a) of Section 2 shall fill the vacancy from the pool of nominees selected pursuant to that subdivision within the first 30 days after the vacancy occurs.
(2) The nominee chosen shall be of the same political party membership or nonpartisan status, as the case may be, held by the vacating member at the time of his or her appointment. The panel shall work to ensure diversity and fairness in filling that vacancy. If the vacating member was the chair of the commission, the commission shall select a new chair.
(3) The newly appointed member shall serve the remainder of the original term of the vacating member.
SEC. 4.
(a) The activities of the commission shall be subject to all of the following:(1) Six members of the commission, one of whom may be the chair or vice chair, shall constitute a quorum.
(2) Six or more affirmative votes shall be required for any official action.
(3) The commission shall comply with the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act (Article 9 (commencing with Section 11120) of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code), or its successor. The commission shall provide not less than 14 days’ public notice for each meeting.
(4) The records of the
commission pertaining to redistricting and all data considered by the commission are public records, open to inspection by members of the public upon request, except that the commission may withhold from public inspection preliminary drafts, notes, and communications between commission members, staff, and consultants.
(5) Written or verbal communication with any commission member outside of a public hearing, other than by staff or by legal counsel, is prohibited as to any matter on which the commission is required to meet pursuant to paragraph (3). This paragraph does not prohibit any communication between commission members that is permitted by the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act or its successor outside of a public hearing.
(b) The duties of the commission shall include all of the following:
(1) Establishing Senate,
Assembly, congressional, and State Board of Equalization districts pursuant to a mapping process for each district in accordance with the goals specified in paragraph (2).
(2) Establishing districts pursuant to paragraph (1) as necessary to achieve each of the following goals, prioritized according to the following order:
(A) Congressional districts shall each have equal population with other districts for the same office in compliance with the United States Constitution. Senate, Assembly, and State Board of Equalization districts shall each have equal population with other districts for the same office, to the extent practicable, in compliance with the United States Constitution.
(B) Districts shall comply with the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. Sec. 1971 and following).
(C) Districts shall be geographically contiguous to the extent practicable.
(D) District boundaries shall respect communities of interest to the extent practicable.
(E) District lines shall use visible geographic features and city and county boundaries to the extent practicable.
(F) Districts shall be geographically compact to the extent practicable.
(c) (1) The commission shall establish and implement an open and noticed hearing process for public input and deliberation. The public hearing process shall include at least the following three stages: (A) hearings to receive public input before the commission draws any maps; (B) hearings following each drawing and display
of proposed maps; and (C) hearings following the drawing and display of the proposed final maps.
(2) The commission shall propose and implement a plan to provide the public access to United States census data and to make software available to the public for drawing maps and providing input through the public hearing process. At the first two stages, the commission shall display the maps created pursuant to subdivision (b) of Senate, Assembly, congressional, and State Board of Equalization districts to the public for comment, in a manner designed to achieve the widest public dissemination reasonably possible, and public comment shall be taken for at least 30 days from the date of public display. Either the Senate or the Assembly, or both, may act within this period to make recommendations to the commission by majority or by minority report, which recommendations shall be considered by the commission.
(d) The commission shall, after consideration of public comments and recommendations made by the Senate or Assembly pursuant to subdivision (c), and having made every effort to draw the proposed maps in compliance with the goals listed in paragraph (2) of subdivision (b), establish the boundaries of the final maps for Senate, Assembly, congressional, and State Board of Equalization districts, and shall certify those districts to the Secretary of State. The approval of the final boundaries shall be by majority vote of the membership of the commission, and requires that one or more votes for approval be cast by members of the commission registered with each of the two largest political parties in California based on party registration, and that one or more votes for approval be cast by members of the commission who are not registered with either of these two political parties.
(e) The
commission shall issue, with its final plan, a report that explains the basis on which the commission made its decisions in achieving compliance with the goals listed in paragraph (2) of subdivision (b), particularly where compliance with one goal resulted in less than full compliance with another. The report shall define or describe, as applicable, the terms and standards used in drawing the maps.
SEC. 5.
(a) In 2009, and annually thereafter, the Governor shall include in the Governor’s Budget submitted to the Legislature pursuant to Section 12 of Article IV an amount of funding sufficient to meet the estimated expenses of the subsequent redistricting process occurring pursuant to this article, and shall make adequate office space available for the operation of the panel and commission. The necessary appropriation for this purpose shall be made in the annual Budget Act.(b) The panel and commission, with fiscal oversight from the Department of Finance or its successor, shall have procurement and contracting authority and may hire staff and consultants, exempt from the civil service requirements of Article VII, for the purposes of this
article, including legal representation. The commission shall establish criteria for the hiring and removal of staff and consultants, and may apply the provisions of subdivision (d) of Section 1 to the hiring of staff and consultants to the extent practicable.
(c) The commission has standing in legal actions regarding a redistricting plan and to establish whether funds or other resources provided for the operation of the commission are adequate. The commission has sole authority to determine whether the Attorney General, or legal counsel hired or selected by the commission, shall represent the people of the State in the legal defense of a redistricting plan.
(d) (1) The California Supreme Court has original and exclusive jurisdiction in all proceedings in which the validity or interpretation of a redistricting plan adopted by the commission is at issue.
(2) Any affected elector may file a petition for a writ of mandate or a writ of prohibition to challenge a redistricting plan, within 45 days after the plan has been certified by the commission to the Secretary of State, to bar the Secretary of State from implementing the plan on the grounds that the filed plan violates this Constitution, the United States Constitution, or any federal statute.
(3) The court shall act expeditiously on the petition. If the court determines that a redistricting plan adopted by the commission violates this Constitution, the United States Constitution, or any federal statute, the court shall fashion the relief that it deems appropriate to remedy that violation and otherwise accomplish the purposes of this article.
SEC. 6.
(a) Members of the panel and the commission are eligible for reimbursement of personal expenses incurred in connection with the duties performed for the commission pursuant to law. For purposes of the reimbursement of expenses, a member’s residence is deemed to be the member’s post of duty.(b) The commission may not meet or incur expenses after the redistricting plan becomes final pursuant to subdivision (d) of Section 4, except with respect to any pending litigation or approval by the federal government concerning the plan, to revise districts if required by court order, or if the number of Senate, Assembly, congressional, or State Board of Equalization districts is changed.
(c) For purposes of this article, “day” means a calendar day, except that if the final day of a period within which an act is to be performed is a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday, the period is extended to the next day that is not a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday.
(d) This article is self-executing.