I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 419 

To require States to carry out Congressional redistricting in accordance 

with a process under which members of the public are informed of 

redistricting proposals and have the opportunity to participate in the 

development of such proposals prior to their adoption, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 25, 2011 

Mr. COOPER (for himself, Mr. BARROW, Mr. MATHESON, Mr. CARDOZA, Mr. 

SCHIFF, Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California, Mr. BOSWELL, Mr. BACA, 

Mr. ALTMIRE, Mr. BOREN, Mr. SHULER, Mr. ROSS of Arkansas, Ms. 

HARMAN, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. COSTA, Mr. DONNELLY of Indiana, Mr. MCINTYRE, Mr. SCHRADER, Mr. HOLDEN, and Mr. CUELLAR) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the 

Judiciary 

A BILL 

To require States to carry out Congressional redistricting 

in accordance with a process under which members of 

the public are informed of redistricting proposals and 

have the opportunity to participate in the development 

of such proposals prior to their adoption, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDING OF CONSTITUTIONAL 

2 AUTHORITY. 

3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

4 ‘‘Redistricting Transparency Act of 2011’’. 

5 (b) FINDING.—Congress finds that it has the author6 ity to require States to follow certain procedures in car7 rying out Congressional redistricting after an apportion8 ment of Members of the House of Representatives be9 cause— 

10 (1) the authority granted to Congress under ar11 ticle I, section 4 of the Constitution of the United 

12 States gives Congress the power to enact laws gov13 erning the time, place, and manner of elections for 

14 Members of the House of Representatives; and 

15 (2) the authority granted to Congress under 

16 section 5 of the fourteenth amendment to the Con17 stitution gives Congress the power to enact laws to 

18 enforce section 2 of such amendment, which requires 

19 Representatives to be apportioned among the several 

20 States according to their number. 

21 SEC. 2. REQUIRING REDISTRICTING TO BE CONDUCTED 

22 UNDER PROCEDURES PROVIDING OPPOR23 TUNITY FOR PUBLIC PARTICIPATION. 

24 (a) REQUIREMENT.— 

25 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 

26 provision of law, any Congressional redistricting conVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:21 Feb 02, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H419.IH H419

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1 ducted by a State shall be conducted in accordance 

2 with a process under which the entity responsible for 

3 developing Congressional redistricting plans in the 

4 State (hereafter in this Act referred to as the ‘‘State 

5 redistricting entity’’)— 

6 (A) in accordance with section 3, estab7 lishes and operates an Internet site; 

8 (B) in accordance with section 4, provides 

9 opportunities for participation by members of 

10 the public in the initial development of such 

11 plans; 

12 (C) in accordance with section 5, provides 

13 opportunities for members of the public to re14 spond to the proposed final Congressional redis15 tricting plan; and 

16 (D) in accordance with section 6, notifies 

17 members of the public regarding the final Con18 gressional redistricting plan adopted for the 

19 State. 

20 (2) OTHER PROCEDURES PERMITTED.—Noth21 ing in this Act or the amendments made by this Act 

22 may be construed to prohibit a State from con23 ducting Congressional redistricting in accordance 

24 with such procedures as the State considers appro25 priate, to the extent that such procedures are conVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:21 Feb 02, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H419.IH H419

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1 sistent with the applicable requirements of this Act 

2 and the amendments made by this Act. 

3 (3) NO EFFECT ON REDISTRICTING FOR STATE

4 OR LOCAL ELECTIONS.—Nothing in this Act or the 

5 amendments made by this Act may be construed to 

6 affect any procedures a State or a unit of local gov7 ernment in a State may use to conduct redistricting 

8 with respect to elections for State or local offices. 

9 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 22(c) of 

10 the Act entitled ‘‘An Act to provide for the fifteenth and 

11 subsequent decennial censuses and to provide for an ap12 portionment of Representatives in Congress’’, approved 

13 June 18, 1929 (2 U.S.C. 2a(c)), is amended by striking 

14 ‘‘in the manner provided by the law thereof’’ and insert15 ing: ‘‘in a manner consistent with the requirements of the 

16 Redistricting Transparency Act of 2011’’. 

17 SEC. 3. PUBLIC INTERNET SITE FOR STATE REDISTRICTING 

18 ENTITY. 

19 (a) ESTABLISHMENT AND OPERATION OF SITE.— 

20 Each State redistricting entity shall establish and main21 tain a public Internet site which meets the following re22 quirements: 

23 (1) The site is updated continuously to provide 

24 advance notice of meetings held by the entity and to 


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1 otherwise provide timely information on the entity’s 

2 activities. 

3 (2) The site contains the most recent available 

4 information from the Bureau of the Census on vot5 ing-age population, voter registration, and voting re6 sults in the State, including precinct-level and cen7 sus tract-level data with respect to such information, 

8 as well as detailed maps reflecting such information. 

9 (3) The site permits any individual to submit 

10 comments on any plan proposed by the entity, and 

11 to submit questions, comments, and other informa12 tion with respect to the entity’s activities. 

13 (4) The site includes any other information the 

14 entity is required to post under this Act. 

15 (b) DEADLINE FOR POSTING OF COMMENTS SUB16 MITTED BY PUBLIC.—The State redistricting entity shall 

17 ensure that any comment submitted by a member of the 

18 public to the site established under this section, including 

19 a comment on any plan proposed by the entity or any 

20 other person, and any other comment relating to Congres21 sional redistricting in the State, is posted on the site not 

22 later than 72 hours after submission. 

23 (c) UPDATING OF INFORMATION.—The State redis24 tricting entity shall take all actions necessary to ensure 

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1 tinuously to provide timely advance notice of the entity’s 

2 meetings and to otherwise provide timely information on 

3 the entity’s activities. 

4 (d) DEADLINE.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The State redistricting enti6 ty shall establish the site under this section as soon 

7 as practicable after the completion of the regular de8 cennial census, but in no case later than the final 

9 deadline provided under section 22(b) of the Act en10 titled ‘‘An Act to provide for the fifteenth and subse11 quent decennial censuses and to provide for an ap12 portionment of Representatives in Congress’’, ap13 proved June 18, 1929 (2 U.S.C. 2a) for the Clerk 

14 of the House of Representatives to transmit to the 

15 State the notice of the number of Representatives to 

16 which the State is entitled in the following Congress. 

17 (2) SPECIAL RULE FOR REDISTRICTING FOL18 LOWING 2010 CENSUS.—In the case of the regular 

19 decennial census conducted during 2010, the State 

20 redistricting entity shall establish the site under this 

21 section not later than 90 days after the date of en22 actment of this Act. 


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1 SEC. 4. OPPORTUNITIES FOR PARTICIPATION IN INITIAL 

2 DEVELOPMENT OF CONGRESSIONAL REDIS3 TRICTING PLANS. 

4 During the 60-day period which begins on the date 

5 the State receives the notice referred to in section 3(d) 

6 (or, in the case of redistricting plans resulting from the 

7 regular decennial census conducted during 2010, during 

8 the 60-day period which begins on the date the State es9 tablishes the Internet site required under section 3), the 

10 State redistricting entity shall solicit the input of members 

11 of the public in its work to develop initial Congressional 

12 redistricting plans for the State by carrying out the fol13 lowing activities: 

14 (1) Publishing and posting on the Internet site 

15 established under section 3 the criteria which the en16 tity will use to develop the Congressional redis17 tricting plan for the State. 

18 (2) Holding at least one hearing in the State at 

19 which members of the public may provide comments 

20 on such criteria and any other issues relating to 

21 Congressional redistricting in the State. 

22 (3) Publishing and posting the transcript of 

23 each such hearing, or posting a link to a video re24 cording of each such hearing, on the Internet site 

25 not later than 7 days after the conclusion of the 

26 hearing. 


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1 SEC. 5. OPPORTUNITIES TO RESPOND TO PROPOSED FINAL 

2 CONGRESSIONAL REDISTRICTING PLAN 

3 ADOPTED BY REDISTRICTING ENTITY. 

4 (a) NOTICE OF FINAL PLAN.—Not later than 10 

5 days prior to adopting a final Congressional redistricting 

6 plan for the State, the State redistricting entity shall post 

7 on the Internet site established under section 3 (and, if 

8 practicable, cause to have published in newspapers of gen9 eral circulation throughout the State) the following infor10 mation: 

11 (1) A detailed version of the proposed final 

12 plan, including— 

13 (A) a map showing each Congressional dis14 trict established under the plan; 

15 (B) a statement of the voting age popu16 lation by race and membership in a language 

17 minority group of each such district; and 

18 (C) a statement of the number of reg19 istered voters in each such district, broken 

20 down by political party affiliation to the extent 

21 that such information is available under State 

22 law. 

23 (2) A statement explaining the entity’s reasons 

24 for adopting the proposed final plan and the reasons 

25 why the adoption of the plan will best serve the pub26 lic interest. 


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1 (3) Any dissenting statement of any member of 

2 the entity who did not approve the proposed final 

3 plan. 

4 (4) A statement that members of the public 

5 may submit comments regarding the proposed final 

6 plan through the Internet site, together with infor7 mation on how members of the public may submit 

8 such comments to the entity through other methods. 

9 (b) PUBLIC HEARING PRIOR TO ADOPTION OF FINAL

10 PLAN.—Not later than 7 days prior to adopting the final 

11 Congressional redistricting plan for the State, the State 

12 redistricting entity shall hold at least one hearing in the 

13 State at which members of the public may provide com14 ments on the plan and members of the entity may explain 

15 the reasons why the adoption of the plan will best serve 

16 the public interest. The entity shall publish and post the 

17 transcript of each such hearing, or post a link to a video 

18 recording of each such hearing, on the Internet site estab19 lished under section 3. 

20 (c) TREATMENT OF AMENDED AND NEW PLANS.— 

21 If, in response to public comment or for any other reason, 

22 the State redistricting entity posts an amended version of 

23 the proposed final Congressional redistricting plan which 

24 is posted on the Internet site under subsection (a) or posts 

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1 sections (a) and (b) shall apply with respect to the amend2 ed version of the plan or the new plan in the same manner 

3 as such subsections apply with respect to the proposed 

4 final plan which is first posted under subsection (a), ex5 cept to the extent that the application of such subsections 

6 would require the entity to violate a deadline established 

7 by State law for the submission of a final Congressional 

8 redistricting plan to the State legislature. 

9 SEC. 6. NOTICE OF FINAL ADOPTED CONGRESSIONAL RE10 DISTRICTING PLAN. 

11 Not later than 7 days after the State redistricting 

12 entity adopts the final Congressional redistricting plan for 

13 the State, the entity shall post on the Internet site estab14 lished under section 3 (and, if practicable, cause to have 

15 published in newspapers of general circulation throughout 

16 the State) the following information: 

17 (1) A detailed version of the plan, including— 

18 (A) a map showing each Congressional dis19 trict established under the plan; 

20 (B) a statement for each such district of 

21 the total population and voting age population 

22 by race and membership in a language minority 

23 group; and 

24 (C) a statement of the number of reg25 istered voters in each such district, broken 


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1 down by political party affiliation to the extent 

2 that such information is available under State 

3 law. 

4 (2) To the extent that the State maintains data 

5 on the number of registered voters by race and 

6 membership in a language minority group, a state7 ment for each such district of the number of reg8 istered voters by race and membership in a language 

9 minority group. 

10 (3) A statement explaining the entity’s reasons 

11 for adopting the plan and the reasons why the adop12 tion of the plan will best serve the public interest. 

13 (4) Any dissenting statements of any members 

14 of the entity who did not approve the plan. 

15 SEC. 7. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

16 This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall 

17 apply with respect to any Congressional redistricting 

18 which occurs after the regular decennial census conducted 

19 during 2010. 

Æ 


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