I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 543 

To prohibit States from carrying out more than one Congressional redistricting after a decennial census and apportionment, to require States 

to conduct such redistricting through independent commissions, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 17, 2007 

Mr. TANNER (for himself and Mr. WAMP) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To prohibit States from carrying out more than one Congressional redistricting after a decennial census and apportionment, to require States to conduct such redistricting 

through independent commissions, 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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDING OF CONSTITUTIONAL 

4 AUTHORITY. 

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

6 ‘‘Fairness and Independence in Redistricting Act of 

7 2007’’. 


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1 (b) FINDING.—Congress finds that it has the author2 ity to establish the terms and conditions States must fol3 low in carrying out Congressional redistricting after an 

4 apportionment of Members of the House of Representa5 tives because— 

6 (1) the authority granted to Congress under ar7 ticle I, section 4 of the Constitution of the United 

8 States gives Congress the power to enact laws gov9 erning the time, place, and manner of elections for 

10 Members of the House of Representatives; and 

11 (2) the authority granted to Congress under 

12 section 5 of the fourteenth amendment to the Con13 stitution gives Congress the power to enact laws to 

14 enforce section 2 of such amendment, which requires 

15 Representatives to be apportioned among the several 

16 States according to their number. 

17 SEC. 2. LIMIT ON CONGRESSIONAL REDISTRICTING AFTER 

18 AN APPORTIONMENT. 

19 The Act entitled ‘‘An Act for the relief of Doctor Ri20 cardo Vallejo Samala and to provide for congressional re21 districting’’, approved December 14, 1967 (2 U.S.C. 2c), 

22 is amended by adding at the end the following: ‘‘A State 

23 which has been redistricted in the manner provided by law 

24 after an apportionment under section 22(a) of the Act en25 titled ‘An Act to provide for the fifteenth and subsequent 


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1 decennial censuses and to provide for an apportionment 

2 of Representatives in Congress’, approved June 18, 1929 

3 (2 U.S.C. 2a), may not be redistricted again until after 

4 the next apportionment of Representatives under such sec5 tion, unless a court requires the State to conduct such 

6 subsequent redistricting to comply with the Constitution 

7 or to enforce the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 

8 1973 et seq.).’’. 

9 SEC. 3. REQUIRING REDISTRICTING TO BE CONDUCTED 

10 THROUGH PLAN OF INDEPENDENT STATE 

11 COMMISSION OR PLAN OF HIGHEST STATE 

12 COURT. 

13 (a) USE OF PLAN REQUIRED.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 

15 provision of law, any Congressional redistricting con16 ducted by a State shall be conducted in accordance 

17 with— 

18 (A) the redistricting plan developed by the 

19 independent redistricting commission estab20 lished in the State, in accordance with section 

21 4; or 

22 (B) if the plan developed by such commis23 sion is not enacted into law, the redistricting 

24 plan selected by the highest court in the State 


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1 or developed by a United States district court, 

2 in accordance with section 5. 

3 (2) OTHER CRITERIA AND PROCEDURES PER4 MITTED.—Nothing in this Act or the amendments 

5 made by this Act may be construed to prohibit a 

6 State from conducting Congressional redistricting in 

7 accordance with such criteria and procedures as the 

8 State considers appropriate, to the extent that such 

9 criteria and procedures are consistent with the appli10 cable requirements of this Act and the amendments 

11 made by this Act. 

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

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

14 subsequent decennial censuses and to provide for an ap15 portionment of Representatives in Congress’’, approved 

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

17 ‘‘in the manner provided by the law thereof’’ and insert18 ing: ‘‘in the manner provided by the Fairness and Inde19 pendence in Redistricting Act of 2007’’. 

20 SEC. 4. INDEPENDENT REDISTRICTING COMMISSION. 

21 (a) APPOINTMENT OF MEMBERS; ELIGIBILITY.— 

22 (1) APPOINTMENT OF MEMBERS.—Each State 

23 shall establish an independent redistricting commis24 sion composed of— 


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1 (A) a chair, who shall be appointed by ma2 jority vote of the other members of the commis3 sion; and 

4 (B) an equal number of members (but not 

5 fewer than 1) from each of the following cat6 egories: 

7 (i) Members appointed by a member 

8 of the upper house of the State legislature 

9 who represents the political party with the 

10 greatest number of seats in that house. 

11 (ii) Members appointed by a member 

12 of the upper house of the State legislature 

13 who represents the political party with the 

14 second greatest number of seats in that 

15 house. 

16 (iii) Members appointed by a member 

17 of the lower house of the State legislature 

18 who represents the political party with the 

19 greatest number of seats in that house. 

20 (iv) Members appointed by a member 

21 of the lower house of the State legislature 

22 who represents the political party with the 

23 second greatest number of seats in that 

24 house. 


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1 (2) SPECIAL RULE FOR STATES WITH UNICAM2 ERAL LEGISLATURE.—In the case of a State with a 

3 unicameral legislature, the independent redistricting 

4 commission established under this subsection shall 

5 be composed of— 

6 (A) a chair, who shall be appointed by ma7 jority vote of the other members of the commis8 sion; and 

9 (B) an equal number of members (but not 

10 fewer than 2) from each of the following cat11 egories: 

12 (i) Members appointed by a member 

13 of the legislature who shall be selected by 

14 the chair of the Government Affairs Com15 mittee of the legislature to represent the 

16 State political party whose candidate for 

17 chief executive of the State received the 

18 greatest number of votes on average in the 

19 3 most recent general elections for that of20 fice. 

21 (ii) Members appointed by a member 

22 of the legislature who shall be selected by 

23 the chair of the Government Affairs Com24 mittee of the legislature to represent the 

25 State political party whose candidate for 


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1 chief executive of the State received the 

2 second greatest number of votes on aver3 age in the 3 most recent general elections 

4 for that office. 

5 (3) ELIGIBILITY.—An individual is eligible to 

6 serve as a member of an independent redistricting 

7 commission if— 

8 (A) as of the date of appointment, the in9 dividual is registered to vote in elections for 

10 Federal office held in the State, and was reg11 istered to vote in the 2 most recent general 

12 elections for Federal office held in the State; 

13 (B) the individual did not hold public office 

14 or run as a candidate for election for public of15 fice, or serve as an employee of a political party 

16 or candidate for election for public office, at 

17 any time during the 4-year period ending on the 

18 December 31 preceding the date of appoint19 ment; and 

20 (C) the individual certifies that he or she 

21 will not run as a candidate for the office of 

22 Representative in the Congress until after the 

23 next apportionment of Representatives under 

24 section 22(a) of the Act entitled ‘‘An Act to 

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1 nial censuses and to provide for an apportion2 ment of Representatives in Congress’’, approved 

3 June 18, 1929 (2 U.S.C. 2a). 

4 (4) VACANCY.—A vacancy in the commission 

5 shall be filled in the manner in which the original 

6 appointment was made. 

7 (5) DEADLINE.—Each State shall establish a 

8 commission under this section, and the members of 

9 the commission shall appoint the commission’s chair, 

10 not later than the first February 1 which occurs 

11 after the chief executive of a State receives the State 

12 apportionment notice. 

13 (6) APPOINTMENT OF CHAIR REQUIRED PRIOR

14 TO DEVELOPMENT OF REDISTRICTING PLAN.—The 

15 commission may not take any action to develop a re16 districting plan for the State under subsection (b) 

17 until the appointment of the commission’s chair in 

18 accordance with paragraph (1)(E). 

19 (b) DEVELOPMENT OF REDISTRICTING PLAN.— 

20 (1) CRITERIA.—The independent redistricting 

21 commission of a State shall develop a redistricting 

22 plan for the State in accordance with the following 

23 criteria: 


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1 (A) Adherence to the ‘‘one person, one 

2 vote’’ standard and other requirements imposed 

3 under the Constitution of the United States. 

4 (B) To the greatest extent mathematically 

5 possible, ensuring that the population of each 

6 Congressional district in the State does not 

7 vary from the population of any other Congres8 sional district in the State (as determined on 

9 the basis of the total count of persons of the 

10 most recent decennial census conducted by the 

11 Bureau of the Census). 

12 (C) Consistency with any applicable re13 quirements of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 

14 and other Federal laws. 

15 (D) To the greatest extent practicable, the 

16 maintenance of the geographic continuity of the 

17 political subdivisions of the State which are in18 cluded in the same Congressional district, in the 

19 following order of priority: 

20 (i) The continuity of counties or par21 ishes. 

22 (ii) The continuity of municipalities. 

23 (iii) The continuity of neighborhoods 

24 (as determined on the basis of census 

25 tracts or other relevant information). 


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1 (E) To the greatest extent practicable, 

2 maintaining compact districts (in accordance 

3 with such standards as the commission may es4 tablish). 

5 (F) Ensuring that districts are contiguous 

6 (except to the extent necessary to include any 

7 area which is surrounded by a body of water). 

8 (2) FACTORS PROHIBITED FROM CONSIDER9 ATION.—In developing the redistricting plan for the 

10 State, the independent redistricting commission may 

11 not take into consideration any of the following fac12 tors, except to the extent necessary to comply with 

13 the Voting Rights Act of 1965: 

14 (A) The voting history of the population of 

15 a Congressional district, except that the com16 mission may take such history into consider17 ation to the extent necessary to comply with 

18 any State law which requires the establishment 

19 of competitive Congressional districts. 

20 (B) The political party affiliation of the 

21 population of a district. 

22 (C) The residence of incumbent Members 

23 of the House of Representatives in the State. 

24 (3) PUBLIC NOTICE AND INPUT.— 


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1 (A) PUBLIC HEARINGS; SOLICITATION

2 INPUT FROM PUBLIC.—The commission shall 

3 hold each of its meetings in public, and shall so4 licit and take into consideration comments from 

5 the public in developing the redistricting plan 

6 for the State. 

7 (B) NOTICE OF PLANS.—At the time the 

8 commission submits a redistricting plan to the 

9 legislature of the State under subsection (c)(1), 

10 the commission shall notify the public through 

11 the publication of notice in newspapers of gen12 eral circulation throughout the State, and shall 

13 publish a detailed version of the plan (including 

14 a map showing each Congressional district es15 tablished under the plan and the voting age 

16 population by race of each such district) on a 

17 public Internet site of the State government. 

18 (c) SUBMISSION OF PLANS TO LEGISLATURE.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—At any time prior to the 

20 first November 1 which occurs after the chief execu21 tive of the State receives the State apportionment 

22 notice, the commission may submit redistricting 

23 plans developed by the commission under this sec24 tion to the legislature of the State. 


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1 (2) CONSIDERATION OF PLAN BY LEGISLA2 TURE.—After receiving any redistricting plan under 

3 paragraph (1), the legislature of a State may— 

4 (A) approve the plan as submitted by the 

5 commission without amendment and forward 

6 the plan to the chief executive of the State; or 

7 (B) reject the plan. 

8 (3) ENACTMENT OF PLAN.— 

9 (A) IN GENERAL.—A redistricting plan de10 veloped by the commission shall be considered 

11 to be enacted into law only if the plan is for12 warded to the chief executive of the State pur13 suant to paragraph (2)(A) and— 

14 (i) the chief executive approves the 

15 plan as forwarded by the legislature with16 out amendment; or 

17 (ii) the chief executive vetoes the plan 

18 and the legislature overrides the veto in ac19 cordance with the applicable law of the 

20 State, except that at no time may the plan 

21 be amended. 

22 (B) SPECIAL RULE.—In the case of a 

23 State in which the chief executive is prohibited 

24 under State law from acting on a redistricting 

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1 mission shall be considered to be enacted into 

2 law if— 

3 (i) the plan is submitted to the legisla4 ture of the State; and 

5 (ii) the legislature approves the plan 

6 as submitted by the commission without 

7 amendment. 

8 (d) REQUIRING MAJORITY APPROVAL FOR AC9 TIONS.—The independent redistricting commission of a 

10 State may not submit a redistricting plan to the State leg11 islature, or take any other action, without the approval 

12 of at least a majority of its members given at a meeting 

13 at which at least a majority of its members are present. 

14 (e) TERMINATION.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—The independent redis16 tricting commission of a State shall terminate on the 

17 day after the date of the first regularly scheduled 

18 general election for Federal office which occurs after 

19 the chief executive of the State receives the State 

20 apportionment notice. 

21 (2) PRESERVATION OF RECORDS.—The State 

22 shall ensure that the records of the independent re23 districting commission are retained in the appro24 priate State archive in such manner as may be nec25 essary to enable the State to respond to any civil acVerDate Aug 31 2005 00:14 Jan 20, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H543.IH H543

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1 tion brought with respect to Congressional redis2 tricting in the State. 

3 SEC. 5. SELECTION OF PLAN BY COURTS. 

4 (a) STATE COURT.— 

5 (1) SUBMISSION AND SELECTION OF PLAN.—If 

6 a redistricting plan developed by the independent re7 districting commission of a State is not enacted into 

8 law under section 4(c)(3) by the first November 1 

9 which occurs after the chief executive of the State 

10 receives the State apportionment notice, the commis11 sion may submit redistricting plans developed by the 

12 commission in accordance with section 4 to the high13 est court of the State, which may select and publish 

14 one of the submitted plans to serve as the redis15 tricting plan for the State. 

16 (2) NO MODIFICATION OF PLAN PERMITTED.— 

17 The highest court of a State may not modify any re18 districting plan submitted under this subsection. 

19 (b) FEDERAL COURT.— 

20 (1) FAILURE OF STATE COURT TO SELECT

21 PLAN.— 

22 (A) NOTICE TO COURT IF PLAN NOT SE23 LECTED BY STATE COURT.—If a State court to 

24 whom redistricting plans have been submitted 

25 under subsection (a) does not select a plan to 


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1 serve as the redistricting plan for the State 

2 under such subsection on or before the first De3 cember 1 which occurs after the chief executive 

4 of the State receives the State apportionment 

5 notice, the State shall file a notice with the 

6 United States district court for the district in 

7 which the capital of the State is located. 

8 (B) DEVELOPMENT AND SELECTION OF

9 PLAN BY FEDERAL COURT.—Not later than 30 

10 days after receiving a notice from a State under 

11 subparagraph (A), the court shall develop and 

12 publish a final redistricting plan for the State. 

13 (2) FAILURE OF STATE TO ESTABLISH COMMIS14 SION.— 

15 (A) IN GENERAL.—If a State does not es16 tablish an independent redistricting commission 

17 under section 4 by the first September 1 which 

18 occurs after the chief executive of the State re19 ceives the State apportionment notice— 

20 (i) the State may not establish the 

21 commission; and 

22 (ii) the United States district court 

23 for the district in which the capital of the 

24 State is located shall develop and publish 

25 a final redistricting plan for the State not 


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1 later than the first December 1 which oc2 curs after the chief executive of the State 

3 receives the State apportionment notice. 

4 (B) DETERMINATION OF FAILURE TO ES5 TABLISH COMMISSION.—For purposes of sub6 paragraph (A), a State shall be considered to 

7 have failed to establish an independent redis8 tricting commission by the date referred to in 

9 such subparagraph if a chair of the commission 

10 has not been appointed on or before such date. 

11 (3) CRITERIA.—It is the sense of Congress 

12 that, in developing a redistricting plan for a State 

13 under this subsection, the district court should ad14 here to the same terms and conditions that applied 

15 to the development of the plan of the commission 

16 under section 4(b). 

17 (c) ACCESS TO INFORMATION AND RECORDS OF

18 COMMISSION.—A court which is required to select, pub19 lish, or develop a redistricting plan for a State under this 

20 section shall have access to any information, data, soft21 ware, or other records and material used by the inde22 pendent redistricting commission of the State in carrying 

23 out its duties under this Act. 


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1 SEC. 6. SPECIAL RULE FOR REDISTRICTING CONDUCTED 

2 UNDER ORDER OF FEDERAL COURT. 

3 If a Federal court requires a State to conduct redis4 tricting subsequent to an apportionment of Representa5 tives in the State in order to comply with the Constitution 

6 or to enforce the Voting Rights Act of 1965, sections 4 

7 and 5 shall apply with respect to the redistricting, except 

8 that— 

9 (1) the deadline for the establishment of the 

10 independent redistricting commission and the ap11 pointment of the commission’s chair (as described in 

12 section 4(a)(5)) shall be the expiration of the 30-day 

13 period which begins on the date of the final order of 

14 the Federal court to conduct the redistricting; 

15 (2) the deadline for the submission of redis16 tricting plans to the legislature by the commission, 

17 and the date of the termination of the commission 

18 (as described in section 4(c)(1) and section 4(e)) 

19 shall be the expiration of the 150-day period which 

20 begins on the date of the final order of the Federal 

21 court to conduct the redistricting; 

22 (3) the deadline for the selection and publica23 tion of the plan by the highest court of the State (as 

24 described in section 5(a)) shall be the expiration of 

25 the 180-day period which begins on the date of the 


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1 final order of the Federal court to conduct the redis2 tricting; and 

3 (4) the deadline for the selection and publica4 tion of the plan by the district court of the United 

5 States (as described in section 5(b)) shall be the ex6 piration of the 210-day period which begins on the 

7 date of the final order of the Federal court to con8 duct the redistricting. 

9 SEC. 7. PAYMENTS TO STATES FOR CARRYING OUT REDIS10 TRICTING. 

11 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF PAYMENTS.—Subject to sub12 section (d), not later than 30 days after a State receives 

13 a State apportionment notice, the Election Assistance 

14 Commission shall make a payment to the State in an 

15 amount equal to the product of— 

16 (1) the number of Representatives to which the 

17 State is entitled, as provided under the notice; and 

18 (2) $150,000. 

19 (b) USE OF FUNDS.—A State shall use the payment 

20 made under this section to establish and operate the 

21 State’s independent redistricting commission, to imple22 ment the State redistricting plan, and to otherwise carry 

23 out Congressional redistricting in the State. 

24 (c) NO PAYMENT TO STATES WITH SINGLE MEM25 BER.—The Election Assistance Commission shall not 


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1 make a payment under this section to any State which 

2 is not entitled to more than one Representative under its 

3 State apportionment notice. 

4 (d) REQUIRING ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMISSION AS

5 CONDITION OF PAYMENT.—The Election Assistance Com6 mission may not make a payment to a State under this 

7 section until the State certifies to the Commission that 

8 the State has established an independent redistricting 

9 commission, and that a chair of the commission has been 

10 appointed, in accordance with section 4. 

11 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

12 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be 

13 necessary for payments under this section. 

14 SEC. 8. STATE APPORTIONMENT NOTICE DEFINED. 

15 In this Act, the ‘‘State apportionment notice’’ means, 

16 with respect to a State, the notice sent to the State from 

17 the Clerk of the House of Representatives under section 

18 22(b) of the Act entitled ‘‘An Act to provide for the fif19 teenth and subsequent decennial censuses and to provide 

20 for an apportionment of Representatives in Congress’’, ap21 proved June 18, 1929 (2 U.S.C. 2a), of the number of 

22 Representatives to which the State is entitled. 

23 SEC. 9. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

24 This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall 

25 apply with respect to any Congressional redistricting 


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1 which occurs after the regular decennial census conducted 

2 during 2010. 

Æ 


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