The Federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibits denial or abridgement of the right to vote on account of race, color, or membership in a language minority group. Cracking or packing are examples of abridgement. Depriving minority groups of an equal opportunity to participate in the political process is also a violation of this Act. It is required by the California Constitution that the redistricting process be done by the state's Legislature. The population of all districts of a particular type is reasonably equal.
Every district be contiguous.
Districts of each type are numbered consecutively north to south. The geographical integrity of local government boundaries and geographical regions is respected to the extent possible. The redistricting plan has to be adopted by the legislature just like any other bill. The process changes depending on the data that is provided by each census, and therefore the legislature had to wait for the 2000 census data to be released. According to the Assembly Committee on Elections, Reapportionment and Constitutional Amendments, they plan to allow the public to participate in the redistricting process.