I 
113TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 3906 
To require States to carry out Congressional redistricting in accordance 
with plans developed by nonpartisan service agencies of the legislative 
branch of State governments, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 16, 2014 
Mr. BRALEY of Iowa (for himself and Mr. LOEBSACK) 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 plans developed by nonpartisan serv-
ice agencies of the legislative branch of State govern-
ments, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fixing America’s In-
consistent Redistricting (FAIR) Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. REQUIRING REDISTRICTING TO BE CONDUCTED 
THROUGH PLAN OF NONPARTISAN SERVICE 
AGENCIES OF STATE LEGISLATURES. 
(a) USE OF NONPARTISAN PLAN.—Notwithstanding 
any other provision of law, any Congressional redistricting 
conducted by a State shall be conducted in accordance 
with a redistricting plan— 
(1) developed by a nonpartisan agency of the 
legislative branch of the State government in accord-
ance with section 3; and 
(2) enacted into law by the State in accordance 
with section 4. 
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 22(c) of 
the Act entitled ‘‘An Act to provide for the fifteenth and 
subsequent decennial censuses and to provide for an ap-
portionment of Representatives in Congress’’, approved 
June 18, 1929 (2 U.S.C. 2a(c)), is amended by striking 
‘‘in the manner provided by the law thereof’’ and insert-
ing: ‘‘in the manner provided by the Fixing America’s In-
consistent Redistricting (FAIR) Act’’. 
SEC. 3. DEVELOPMENT OF PLAN. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT
OR DESIGNATION
OF NON-
PARTISAN AGENCY OF STATE LEGISLATURE.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than each Decem-
ber 31 of the year preceding a redistricting year, 
each State shall establish a nonpartisan agency in 
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the legislative branch of the State government to de-
velop the redistricting plan for the State for the re-
districting year. 
(2) NONPARTISANSHIP DESCRIBED.—For pur-
poses of this subsection, an agency shall be consid-
ered to be nonpartisan if under law the agency— 
(A) is required to provide services on a 
nonpartisan basis; 
(B) is required to maintain impartiality; 
and 
(C) is prohibited from advocating for the 
adoption or rejection of any proposal. 
(3) DESIGNATION
OF
EXISTING
AGENCY.—At 
its option, a State may designate an existing agency 
in the legislative branch of its government to develop 
the redistricting plan for the State under this Act, 
so long as the agency meets the requirements for 
nonpartisanship under this subsection. 
(4) TERMINATION
OF
AGENCY
SPECIFICALLY 
ESTABLISHED FOR REDISTRICTING.—If a State does 
not designate an existing agency under paragraph 
(3) but instead establishes a new agency to serve as 
the nonpartisan agency under this section, the new 
agency shall terminate upon the enactment into law 
of the redistricting plan for the State. 
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(b) DEVELOPMENT OF REDISTRICTING PLAN.— 
(1) CRITERIA.—The nonpartisan agency estab-
lished or designated by a State under this section 
shall develop a redistricting plan for the State in ac-
cordance with the following criteria: 
(A) Adherence to the ‘‘one person, one 
vote’’ standard and other requirements imposed 
under the Constitution of the United States. 
(B) To the greatest extent mathematically 
possible, ensuring that the population of each 
Congressional district in the State does not 
vary by more than one percent from the popu-
lation of any other Congressional district in the 
State (as determined on the basis of the total 
count of persons of the most recent decennial 
census conducted by the Bureau of the Census). 
(C) Consistency with any applicable re-
quirements of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 
and other Federal laws. 
(D) Ensuring that districts are contiguous 
(except to the extent necessary to include any 
area which is surrounded by a body of water). 
(E) To the greatest extent practicable, the 
maintenance of the geographic continuity of the 
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political subdivisions of the State which are in-
cluded in the same Congressional district. 
(F) To the greatest extent practicable, 
maintaining compact districts. 
(2) FACTORS
PROHIBITED
FROM
CONSIDER-
ATION.—In developing the redistricting plan for the 
State, the nonpartisan agency may not take into 
consideration any of the following factors, except to 
the extent necessary to comply with the Voting 
Rights Act of 1965: 
(A) The residence of incumbent Members 
of the House of Representatives in the State. 
(B) The voting history of the population of 
a Congressional district, except that the agency 
may take such history into consideration to the 
extent necessary to comply with any State law 
which requires the establishment of competitive 
Congressional districts. 
(C) The political party affiliation of the 
population of a district. 
(c) SUBMISSION
OF PLAN
TO LEGISLATURE
AND 
TEMPORARY REDISTRICTING ADVISORY COMMISSION.— 
Not later than April 1 of the redistricting year, the non-
partisan agency shall submit the redistricting plan devel-
oped under this section to the State legislature and to the 
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whom shall be appointed by the minority leader 
of the legislature); and 
(C) 1 member appointed by a majority vote 
of the members appointed under the previous 
subparagraphs. 
(2) QUALIFICATIONS.—An individual is eligible 
to serve as a member of the Commission if the indi-
vidual meets each of the following requirements: 
(A) The individual is an eligible elector of 
the State at the time of appointment. 
(B) The individual does not hold a par-
tisan political office or serve as an officer of a 
political party. 
(C) The individual is not an employee or 
an immediate family member of a member of 
the State legislature or member of Congress, or 
an employee of the State legislature or Con-
gress. In this subparagraph, the term ‘‘imme-
diate family member’’ means, with respect to an 
individual, a father, mother, son, daughter, 
brother, sister, husband, wife, father-in-law, or 
mother-in-law. 
(3) ASSISTANCE TO NONPARTISAN AGENCY.— 
At the request of the nonpartisan agency established 
or designated under section 3, the Commission shall 
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provide guidance to the agency in its development of 
the redistricting plan for the State. 
(4) REVIEW OF NONPARTISAN AGENCY PLAN.— 
(A) HEARINGS.—Upon receiving the redis-
tricting plan from the nonpartisan agency 
under section 3(c), the Commission shall ana-
lyze and review the plan, and shall hold at least 
3 public hearings in various geographic areas of 
the State to solicit comments on the plan. 
(B) REPORT TO LEGISLATURE.—Not later 
than 14 days after receiving the redistricting 
plan from the nonpartisan agency under section 
3, the Commission shall submit a report to the 
State legislature which includes the Commis-
sion’s recommendation regarding whether the 
legislature should adopt or reject the plan, tak-
ing into account any comments provided at the 
hearings held under subparagraph (A), as well 
as any other comments and conclusions regard-
ing the plan which the Commission considers 
appropriate. 
(5) TERMINATION.—The Commission shall ter-
minate upon the enactment into law of the redis-
tricting plan for the State. 
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(b) ACTION BY STATE LEGISLATURE AND CHIEF EX-
ECUTIVE TO ENACT PLAN.— 
(1) CONSIDERATION
OF
PLAN
BY
LEGISLA-
TURE.—Not later than 3 days after receiving the 
Commission’s report under subsection (a) on the re-
districting plan developed by the nonpartisan agen-
cy, the State legislature shall either— 
(A) approve the plan as submitted by the 
nonpartisan agency without amendment and 
forward the plan to the chief executive of the 
State; or 
(B) reject the plan. 
(2) ENACTMENT OF PLAN.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—A redistricting plan de-
veloped by the nonpartisan agency shall be con-
sidered to be enacted into law if the plan is for-
warded to the chief executive of the State pur-
suant to paragraph (1)(A) and— 
(i) the chief executive approves the 
plan as forwarded by the legislature with-
out amendment; or 
(ii) the chief executive vetoes the plan 
and the legislature overrides the veto in ac-
cordance with the applicable law of the 
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State, except that at no time may the plan 
be amended. 
(B) SPECIAL
RULE.—In the case of a 
State in which the chief executive is prohibited 
under State law from acting on a redistricting 
plan, a redistricting plan developed by the non-
partisan agency shall be considered to be en-
acted into law if the State legislature approves 
the plan as submitted by the nonpartisan agen-
cy without amendment. 
(c) EFFECT OF REJECTION OF PLAN.— 
(1) REJECTION BY LEGISLATURE.—If the State 
legislature votes under subsection (b)(1) to reject the 
redistricting plan of the nonpartisan agency, not 
later than 7 days after the vote to reject the plan 
the legislature shall submit to the nonpartisan agen-
cy and disseminate publicly a statement of the legis-
lature’s reasons for rejecting the plan. 
(2) VETO BY CHIEF EXECUTIVE.—If the chief 
executive vetoes the redistricting plan of the non-
partisan agency and the State legislature fails to 
override the veto, not later than 7 days after the 
failed vote to override the veto the chief executive 
shall submit to the nonpartisan agency and dissemi-
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nate publicly a statement of the chief executive’s 
reasons for vetoing the plan. 
(3) DEVELOPMENT
AND
SUBMISSION
OF
RE-
VISED PLAN.—Not later than 35 days after receiving 
a statement from the State legislature under para-
graph (1) or a statement from the chief executive of 
the State under paragraph (2) (as the case may be), 
the nonpartisan agency established or designated 
under section 3 shall develop a revised redistricting 
plan for the State which is consistent with the cri-
teria set forth in section 3(b) but which addresses 
the reasons provided under paragraph (1) or para-
graph (2) (as the case may be) for the rejection of 
the plan, and shall submit the revised plan to the 
State legislature. 
(4) CONSIDERATION OF REVISED PLAN BY LEG-
ISLATURE.—Not later than 7 days after receiving 
the revised redistricting plan under paragraph (3), 
the State legislature shall either— 
(A) approve the revised plan as submitted 
by the nonpartisan agency without amendment 
and forward the plan to the chief executive of 
the State; or 
(B) reject the plan. 
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(5) ENACTMENT
OF
REVISED
PLAN.—Sub-
section (b)(2) shall apply with respect to the enact-
ment of the revised plan developed and submitted by 
the nonpartisan agency under paragraph (3) in the 
same manner as such subsection applies with respect 
to the initial redistricting plan developed and sub-
mitted by the agency under such subsection. 
(d) EFFECT OF REJECTION OF REVISED PLAN; PER-
MITTING LEGISLATURE TO AMEND SECOND REVISED 
PLAN.— 
(1) REJECTION BY LEGISLATURE.—If the State 
legislature votes under subsection (c)(4) to reject the 
revised redistricting plan of the nonpartisan agency, 
not later than 7 days after the vote to reject the 
plan the legislature shall submit to the nonpartisan 
agency and disseminate publicly a statement of the 
legislature’s reasons for rejecting the revised plan. 
(2) VETO BY CHIEF EXECUTIVE.—If the chief 
executive vetoes the revised redistricting plan of the 
nonpartisan agency and the State legislature fails to 
override the veto, not later than 7 days after the 
failed vote to override the veto the chief executive 
shall submit to the nonpartisan agency and dissemi-
nate publicly a statement of the chief executive’s 
reasons for vetoing the revised plan. 
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