nial censuses and to provide for an apportion-
ment of Representatives in Congress’’, approved 
June 18, 1929 (2 U.S.C. 2a). 
(4) DISCRIMINATION.—The membership of the 
Commission shall not be selected in a manner which 
results in a denial or abridgement of the right of any 
citizen of the United States to vote on account of 
race or color. A violation of this subsection is estab-
lished if, based on the totality of circumstances, it 
is shown that the membership of the Commission is 
not equally open to participation by members of a 
class of citizens protected by this subsection in that 
its members have less opportunity than other mem-
bers of the electorate to participate in the political 
process and to elect representatives of their choice. 
(5) RESIDENCY.—No member of the Commis-
sion may reside in the same county as any other 
member of the Commission. 
(6) VACANCY.—A vacancy in the commission 
shall be filled in the manner in which the original 
appointment was made. 
(7) DEADLINE.—Each State shall establish a 
commission under this section, and the members of 
the commission shall appoint the commission’s chair, 
not later than the first February 1 which occurs
after the chief executive of a State receives the State 
apportionment notice. 
(8) APPOINTMENT OF CHAIR REQUIRED PRIOR 
TO DEVELOPMENT OF REDISTRICTING PLAN.—The 
commission may not take any action to develop a re-
districting plan for the State under subsection (b) 
until the appointment of the commission’s chair in 
accordance with paragraph (1)(E). 
(b) DEVELOPMENT OF REDISTRICTING PLAN.— 
(1) CRITERIA.—The independent redistricting 
commission of a State shall develop a redistricting 
plan for the State in accordance with the following 
criteria: 
(A) Districts shall comply with the United 
States Constitution and the Federal Voting 
Rights Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. Sec. 1971 et 
seq.). The plan shall neither disperse nor con-
centrate minority populations protected under 
the Voting Rights Act in a manner that has an 
adverse effect on their ability to elect their can-
didate of choice. 
(B) District boundaries shall respect com-
munities of interest to the extent practicable. 
Communities of interest shall include, but not 
be limited to, shared socio-economic status
characteristics, housing characteristics, lan-
guage at home, educational attainment levels, 
and neighborhoods. Communities of interest 
shall not be defined as a person or group’s 
presence in a particular district or representa-
tion by a particular legislator. 
(C) Districts shall each have equal popu-
lation per representative, to the extent prac-
ticable, and in accordance with federal constitu-
tional standards. 
(D) Districts shall be geographically con-
tiguous. 
(E) To the extent practicable, district lines 
shall use visible geographic features, city and 
county boundaries, or undivided census tracts 
or block groups. 
(F) To the extent practicable, districts 
shall be geographically compact. 
(2) FACTORS
PROHIBITED
FROM
CONSIDER-
ATION.—In developing the redistricting plan for the 
State, the independent redistricting commission may 
not take into consideration any of the following fac-
tors, except to the extent necessary to comply with 
the Voting Rights Act of 1965:
(A) The voting history of the population of 
a Congressional district, except that the com-
mission may take such history into consider-
ation to the extent necessary to comply with 
any State law which requires the establishment 
of competitive Congressional districts. 
(B) The political party affiliation of the 
population of a district. 
(C) The residence of incumbent Members 
of the House of Representatives in the State. 
(3) PUBLIC NOTICE AND INPUT.— 
(A) PUBLIC HEARINGS; SOLICITATION OF 
INPUT
FROM
PUBLIC.—The commission shall 
hold each of its meetings in public, and shall so-
licit and take into consideration comments from 
the public in developing the redistricting plan 
for the State. The commission shall notify the 
public through the publication of notice in 
newspapers of general circulation throughout 
the State, and through a public Internet site of 
the State government, of the time and place of 
its meetings, of its solicitation of public com-
ments, and of the means by which the public 
should submit comments to the commission.
(B) NOTICE OF PLANS.—At the time the 
commission submits a redistricting plan to the 
legislature of the State under subsection (c)(1), 
the commission shall notify the public through 
the publication of notice in newspapers of gen-
eral circulation throughout the State, and shall 
publish a detailed version of the plan (including 
a map showing each Congressional district es-
tablished under the plan and the voting age 
population by race of each such district) on a 
public Internet site of the State government. 
The commission shall provide such public notice 
of any redistricting plan it develops for a min-
imum of four weeks prior to submission of that 
plan to the legislature as provided for in sub-
section (c) of this section. 
(c) SUBMISSION OF PLANS TO LEGISLATURE.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—At any time prior to the 
first November 1 which occurs after the chief execu-
tive of the State receives the State apportionment 
notice, the commission may submit redistricting 
plans developed by the commission under this sec-
tion to the legislature of the State.