I 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 453 
To prohibit States from carrying out more than one Congressional redis-
tricting 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 26, 2011 
Mr. SHULER (for himself, Mr. COOPER, Mr. BARROW, Mr. MATHESON, Mr. 
CARDOZA, Mr. SCHIFF, Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California, Mr. BOS-
WELL, Mr. BACA, Mr. ALTMIRE, Mr. BOREN, Mr. ROSS of Arkansas, Mr. 
HOLDEN, Mr. CUELLAR, Mr. MCINTYRE, Mr. CHANDLER, Mr. COSTA, 
Mr. DONNELLY of Indiana, and Mr. SCHRADER) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To prohibit States from carrying out more than one Congres-
sional redistricting after a decennial census and appor-
tionment, to require States to conduct such redistricting 
through independent commissions, and for other pur-
poses. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDING OF CONSTITUTIONAL 
AUTHORITY. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘John Tanner Fairness and Independence in Redistricting 
Act’’. 
(b) FINDING.—Congress finds that it has the author-
ity to establish the terms and conditions States must fol-
low in carrying out Congressional redistricting after an 
apportionment of Members of the House of Representa-
tives because— 
(1) the authority granted to Congress under ar-
ticle I, section 4 of the Constitution of the United 
States gives Congress the power to enact laws gov-
erning the time, place, and manner of elections for 
Members of the House of Representatives; and 
(2) the authority granted to Congress under 
section 5 of the fourteenth amendment to the Con-
stitution gives Congress the power to enact laws to 
enforce section 2 of such amendment, which requires 
Representatives to be apportioned among the several 
States according to their number. 
SEC. 2. LIMIT ON CONGRESSIONAL REDISTRICTING AFTER 
AN APPORTIONMENT. 
The Act entitled ‘‘An Act for the relief of Doctor Ri-
cardo Vallejo Samala and to provide for congressional re-
districting’’, approved December 14, 1967 (2 U.S.C. 2c), 
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is amended by adding at the end the following: ‘‘A State 
which has been redistricted in the manner provided by law 
after an apportionment under section 22(a) of the Act en-
titled ‘An Act to provide for the fifteenth and subsequent 
decennial censuses and to provide for an apportionment 
of Representatives in Congress’, approved June 18, 1929 
(2 U.S.C. 2a), may not be redistricted again until after 
the next apportionment of Representatives under such sec-
tion, unless a court requires the State to conduct such 
subsequent redistricting to comply with the Constitution 
or to enforce the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 
1973 et seq.).’’. 
SEC. 3. REQUIRING REDISTRICTING TO BE CONDUCTED 
THROUGH PLAN OF INDEPENDENT STATE 
COMMISSION OR PLAN OF HIGHEST STATE 
COURT. 
(a) USE OF PLAN REQUIRED.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 
provision of law, any Congressional redistricting con-
ducted by a State shall be conducted in accordance 
with— 
(A) the redistricting plan developed by the 
independent redistricting commission estab-
lished in the State, in accordance with section 
4; or 
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(B) if the plan developed by such commis-
sion is not enacted into law, the redistricting 
plan selected by the highest court in the State 
or developed by a United States district court, 
in accordance with section 5. 
(2) OTHER CRITERIA AND PROCEDURES PER-
MITTED.—Nothing in this Act or the amendments 
made by this Act may be construed to prohibit a 
State from conducting Congressional redistricting in 
accordance with such criteria and procedures as the 
State considers appropriate, to the extent that such 
criteria and procedures are consistent with the appli-
cable requirements of this Act and the amendments 
made by this Act. 
(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 John Tanner Fair-
ness and Independence in Redistricting Act’’. 
SEC. 4. INDEPENDENT REDISTRICTING COMMISSION. 
(a) ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS.— 
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(1) APPOINTMENT OF MEMBERS.—Each State 
shall establish an independent redistricting commis-
sion composed of— 
(A) a chair, who shall be appointed by ma-
jority vote of the other members of the commis-
sion; and 
(B) an equal number of members (but not 
fewer than 1) from each of the following cat-
egories: 
(i) Members appointed by a member 
of the upper house of the State legislature 
who represents the political party with the 
greatest number of seats in that house. 
(ii) Members appointed by a member 
of the upper house of the State legislature 
who represents the political party with the 
second greatest number of seats in that 
house. 
(iii) Members appointed by a member 
of the lower house of the State legislature 
who represents the political party with the 
greatest number of seats in that house. 
(iv) Members appointed by a member 
of the lower house of the State legislature 
who represents the political party with the 
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second greatest number of seats in that 
house. 
(2) SPECIAL RULE FOR STATES WITH UNICAM-
ERAL LEGISLATURE.—In the case of a State with a 
unicameral legislature, the independent redistricting 
commission established under this subsection shall 
be composed of— 
(A) a chair, who shall be appointed by ma-
jority vote of the other members of the commis-
sion; and 
(B) an equal number of members (but not 
fewer than 2) from each of the following cat-
egories: 
(i) Members appointed by a member 
of the legislature who shall be selected by 
the chair of the Government Affairs Com-
mittee of the legislature to represent the 
State political party whose candidate for 
chief executive of the State received the 
greatest number of votes on average in the 
3 most recent general elections for that of-
fice. 
(ii) Members appointed by a member 
of the legislature who shall be selected by 
the chair of the Government Affairs Com-
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mittee of the legislature to represent the 
State political party whose candidate for 
chief executive of the State received the 
second greatest number of votes on aver-
age in the 3 most recent general elections 
for that office. 
(3) ELIGIBILITY.—An individual is eligible to 
serve as a member of an independent redistricting 
commission if— 
(A) as of the date of appointment, the in-
dividual is registered to vote in elections for 
Federal office held in the State, and was reg-
istered to vote in the 2 most recent general 
elections for Federal office held in the State; 
(B) the individual did not hold public office 
or run as a candidate for election for public of-
fice, or serve as an employee of a political party 
or candidate for election for public office, at 
any time during the 4-year period ending on the 
December 31 preceding the date of appoint-
ment; and 
(C) the individual certifies that he or she 
will not run as a candidate for the office of 
Representative in the Congress until after the 
next apportionment of Representatives under 
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section 22(a) of the Act entitled ‘‘An Act to 
provide for the fifteenth and subsequent decen-
nial censuses and to provide for an apportion-
ment of Representatives in Congress’’, approved 
June 18, 1929 (2 U.S.C. 2a). 
(4) VACANCY.—A vacancy in the commission 
shall be filled in the manner in which the original 
appointment was made. 
(5) 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. 
(6) 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). 
(7) REQUIRING ALL MEETINGS TO BE OPEN TO 
PUBLIC.—The commission shall hold each of its 
meetings in public. 
(8) INTERNET
SITE.—As soon as practicable 
after establishing the commission, the State shall es-
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tablish and maintain a public Internet site for the 
commission which meets the following requirements: 
(A) The site is updated continuously to 
provide advance notice of commission meetings 
and to otherwise provide timely information on 
the activities of the commission. 
(B) The site contains the most recent 
available information from the Bureau of the 
Census on voting-age population, voter registra-
tion, and voting in the State, including pre-
cinct-level and census tract-level data with re-
spect to such information, as well as detailed 
maps reflecting such information. 
(C) The site includes interactive software 
to enable any individual to design a redis-
tricting plan for the State on the basis of the 
information described in subparagraph (B), in 
accordance with the criteria described in sub-
section (b)(1). 
(D) The site permits any individual to sub-
mit a proposed redistricting plan to the com-
mission, and to submit questions, comments, 
and other information with respect to the com-
mission’s activities. 
(b) DEVELOPMENT OF REDISTRICTING PLAN.— 
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