I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2642 
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 
MAY 25, 2005 
Mr. TANNER (for himself, Mr. COOPER, Mr. CHANDLER, Mr. COSTA, Mr. 
CARDOZA, Mr. BOYD, Mr. CASE, Mr. MOORE of Kansas, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. 
FORD, and Mr. MATHESON) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred 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,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDING OF CONSTITUTIONAL 
AUTHORITY. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Fairness and Independence in Redistricting Act of 
2005’’. 
(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),
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
(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 Fairness and Inde-
pendence in Redistricting Act of 2005’’. 
SEC. 4. INDEPENDENT REDISTRICTING COMMISSION. 
(a) APPOINTMENT OF MEMBERS; ELIGIBILITY.—
(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