Opinion ID: 1453457
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: the secretary's submission

Text: Before holding a series of 15 public hearings around the state, the Secretary adopted eight guidelines to be followed in drafting the reapportionment. The guidelines are: 1. Aim for the ideal of zero population variance. 2. Honor existing geographic and political boundaries, with particular attention to county lines and maintaining cities within a single district when possible. 3. Retain identified urban neighborhoods, rural communities, and other communities of interest within a single district, giving consideration to market areas covered by local media. 4. Make districts compact and contiguous. 5. Not dilute the voting strength of any language or ethnic minority group. 6. Not favor a party, incumbent or other person. 7. Provide for transportation links within a district, with at least a county road available from one population area to another. 8. Assure that two House districts are wholly contained within a Senate District. In aiming for the ideal of zero population variance, the Secretary made (and we quote from his transmittal letter accompanying the filing of the plan with this court) a fundamental decision    that no district would vary from the ideal district size of 47,372 by more than plus-or-minus one percent. [7] The Secretary also drafted a proposed reapportionment plan, to which individuals generally directed their testimony at the hearings. On August 14, the Secretary filed his reapportionment plan with the court. The Secretary's submission was in the form of a letter accompanied by 16 exhibits and the transcriptions of the 15 public hearings. The exhibits include a listing of the census blocks [8] that comprise each House district and the House district pairings that make up each Senate District, various maps, a narrative description of the districts, a summary of the main points made in the hearings and of the Secretary's responses, as well as an explanation of changes made to the final draft plan, an opinion letter from the Attorney General regarding the legal framework for the reapportionment, statistical analyses of the reapportionment plan, and a list of criteria used for the assignment of current House and Senate members to the new districts created by the plan.