[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6250 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6250

 To establish the terms and conditions States must follow in carrying 
                    out Congressional redistricting.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 29, 2010

  Mr. Nunes introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To establish the terms and conditions States must follow in carrying 
                    out Congressional redistricting.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives 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 ``Congressional 
Redistricting Formula Act''.
    (b) Finding.--Congress finds that it has the authority to establish 
the terms and conditions States must follow in carrying out 
congressional redistricting after an apportionment of Members of the 
House of Representatives because--
            (1) the authority granted to Congress under article I, 
        section 4 of the Constitution of the United States gives 
        Congress the power to enact laws governing 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 14th amendment to the Constitution 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. STANDARDS FOR ESTABLISHMENT OF CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS.

    (a) Requiring Redistricting To Follow Standards.--
            (1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
        law, any Congressional redistricting conducted by a State after 
        an apportionment of Representatives shall be conducted in 
        accordance with a plan--
                    (A) which meets the standards described in 
                subsection (b); and
                    (B) is enacted in accordance with the public notice 
                requirements of subsection (c).
            (2) Priority in case of conflict.--To the extent that it is 
        inconsistent for a State to apply each of the standards 
        described in subsection (b) in the case of a Congressional 
        district, the State shall give priority to the standards in the 
        order in which they are listed in subsection (b).
    (b) Standards Described.--
            (1) Equal population.--The number of persons in each 
        Congressional district in a State shall be as nearly equal to 
        the number of persons in each other district in the State as is 
        practicable.
            (2) Basis for determining population.--The enumeration made 
        pursuant to section 2 of article I of the Constitution shall be 
        the sole basis for determining population.
            (3) Contiguity of territory.--Congressional districts in 
        the State shall be comprised of contiguous territory, including 
        adjoining insular territory.
            (4) Consistency with voting rights act.--Congressional 
        districts in the State shall be established in conformance with 
        the requirements of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
            (5) No dilution of voting strength.--Congressional 
        districts in the State may not be established with the major 
        purpose of diluting the voting strength of any person, or 
        group, including any political party, except as necessary to 
        comply with the requirements of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
            (6) Avoiding division of units of local government.--
                    (A) In general.--Except as necessary to comply with 
                the requirements of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the 
                boundaries of Congressional districts in the State 
                shall be drawn so as to avoid the unnecessary division 
                of units of local government and, to the greatest 
                extent possible, shall be drawn in accordance with the 
                following specific standards:
                            (i) No more than one Congressional district 
                        shall cross the common boundary between any 2 
                        counties, townships, towns, villages, cities, 
                        or any other units of local government.
                            (ii) No Congressional district shall 
                        contain more than 2 fragments of counties, 
                        townships, towns, villages, cities, or any 
                        other units of local government.
                            (iii) No county, township, town, village, 
                        city, or other unit of local government shall 
                        contain more than 2 Congressional district 
                        fragments.
                    (B) Fragment defined.--For purposes of subparagraph 
                (A), the term ``fragment'' means, with respect to a 
                Congressional district, county, township, town, 
                village, city, or other unit of local government, a 
                portion of the unit which does not contain all the 
                population of the Congressional district or unit of 
                local government (as the case may be). For purposes of 
                this specific standard, a unit of local government 
                includes the area and population entirely surrounded by 
                that unit's outer boundary, including the area and 
                population of any other units of local government 
                within that boundary.
            (7) Promoting compactness of districts.--
                    (A) In general.--Congressional districts in a State 
                shall be compact in form, and the boundaries of 
                districts shall be drawn so that nearby populations are 
                not bypassed in favor of more distant populations, in 
                accordance with the following criteria:
                            (i) Each district shall contain no less 
                        than 60 percent of the population contained in 
                        that figure drawn around that district, bounded 
                        by only straight lines, with the shortest 
                        possible perimeter.
                            (ii) The average of the sum of percentages 
                        calculated under clause (i) for all the 
                        districts in the State shall not be less than 
                        75 percent.
                            (iii) Only the population within the State 
                        in which each district is located shall be used 
                        in making the calculations described in clauses 
                        (i) and (ii), except that the population of 
                        offshore islands may be excluded in making 
                        these calculations.
                    (B) Computation of percentages.--For purposes of 
                computing the percentages described in subparagraph 
                (A), the total populations of a census block shall be 
                deemed within a Congressional district or figure 
                surrounding that Congressional district if the 
                geographic center of that block falls within the 
                district or the figure drawn around the district. For 
                purposes of the previous sentence, the geographic 
                center of a census block shall be defined as the point 
                contained within the boundaries of the census block 
                which is normally calculated to display a label in that 
                block when generating a map.
    (c) Public Notice Requirements.--
            (1) Solicitation of comments prior to enactment.--A State 
        may not enact a plan for Congressional redistricting unless, 
        during a period of at least 2 weeks preceding the enactment of 
        the plan--
                    (A) the State makes available on the Internet and 
                publishes detailed maps showing the exact boundaries of 
                each proposed Congressional district and a detailed 
                analysis of the population of each proposed 
                Congressional district; and
                    (B) the State solicits comments and questions on 
                the plan from the public, under such methods as the 
                State may select which provide the greatest opportunity 
                practicable for public input.
            (2) Sharing of information used to develop plans.--
                    (A) Posting of information.--During the period 
                described in subparagraph (B), the entity of the 
                government of a State which responsible for conducting 
                Congressional redistricting in the State shall make 
                available on the Internet (on a continuously updated 
                basis) all of the population and demographic data which 
                is used by the State to develop Congressional 
                redistricting plans.
                    (B) Period described.--The period described in this 
                subparagraph is the period--
                            (i) which begins on the final deadline 
                        provided under section 22(b) of the Act 
                        entitled ``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), for the Clerk of the House of 
                        Representatives to transmit to the State the 
                        notice of the number of Representatives to 
                        which the State is entitled in the following 
                        Congress; and
                            (ii) which ends on the date on which the 
                        State enacts the Congressional redistricting 
                        plan.

SEC. 3. NO EFFECT ON ELECTIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL OFFICE.

    Nothing in this Act may be construed to affect the manner in which 
a State carries out elections for State or local office, including the 
process by which a State establishes the districts used in such 
elections.

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This Act shall apply with respect to any congressional 
redistricting which occurs after the regular decennial census conducted 
during 2010.
                                 <all>