Congressional and state legislative districts; standards and criteria. (SB106)
Introduced By
Sen. David Suetterlein (R-Salem) with support from co-patron Del. Kaye Kory (D-Falls Church)
Progress
✓ |
Introduced |
✓ |
Passed Committee |
✓ |
Passed House |
✓ |
Passed Senate |
✗ |
Signed by Governor |
✗ |
Became Law |
Description
Standards and criteria for congressional and state legislative districts. Provides criteria by which congressional and state legislative districts are to be drawn, including equal population, racial and ethnic fairness, respect for existing political boundaries, contiguity, compactness, and communities of interest. The criteria set out would apply to those districts drawn following the 2020 United States Census and thereafter. This bill incorporates SB 718, SB 740, and SB 752 and is identical to HB 1598. Read the Bill »
Outcome
Bill Has Failed
History
Date | Action |
---|---|
12/12/2017 | Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/18 18100790D |
12/12/2017 | Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections |
01/16/2018 | Impact statement from DPB (SB106) |
01/16/2018 | Reported from Privileges and Elections with substitute (13-Y 1-N) (see vote tally) |
01/16/2018 | Committee substitute printed 18105342D-S1 |
01/16/2018 | Incorporates SB718 Chase |
01/16/2018 | Incorporates SB740 Howell |
01/16/2018 | Incorporates SB752 Sturtevant |
01/18/2018 | Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) (see vote tally) |
01/18/2018 | Impact statement from DPB (SB106S1) |
01/19/2018 | Passed by for the day |
01/22/2018 | Passed by for the day |
01/23/2018 | Passed by for the day |
01/24/2018 | Passed by for the day |
01/25/2018 | Read second time |
01/25/2018 | Reading of substitute waived |
01/25/2018 | Committee substitute rejected 18105342D-S1 |
01/25/2018 | Floor substitute printed 18105938D-S2 (David R. Suetterlein) |
01/25/2018 | Substitute by Senator Suetterlein agreed to 18105938D-S2 (23-Y 17-N) (see vote tally) |
01/25/2018 | Title replaced 18105938D-S2 |
01/25/2018 | Engrossed by Senate - floor substitute SB106S2 |
01/26/2018 | Pending question ordered (25-Y 12-N) (see vote tally) |
01/26/2018 | Read third time and passed Senate (22-Y 17-N) (see vote tally) |
01/31/2018 | Placed on Calendar |
01/31/2018 | Read first time |
01/31/2018 | Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections |
01/31/2018 | Impact statement from DPB (SB106S2) |
02/08/2018 | Assigned P & E sub: Subcommittee #1 |
02/20/2018 | Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment (6-Y 0-N) |
02/23/2018 | Reported from Privileges and Elections with amendment (20-Y 1-N) (see vote tally) |
02/27/2018 | Read second time |
02/28/2018 | Read third time |
02/28/2018 | Committee amendment agreed to |
02/28/2018 | Engrossed by House as amended |
02/28/2018 | Passed House with amendment (90-Y 9-N) |
02/28/2018 | VOTE: PASSAGE (90-Y 9-N) (see vote tally) |
03/02/2018 | House amendment agreed to by Senate (20-Y 18-N) (see vote tally) |
03/02/2018 | Reconsideration of House amendment agreed to by Senate (38-Y 0-N) (see vote tally) |
03/02/2018 | House amendment agreed to by Senate (21-Y 17-N) (see vote tally) |
03/06/2018 | Enrolled |
03/06/2018 | Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB106ER) |
03/06/2018 | Signed by Speaker |
03/07/2018 | Impact statement from DPB (SB106ER) |
03/09/2018 | Signed by President |
03/15/2018 | Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 15, 2018 |
03/15/2018 | G Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, April 9, 2018 |
04/09/2018 | Governor's recommendation received by Senate |
04/18/2018 | Passed by for the day (20-Y 19-N) |
04/18/2018 | Communicated to Governor |
04/18/2018 | G Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, May 18, 2018 |
05/18/2018 | G Vetoed by Governor |
Comments
I am delighted to see a serious attempt to solve problems of gerrymandering in our state. However, as a statistical consultant, I'm not certain what is meant by the language "numerical measures of individual and average district compactness to provide an objective assessment." Either party could easily choose a numerical measure that fits their own goals that is an objective approach by outside observers. Trust me -- statisticians can manipulate data and results. I would love to see this bill slightly modified to include a short list of numerical measures that must all be calculated and shared publicly, such as isoperimetric quotient, Reock, Convex Hull, or perimeter summation, just to name a few.
I would think the bill should include the above standards and would be nice to have it entered by both parties, Democratic and Republican.
Federal law requires that districts have equal population and conform to Voting Rights Act protection. In addition, the Virginia constitution requires that districts be compact and contiguous, but it does not define those standards. Identical bills HB1598 and SB106 would define or establish good state criteria for drawing congressional and General Assembly districts, beyond the federal mandates. But they could be even better! I urge Gov Northam to send these bills back to the General Assembly with an amendment to add language to prohibit political gerrymandering, e.g. "No district shall be drawn for the purpose of favoring or disfavoring any political party, incumbent legislator or member of Congress, or potential candidate."
On Josh Howard's comment, I love the idea of requiring that calculations be shared publicly but don't feel that the names of particular measures need to be incorporated into the law. That seems more like a regulatory detail to me.