Virginia Redistricting Commission; established. (HB1055)

Introduced By

Del. Mark Levine (D-Alexandria)

Description

Virginia Redistricting Commission. Establishes the Virginia Redistricting Commission (the Commission). The Commission, tasked with establishing districts for the United States House of Representatives and for the Senate and the House of Delegates of the General Assembly, will consist of eight legislative commissioners and eight citizen commissioners. The legislative commissioners consist of four members of the Senate of Virginia and four members of the House of Delegates, with equal representation given to the political parties having the highest and next highest number of members in their respective houses. The citizen commissioners are chosen by a selection committee consisting of five retired judges of the circuit courts of Virginia, from lists submitted to the selection committee by the Speaker of the House of Delegates, the leader in the House of Delegates of the political party having the next highest number of members in the House of Delegates, the President pro tempore of the Senate of Virginia, and the leader in the Senate of the political party having the next highest number of members in the Senate. The Commission is required to submit to the General Assembly plans of districts within certain time periods, and the General Assembly may reject initial plans and provide information to the Commission regarding the reasons for rejecting such plans. The General Assembly is limited in its ability to amend plans until multiple plans have been submitted and rejected. The bill sets out criteria by which the districts are to be drawn, including equal population, racial and ethnic fairness, contiguity, and compactness. Provisions to ensure public participation in the redistricting process are included. Read the Bill »

Outcome

History