SENATE BILL No. 810 October 14, 1999, Introduced by Senators SCHUETTE, SIKKEMA and MC COTTER and referred to the Committee on Reapportionment. A bill to establish guidelines for the decennial adoption of a redistricting plan for congressional districts; to provide original jurisdiction to the supreme court to review a congres- sional redistricting plan enacted by the legislature for compli- ance with those guidelines; and to provide a procedure for the supreme court to use to redistrict congressional districts under certain circumstances. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT: 1 Sec. 1. (1) This act shall be known and may be cited as the 2 "congressional redistricting act". 3 (2) Not later than October 1, 2001, and every 10 years 4 thereafter, the legislature shall enact a redistricting plan for 5 congressional districts apportioned to Michigan. Except as 6 otherwise required by federal law for congressional districts in 04804'99 SAT 2 1 this state, the redistricting plan shall be enacted using only 2 the following guidelines: 3 (a) Each congressional district shall be entitled to elect a 4 single member. 5 (b) Each congressional district shall be as nearly equal in 6 population as practicable. 7 (c) Each congressional district shall consist of areas of 8 convenient territory contiguous by land. Areas that meet only at 9 points of adjoining corners are not contiguous. 10 (d) Congressional district lines shall preserve county lines 11 with the least cost to the principle of equality of population 12 provided in subdivision (b). 13 (e) If it is necessary to break city or township lines to 14 achieve equality of population between congressional districts as 15 provided in subdivision (b), the number of people necessary to 16 achieve population equality shall be shifted between the 2 dis- 17 tricts affected by the shift. 18 (f) Within a city or township to which there is apportioned 19 more than 1 congressional district, district lines shall be drawn 20 to achieve the maximum compactness possible. 21 (g) Compactness shall be determined by circumscribing each 22 district within a circle of minimum radius and measuring the 23 area, not part of the Great Lakes and not part of another state, 24 inside the circle but not inside the district. 25 (h) If a discontiguous township island exists within an 26 incorporated city or discontiguous portions of townships are 27 split by an incorporated city, the splitting of the township 04804'99 3 1 shall not be considered a split if any of the following 2 circumstances exist: 3 (i) The city must be split to achieve equality of population 4 between congressional districts as provided in subdivision (b) 5 and it is practicable to keep the township together within 1 6 district. 7 (ii) A township island is contained within a whole city and 8 a split of the city would be required to keep the township 9 intact. 10 (iii) The discontiguous portion of a township cannot be 11 included in the same district with another portion of the same 12 township without creating a noncontiguous district. 13 (i) Each congressional district shall be numbered in a regu- 14 lar series, beginning with congressional district 1 in the north- 15 west corner of the state and ending with the highest numbered 16 district in the southeast corner of the state. 17 (j) Congressional district boundaries shall be determined by 18 using population data from the United States bureau of the census 19 identical to those from the actual enumeration conducted by the 20 United States bureau of the census for the apportionment of the 21 representatives of the United States house of representatives in 22 the United States decennial census. District boundaries shall 23 not be determined by using census bureau population counts 24 derived from any other means, including, but not limited to, the 25 use of statistical sampling to add or subtract population by 26 inference. Other governmental census figures of total population 27 may be used if taken subsequent to the last decennial United 04804'99 4 1 States census and the United States census figures are not 2 adequate for the purposes of this act. A contract may be entered 3 into with the United States census bureau or any other governmen- 4 tal unit to make any special census if the latest United States 5 decennial census figures are not adequate for the purposes of 6 this act. 7 (k) Each congressional district shall not violate section 2 8 of title I of the voting rights act of 1965, Public Law 89-110, 9 42 U.S.C. 1973. 04804'99 Final page. SAT