CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.Senate Bill 0104
Florida Senate - 1998 SJR 104
By Senator Dyer
14-1-98
1 Senate Joint Resolution No.
2 A joint resolution proposing the repeal of
3 section 16 of Article III of the State
4 Constitution, relating to legislative
5 apportionment, and the addition of section 10
6 to Article II of the State Constitution,
7 relating to the establishment of a commission
8 to reapportion the state legislative districts
9 and redistrict congressional districts;
10 prescribing guidelines for such reapportionment
11 and redistricting; providing for judicial
12 review thereof.
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14 Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
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16 That the repeal of Section 16 of Article III of the
17 State Constitution and the addition of Section 10 to Article
18 II of the State Constitution are agreed to and shall be
19 submitted to the electors of this state for approval or
20 rejection at the next general election or at an earlier
21 special election specifically authorized by law for that
22 purpose:
23 ARTICLE II
24 GENERAL PROVISIONS
25 SECTION 10. Legislative apportionment and
26 congressional redistricting.--
27 (a) REAPPORTIONMENT MANDATE. By the end of each year
28 that ends in one, the state shall be divided by the commission
29 created in this section into as many congressional districts
30 as there are United States Representatives apportioned to the
31 state; forty consecutively numbered senate districts; and one
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1 hundred twenty consecutively numbered representative
2 districts. All legislative districts shall be single-member
3 districts.
4 (b) REAPPORTIONMENT COMMISSION.
5 (1) In each year that ends in zero and at any other
6 time of court-ordered reapportionment, a commission shall be
7 established to prepare a redistricting plan for congressional
8 districts and a reapportionment plan for legislative
9 districts. The commission shall consist of eleven electors of
10 this state, none of whom may be an elected public official,
11 party officer, registered lobbyist before the state
12 legislature or the federal congress, or a legislative or
13 congressional employee, as such terms are defined by law. Any
14 other elector of this state may serve on the commission. By
15 March 15 of the same year, or within sixty days following a
16 final court order requiring redistricting or reapportionment,
17 whichever is later, appointments to the commission shall be
18 made as follows:
19 a. The president of the senate and the minority leader
20 of the senate shall each appoint one former member of the
21 senate.
22 b. The speaker of the house of representatives and the
23 minority leader of the house of representatives shall each
24 appoint one former member of the house of representatives.
25 c. The chief justice of the supreme court shall
26 appoint six commissioners, including one commissioner each
27 from a list of four persons submitted by each of the chief
28 judges of the district courts of appeal. The lists submitted
29 by the chief judges shall each contain two persons from each
30 of the two major political parties in this state and the six
31 commissioners appointed by the chief justice of the supreme
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1 court shall consist of three persons from each of the two
2 major political parties in this state.
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4 The appointing authorities shall consult with each other to
5 ensure that such appointments reflect the state's ethnic,
6 racial, and gender diversity as reflected by the most recent
7 federal decennial census and are geographically representative
8 of the state. No more than five commissioners may be from the
9 same political party.
10 (2) Within thirty days after appointments have been
11 made, the ten commissioners, by a vote of at least six
12 commissioners, shall select one additional commissioner who
13 shall serve as chair of the commission. The chair must not
14 have been registered in either of the two major political
15 parties during the two years preceding appointment. The chair
16 shall be responsible for the administrative duties of the
17 commission, including supervision of commission staff.
18 Staffing of the commission shall be as provided by law.
19 Failure to select the eleventh commissioner within the time
20 prescribed shall constitute an impasse which shall
21 automatically discharge the commission. Within thirty days
22 after an impasse occurs, a new commission must be appointed in
23 the same manner as the original commission. Within twenty days
24 after the new appointments have been made, the ten
25 commissioners shall select, by a vote of at least six
26 commissioners, an eleventh commissioner, who shall serve as
27 chair.
28 (3) As a condition of appointment, each commissioner
29 must take an oath not to seek public office in any of the
30 newly redistricted legislative or congressional districts for
31 a period of two years after the effective date thereof.
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1 (4) Vacancies shall be filled by the appointing
2 authority who appointed the commissioner whose vacancy is to
3 be filled, except if a vacancy occurs in the position of
4 chair, the chair shall be selected in the manner set forth in
5 paragraph (2).
6 (5) The legislature shall, by general appropriation,
7 provide funds that the legislature determines to be adequate
8 to enable the commission to carry out its duties.
9 (6) The commission shall hold public hearings
10 necessary to carry out its responsibilities under this
11 section. The commission shall adopt its plans by a
12 three-fifths vote.
13 (c) REAPPORTIONMENT STANDARDS.
14 (1) Congressional districts and state legislative
15 districts for each respective house must be as nearly equal in
16 population as is practicable, based on the population reported
17 in the federal decennial census, taken in each year ending in
18 zero. A congressional district may not have a population that
19 varies by more than one percent from the average population of
20 all congressional districts in the state. A legislative
21 district may not have a population that varies by more than
22 five percent from the average population of all districts of
23 the respective house. The average of the absolute values of
24 the population deviations of all districts of the respective
25 house may not vary by more than two percent from the average
26 population of all districts. Any population variance must be
27 justifiable as necessary for compliance with other standards
28 in this section.
29 (2) Districts should be composed of convenient
30 contiguous territory and, consistent with paragraph (1),
31 should be drawn to coincide with the boundaries of local
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1 political subdivisions as such terms may be defined by general
2 law.
3 (3) Districts should be in compact form.
4 (d) JUDICIAL REVIEW. Within five days after
5 completion of a plan of apportionment or redistricting, the
6 commission shall file the plan with the secretary of state.
7 Within fifteen days after the filing of an apportionment or
8 redistricting plan by the commission, the attorney general
9 shall petition the supreme court of the state for a
10 declaratory judgment determining the validity of the plan,
11 including its compliance with all criteria specified in this
12 section, applicable federal law, and the constitution of the
13 United States. The supreme court, in accordance with its
14 rules, shall permit adversary interests to present their views
15 and, within sixty days after the filing of the petition, shall
16 enter its judgment. If the supreme court declares the
17 apportionment or redistricting plan invalid in whole or in
18 part, the commission shall forthwith reconvene and shall,
19 within thirty days, adopt a revised plan that conforms to the
20 judgment. The supreme court shall retain jurisdiction to
21 review the revised plan, which shall be submitted to the court
22 in the same manner as the original plan. Upon approval of the
23 supreme court, a plan of apportionment or redistricting shall
24 be filed with the secretary of state and, upon filing, shall
25 be the official plan for the state.
26 (e) JUDICIAL REAPPORTIONMENT. If the supreme court
27 determines that a revised plan does not comply with the
28 applicable law or if the commission does not adopt an original
29 plan by the end of each year that ends in one, or a revised
30 plan within the timeframe in subsection (d), the commission
31 shall, within five days, notify the secretary of state in
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1 writing of its inability to adopt a plan. Within five days
2 after the filing of such notice, the attorney general shall
3 petition the supreme court to prepare a plan of apportionment
4 or redistricting. The court shall, not later than sixty days
5 after receiving the petition of the attorney general, file
6 with the secretary of state an order making such apportionment
7 or redistricting.
8 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the following statement be
9 placed on the ballot:
10 CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
11 ARTICLE II, SECTION 10
12 ARTICLE III, SECTION 16
13 LEGISLATIVE APPORTIONMENT AND CONGRESSIONAL
14 REDISTRICTING.--Proposing the repeal of Section 16 of Article
15 III and the creation of Section 10 of Article II of the State
16 Constitution, to transfer legislative authority to reapportion
17 and redistrict the state to a commission; to provide for 120
18 single-member House of Representative and 40 single-member
19 Senate districts; to provide standards for reapportionment and
20 to provide for review of the commission's plans by the Supreme
21 Court and for reapportionment and redistricting by the Supreme
22 Court when the commission fails.
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