SENATE BILL 416
54th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2019
INTRODUCED BY
Mark Moores and Bill Tallman and Kelly K. Fajardo
AN ACT
RELATING TO ELECTIONS; ENACTING THE REDISTRICTING ACT.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
SECTION 1. [NEW MATERIAL] SHORT TITLE.--This act may be
cited as the "Redistricting Act".
SECTION 2. [NEW MATERIAL] DEFINITIONS.--As used in the
Redistricting Act:
A. "commission" means the temporary redistricting advisory commission established in the Redistricting Act;
B. "federal census" means the decennial census required by federal law to be conducted by the United States census bureau in every year ending in zero;
C. "four selecting authorities" means:
(1) the majority floor leader of the senate;
(2) the minority floor leader of the senate;
(3) the majority floor leader of the house of representatives; and
(4) the minority floor leader of the house of representatives;
D. "partisan public office" means:
(1) an elective or appointive office in the executive or legislative branch or in an independent establishment of the federal government;
(2) an elective office in the executive or legislative branch of the government of New Mexico;
(3) an office that is filled by appointment and is exempt from the merit system under Section 3-13-4 NMSA 1978; and
(4) an office of a county, city or other political subdivision of the state that is filled by an election process involving nomination and election of candidates on a partisan basis;
E. "plan" means a plan for legislative, congressional, public regulation commission and public education commission redistricting drawn up pursuant to the requirements of the Redistricting Act;
F. "political party office" means an elective office in the national or state organization of a political party that is qualified under Section 1-7-2 NMSA 1978; and
G. "relative" means an individual who is related to a commission appointee as father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, first cousin, nephew, niece, husband, wife, grandfather, grandmother, grandson, granddaughter, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, stepfather, stepmother, stepson, stepdaughter, stepbrother, stepsister, half brother or half sister.
SECTION 3. [NEW MATERIAL] PREPARATIONS FOR REDISTRICTING.--
A. The legislative council service shall acquire appropriate information, review and evaluate available facilities and develop programs and procedures in preparation for drawing congressional, legislative, public regulation commission and public education commission redistricting plans on the basis of each federal census. Funds shall be expended for the purchase or lease of equipment and materials only with prior approval of the New Mexico legislative council.
B. By December 31 of each year ending in zero, the legislative council service shall obtain from the United States census bureau the data needed for redistricting that the United States census bureau is required to provide to the state under United States Pub. L. No. 94-171. The legislative council service shall use the data so obtained to prepare:
(1) necessary descriptions of geographic and political units for which census data will be reported and that are suitable for use as components of election districts; and
(2) maps of counties, cities and other geographic units within the state that may be used to illustrate the locations of district boundaries proposed in plans drawn in accordance with the Precinct Boundary Adjustment Act and the Redistricting Act.
C. Upon receiving the data needed for redistricting that the United States census bureau is required to provide to the state under United States Pub. L. No. 94-171, the legislative council service shall begin the preparation of congressional, legislative, public regulation commission and public education commission redistricting plans as required by the Redistricting Act.
D. Upon introduction of a bill embodying a plan, the legislative council service shall at the earliest feasible time make available to the public:
(1) copies of the bill;
(2) maps illustrating the plan;
(3) a summary of the standards prescribed by the Redistricting Act for development of the plan; and
(4) a statement of the population of each district included in the plan and the relative deviation of each district population from the ideal district population.
SECTION 4. [NEW MATERIAL] TIMETABLE FOR PREPARATION OF PLAN.--
A. Unless as provided in Subsection B of this section, upon introduction in the senate and the house of representatives of bills embodying a plan prepared in accordance with the Redistricting Act, the senate or house of representatives shall bring the bill to a vote expeditiously but not less than three days after the report of the commission required by the Redistricting Act is received and made available to the members of the legislature, the vote being taken under a rule permitting no amendments except those of a purely technical nature. If the bill is approved by the first chamber in which it is considered, the bill shall expeditiously be brought to a vote in the second chamber under a similar rule permitting no amendments except those of a purely technical nature. If the bill fails to be approved by a majority in either the senate or the house of representatives, the chief clerk of the chamber shall, no later than seven days after the date the bill failed to be approved, transmit to the legislative council service a resolution specifying reasons why the plan was not approved.
B. If the population data for redistricting that the United States census bureau is required to provide to the state under Pub. L. No. 94-171 and, if used by the legislative council service, the corresponding topologically integrated geographic encoding and referencing data file for that population data are not available to the legislative council service on or before February 15 of the year ending in one, the time period available to the legislative council service to produce a plan shall be extended by a number of days equal to the number of days after February 15 of the year ending in one that the federal census population data and the topologically integrated geographic encoding and referencing data file for redistricting become available.
C. If a bill embodying the plan submitted by the legislative council service under Subsection A of this section fails to be enacted, the legislative council service shall prepare a bill embodying a second plan. The bill shall be prepared in accordance with the Redistricting Act and, insofar as it is possible to do so within the requirements of that act, with the reasons cited by the senate or house of representatives by resolution, or the governor by veto message, for the failure to approve the plan. If a second plan is required under this subsection, the bill embodying it shall be delivered to the chief clerk of the senate and the chief clerk of the house of representatives not later than thirty-five days after the date of the vote by which the senate or the house of representatives failed to approve the bill submitted under Subsection A of this section or the date the governor vetoed or failed to approve the bill. If it is necessary to submit a bill under this subsection, the bill shall be brought to a vote not less than seven days after the bill is introduced and made available to the members of the legislature under a rule permitting no amendments except those of a purely technical nature. If the bill is approved by the first chamber in which it is considered, it shall expeditiously be brought to a vote in the second chamber under a similar rule permitting no amendments except those of a purely technical nature. If the bill embodying the plan submitted by the legislative council service under this subsection fails to be approved by a majority in either the senate or the house of representatives, the chief clerk of the senate or the chief clerk of the chamber shall, no later than seven days after the date the bill failed to be approved, transmit to the legislative council service a resolution specifying reasons why the plan was not approved.
D. If the bill embodying the plan submitted by the legislative council service under Subsection B of this section fails to be enacted, the same procedure as prescribed by that subsection shall be followed. If a third plan is required under this subsection, the bill embodying it shall be introduced in the senate or the house of representatives no later than thirty-five days after the date of the vote by which the senate or the house of representatives failed to approve the bill submitted under Subsection B of this section or the date the governor vetoed or failed to approve the bill. The legislative council service shall provide a bill to the chief clerk of the senate and the chief clerk of the house of representatives pursuant to this subsection sufficiently in advance of September 1 of the year ending in one to permit the legislature to consider the plan prior to that date. If it is necessary to submit a bill under this subsection, the bill shall be brought to a vote within the same time period after its delivery to the chief clerk of the senate and the chief clerk of the house of representatives as is prescribed for the bill submitted under Subsection B of this section, but it shall be subject to amendment in the same manner as other bills.
SECTION 5. [NEW MATERIAL] REDISTRICTING STANDARDS.--
A. Legislative, congressional, public regulation commission and public education commission districts shall be established on the basis of population.
B. Senate and house of representatives districts, respectively, shall each have a population as nearly equal as practicable to the ideal population for such districts, determined by dividing the number of districts to be established into the population of the state reported in the federal census. Senate districts and house of representatives districts shall not vary in population from the respective ideal district populations, except as necessary to comply with one of the other standards enumerated in this section. In no case shall the quotient, obtained by dividing the total of the absolute values of the deviations of all district populations from the applicable ideal district population by the number of districts established, exceed one percent of the applicable ideal district population. No senate district shall have a population that exceeds that of any other senate district by more than five percent, and no house of representatives district shall have a population that exceeds that of any other house of representatives district by more than five percent.
C. Congressional districts shall each have a population as nearly equal as practicable to the ideal district population, derived as prescribed in Subsection B of this section. No congressional district shall have a population that varies by more than one percent from the applicable ideal district population.
D. If a challenge is filed with the New Mexico supreme court alleging excessive population variance among districts established in a plan adopted by the legislature, the legislature has the burden of justifying any variance in excess of one percent between the population of a district and the applicable ideal district population.
E. To the extent consistent with this section, district boundaries shall coincide with the boundaries of political subdivisions of the state. The number of counties and cities divided among more than one district shall be as low as possible. When there is a choice between dividing local political subdivisions, the more populous subdivisions shall be divided before the less populous subdivisions, but this does not apply to a legislative district boundary drawn along a county line that passes through a city that lies in more than one county.
F. Districts shall be composed of convenient contiguous territory. Areas that meet only at the points of adjoining corners are not contiguous.
G. Districts shall be reasonably compact in form to the extent consistent with the standards established by Subsections B through F of this section. In general, reasonably compact districts are those that are square, rectangular or hexagonal in shape, and not irregularly shaped, to the extent permitted by natural or political boundaries. If it is necessary to compare the relative compactness of two or more districts or of two or more alternative redistricting plans, the tests prescribed shall be:
(1) length-width compactness. The compactness of a district is greatest when the length of the district and the width of the district are equal. The measure of a district's compactness is the absolute value of the difference between the length and the width of the district. In general, the length-width compactness of a district is calculated by measuring the distance from the northernmost point or portion of the boundary of a district to the southernmost point or portion of the boundary of the same district and the distance from the westernmost point or portion of the boundary of the district to the easternmost point or portion of the boundary of the same district. The absolute values computed for individual districts under this paragraph may be cumulated for all districts in a plan to compare the overall compactness of two or more alternative redistricting plans for the state or for a portion of the state; or
(2) perimeter compactness. The compactness of a district is greatest when the distance needed to traverse the perimeter boundary of a district is as short as possible. The total perimeter distance computed for individual districts under this paragraph may be cumulated for all districts in a plan to compare the overall compactness of two or more alternative redistricting plans for the state or for a portion of the state.
H. No district shall be drawn for the purpose of favoring a political party, incumbent legislator, member of congress, public regulation commissioner, public education commissioner or other person or group or for the purpose of augmenting or diluting the voting strength of a language or racial minority group. In establishing districts, no use shall be made of:
(1) addresses of incumbent legislators, members of congress, public regulation commissioners or public education commissioners;
(2) political affiliations of qualified electors;
(3) previous election results; or
(4) demographic information, other than population head counts, except as required by the constitution and the laws of the United States.
I. Each redistricting plan shall comport with the following:
(1) congressional districts shall be as equal in population as practicable;
(2) state districts shall be substantially equal in population. No plan for state office shall be considered that includes any district with a total population that deviates more than plus or minus five percent from the ideal;
(3) redistricting plans to be considered by the legislature shall not be composed of districts that split precincts;
(4) redistricting plans shall comply with the provisions of the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended, and federal constitutional standards. Plans that dilute a protected minority's voting strength are unacceptable. Race may be considered in developing redistricting plans but shall not be the predominant consideration. Traditional race-neutral redistricting principles shall not be subordinated to racial considerations;
(5) all redistricting plans shall use only single-member districts; and
(6) districts shall be drawn consistent with traditional districting principles. Districts shall be composed of contiguous precincts and shall be reasonably compact. To the extent feasible, districts shall be drawn in an attempt to preserve communities of interest and shall take into consideration political and geographic boundaries.
J. When a congressional district is composed of two or more counties, it shall not be entirely separated by a county belonging to another district.
SECTION 6. [NEW MATERIAL] TEMPORARY REDISTRICTING ADVISORY COMMISSION.--
A. Not later than February 15 of each year ending in one, a five-member "temporary redistricting advisory commission" shall be established as provided by this section. The commission's only functions shall be those prescribed by Section 7 of the Redistricting Act.
B. Each of the four selecting authorities shall certify to the secretary of state the authority's appointment of a person to serve on the commission. The certifications may be made at any time after the majority and minority floor leaders have been selected for the legislature that is in session in the year ending in one, even though that legislature's session has not actually begun.
C. Within thirty days after the four selecting authorities have certified their respective appointments to the commission, but in no event later than February 15 of the year ending in one, the four commission members so appointed shall select, by a vote of at least three members, and certify to the secretary of state the fifth commission member, who shall serve as chair.
D. A vacancy on the commission shall be filled by the initial selecting authority within fifteen days after the vacancy occurs.
E. Members of the commission shall receive per diem as specified in the Per Diem and Mileage Act and reimbursement for other necessary expenses incurred in performing their duties under the Redistricting Act.
F. No person shall be appointed to the commission who:
(1) is not a qualified elector of the state at the time of selection;
(2) holds partisan public office or political party office; or
(3) is a relative of or is employed by a member of the legislature, congress, the public regulation commission or the public education commission or is employed directly by the legislature or congress.
SECTION 7. [NEW MATERIAL] DUTIES OF COMMISSION.--The functions of the commission shall be as follows:
A. if, in preparation of plans as required by the Redistricting Act, the legislative council service is confronted with the necessity to make any decision for which no clearly applicable guideline is provided by that act, the legislative council service may submit a written request to the commission for direction;
B. prior to delivering any plan and a bill embodying that plan to the chief clerk of the senate and the chief clerk of the house of representatives in accordance with the Redistricting Act, the legislative council service shall provide to persons outside the legislative council service only such information regarding the plan as may be required by policies agreed upon by the commission. This subsection does not apply to population data furnished to the legislative council service by the United States census bureau; and
C. upon the introduction of a bill embodying an initial plan as required by the Redistricting Act, the commission shall, as expeditiously as reasonably possible, schedule and conduct at least three public hearings, in different geographic regions of the state, on the plan embodied in the bill.
SECTION 8. EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the provisions of this act is July 1, 2019.
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