Amendment SSA1-SJR63

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2021 - 2022 LEGISLATURE

SENATE SUBSTITUTE AMENDMENT 1, TO SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION 63

September 28, 2021 - Offered by Senators Smith, Agard, Erpenbach, Bewley, Carpenter, Wirch, Ringhand, Pfaff, Johnson, Roys, L. Taylor and Larson.

SJR63-SSA1,1,3 Relating to: requiring consideration of 2021 Senate Bill 389 and 2021 Assembly Bill 395 and providing access to members of the legislature to attorneys and records used in the redistricting process.

SJR63-SSA1,1,5 Whereas, the Wisconsin Constitution requires the legislature to provide for reapportionment of state legislative districts after each federal census; and

SJR63-SSA1,1,7 Whereas, Wisconsin's current legislative districts are considered the most gerrymandered maps in the United States; and

SJR63-SSA1,1,11 Whereas, current legislative maps created split communities of interest after seven times more voters were moved from one assembly district to another and five times more voters were moved from one senate district to another in the 2011 redistricting bill than was necessary; and

SJR63-SSA1,2,3 Whereas, in 2011, Republican legislators shielded their partisan gerrymandering efforts from the public and signed secrecy oaths to protect their majority; and

SJR63-SSA1,2,6 Whereas, competitive districts are needed for a healthy democracy and will help overwhelmingly popular policies to be adopted with a more responsive legislative body; and

SJR63-SSA1,2,8 Whereas, 55 of Wisconsin's 72 counties support nonpartisan redistricting reform; and

SJR63-SSA1,2,10 Whereas, legislators should not choose their voters, voters should choose their elected officials; and

SJR63-SSA1,2,12 Whereas, 2021 Senate Bill 389 and its assembly companion 2021 Assembly Bill 395 were introduced on June 10, 2021, and June 11, 2021, respectively; and

SJR63-SSA1,2,14 Whereas, SB 389 and AB 395 establish a nonpartisan process for redistricting in Wisconsin; and

SJR63-SSA1,2,17 Whereas, SB 389 and AB 395 direct the nonpartisan legislative reference bureau to draw state legislative and congressional redistricting plans based on the 2020 federal decennial census; and

SJR63-SSA1,2,19 Whereas, SB 389 and AB 395 require that any redistricting plan drawn by the legislative reference bureau satisfy all of the following requirements:

SJR63-SSA1,2,24 1. The plan must be based on population requirements imposed under the Wisconsin Constitution and the U.S. Constitution and requirements imposed under Section 2 of the federal Voting Rights Act, which, among other things, generally prohibits redistricting plans from abridging the right to vote on account of race or color or because a person is a member of a language minority group.

SJR63-SSA1,3,9 2. The senate and assembly districts established in the plan must satisfy equal population standards. Among other things, no senate district may have a population that exceeds that of any other senate district by more than 10 percent and no assembly district may have a population that exceeds that of any other assembly district by more than 10 percent, unless necessary to maintain compliance with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Congressional districts established in the plan must each have a population as nearly equal as practicable to the ideal population for such districts, while maintaining compliance with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

SJR63-SSA1,3,16 3. District boundaries under the plan must coincide with municipal ward boundaries and, to the extent consistent with the Wisconsin Constitution, the U.S. Constitution, and Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, must coincide with the boundaries of political subdivisions. The number of political subdivisions divided among more than one district must be as small as possible and, if there is a choice among political subdivisions to divide, the more populous political subdivisions shall be divided before the less populous.

SJR63-SSA1,3,18 4. Districts must be composed of convenient contiguous territory. Under the bill, areas which meet only at the points of adjoining corners are not contiguous.

SJR63-SSA1,3,20 5. To the extent consistent with the requirements described in items 1. to 3., districts must be compact.

SJR63-SSA1,4,5 6. In preparing the plan, the LRB must be strictly nonpartisan. No district may be drawn for the purpose of favoring a political party, incumbent legislator or member of Congress, or other person or group or, except to the extent necessary to meet the requirements described in item 1., for the purpose of augmenting or diluting the voting strength of a language or racial minority group. The LRB may not use political affiliations of registered voters, previous election results, or demographic information, except as necessary to test the efficiency gap and competitiveness of each district, or use residence addresses of incumbent legislators or members of Congress. The LRB may also use demographic information as necessary to meet the requirements described in item 1.

SJR63-SSA1,4,10 7. The number of assembly districts may not be less than 54 nor more than 100. The number of senate districts may not be more than one-third nor less than one-fourth of the number of assembly districts. Each senate district must contain only whole assembly districts and each congressional district may contain only whole senate districts, to the extent possible.

SJR63-SSA1,4,13 8. Districts must be drawn so that neither the intent nor the result of the plan abridges the equal opportunity of racial or language minorities to participate in the political process; and

SJR63-SSA1,4,16 Whereas, SB 389 and AB 395 establish a bipartisan Redistricting Advisory Commission to assist the legislative reference bureau in drawing state legislative and congressional districts based on the 2020 federal decennial census; and

SJR63-SSA1,4,19 Whereas, SB 389 and AB 395 establish a timeline and procedures for the legislative reference bureau to complete the redistricting plans required under the bills; now, therefore, be it

SJR63-SSA1,4,23 Resolved by the senate, the assembly concurring, That 2021 Senate Bill 389 is placed on the calendar for the next legislative day that the senate is in session, shall be taken up and voted on during the fourteenth order of business, and may not be tabled or referred to committee; and

SJR63-SSA1,5,2 Be it further resolved, That 2021 Assembly Bill 395 is placed on the calendar for the next legislative day that the assembly is in session, shall be taken up and voted on during the thirteenth order of business, and may not be tabled or referred to committee; and

SJR63-SSA1,5,8 Be it further resolved, That each member of the legislature regardless of political party affiliation shall have free and open access to all attorneys retained by the legislature or either house of the legislature for purposes of legislative and congressional redistricting and to all drafts of redistricting maps and all other records or documents used in the redistricting process by the legislature or either house of the legislature or the legislature's attorneys or advisors.

SJR63-SSA1,5,9 (End)