SB488: Bill Text

SB488,,56 13.49 Redistricting advisory commission. (1) Definitions. In this section:

SB488,,57 (a) “Chief election officer” means the chief election officer of the elections commission.

SB488,,58 (b) “Four selecting authorities” means all of the following:

SB488,,59 1. The majority leader of the senate.

SB488,,60 2. The minority leader of the senate.

SB488,,61 3. The speaker of the assembly.

SB488,,62 4. The minority leader of the assembly.

SB488,,63 (c) “Partisan public office” means any of the following:

SB488,,64 1. The office of governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, state treasurer, attorney general, state senator, or state representative to the assembly.

SB488,,65 2. A county office that is filled by an election process involving nomination and election of candidates on a partisan basis.

SB488,,66 (d) “Political party office” means an elective office in a political party, as defined in s. 5.02 (13), or in a national political party.

SB488,,67 (e) “Relative” means an individual who is related to the person in question as father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, first cousin, nephew, niece, husband, wife, grandfather, grandmother, 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.

SB488,,68 (2) General provisions. (a) Not later than February 15 of the first year following the federal decennial census, a temporary redistricting advisory commission is created consisting of 5 members. Each of the 4 selecting authorities shall certify to the chief election officer the selecting authority’s appointment of an individual to serve on the commission. Within 30 days after the last selecting authority has certified his or her appointment, but not later than February 15 of the first year following the federal decennial census, the 4 commission members so appointed shall select, by a vote of at least 3 members, and certify to the chief election officer the 5th commission member, who shall serve as chairperson. No commission member may abstain from any vote taken by the commission on any matter before the commission, and no vote may be taken by the commission without all 5 members of the commission present and voting. The commission members shall, upon the legislative reference bureau’s recommendation, appoint a person with expertise in the federal Voting Rights Act to provide the commission guidance regarding federal Voting Rights Act compliance.

SB488,,69 (b) No individual may be appointed to the redistricting advisory commission who satisfies any of the following:

SB488,,70 1. The individual is not an eligible elector of this state at the time of the appointment.

SB488,,71 2. The individual holds partisan public office or political party office.

SB488,,72 3. The individual is a relative of or is employed by a member of the legislature or of Congress, or is employed directly by the legislature or Congress.

SB488,,73 (c) Members of the redistricting advisory commission appointed by a selecting authority shall be reimbursed from the appropriation account under s. 20.765 (1) (a) or (b), depending upon the house in which that member’s appointing authority holds office, for actual and necessary expenses incurred in performance of duties as a commission member. The member who is not appointed by a selecting authority shall be reimbursed from the appropriation under s. 20.765 (1) (a) for actual and necessary expenses incurred in performance of duties as a commission member.

SB488,,74 (d) A vacancy on the redistricting advisory commission shall be filled as provided in s. 17.20 (1) within 15 days after the vacancy occurs.

SB488,,75 (e) Each redistricting advisory commission terminates upon complying with sub. (3).

SB488,,76 (f) The legislative reference bureau shall provide assistance to the commission regarding the operations of the commission.

SB488,,77 (3) Duties. The redistricting advisory commission shall do all of the following:

SB488,,78 (a) If requested to do so by the legislative reference bureau, provide direction to the legislative reference bureau concerning any decision the legislative reference bureau must make in preparing a redistricting plan under subch. I of ch. 4 for which no clearly applicable standard is provided under s. 4.007.

SB488,,79 (b) Upon delivery by the legislative reference bureau of a bill embodying a redistricting plan as required under s. 4.006, make available to the public at the earliest feasible time all of the following information:

SB488,,80 1. Copies of the bill.

SB488,,81 2. Maps illustrating the plan.

SB488,,82 3. A summary of the standards prescribed under s. 4.007 for development of the plan.

SB488,,83 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.

SB488,,84 (c) Upon delivery by the legislative reference bureau of an initial bill embodying a redistricting plan as required under s. 4.006 (1), do all of the following:

SB488,,85 1. As expeditiously as reasonably possible, schedule and conduct at least 8 public hearings, in different geographic regions of the state, on the plan embodied in the bill. No more than one public hearing may be held in the city of Madison, one public hearing shall be held in a city of the first class, and at least one public hearing shall be held in the northern half of the state.

SB488,,86 2. Following the hearings held under subd. 1., promptly prepare and submit to the legislature in the manner provided under s. 13.172 (2) a report summarizing information and testimony received by the commission in the course of the hearings. The report may include any comments and conclusions that the commission’s members deem appropriate concerning the information and testimony received at the hearings or otherwise presented to the commission. The report shall be treated in the same manner as a report submitted under s. 13.172 (2).

SB488,,87 (4) Confidentiality. The redistricting advisory commission may establish policies, consistent with s. 13.92 (1) (c) and notwithstanding s. 19.35 (1), limiting the information that the legislative reference bureau may provide to persons other than the bureau staff concerning any redistricting plan prepared under subch. I of ch. 4, except that any such policy does not apply to a redistricting plan after a bill embodying that plan is delivered by the legislative reference bureau as required under s. 4.006 or to population data furnished to the legislative reference bureau by the U.S. bureau of the census. Upon the plan’s introduction, the legislative reference bureau shall make the drafting file of the plan available for public inspection.

SB488,6 Section 6. Nonstatutory provisions.

SB488,,89 (1) Notwithstanding the deadline for establishing the commission under s. 13.49 (2), the redistricting advisory commission may be established after the effective date of this subsection. For the decennial period beginning in 2020, and notwithstanding any other deadline under this act, the legislative reference bureau shall expeditiously obtain census data and deliver any plan prepared in accordance with s. 4.007 to the majority leader of the senate and the speaker of the assembly upon the completion of the redistricting plans no later than January 1, 2024.

SB488,7 Section 7. Initial applicability.

SB488,,91 (1) This act first applies to the 2020 federal decennial census.

SB488,,92 (end)