SB389,8,24 4.005 Use of municipal ward plans. After receipt of a division ordinance or resolution under s. 5.15 (4) (b), the legislative reference bureau shall use the data obtained from the U.S. bureau of the census under s. 4.004 (3) to assign a population figure based upon certified federal census data to each ward established in the division ordinance or resolution. The legislative reference bureau shall use each ward to which a population figure is assigned in preparing congressional and legislative redistricting plans as required under s. 4.006.

SB389,9,10 4.006 Preparation of redistricting plans. (1) Not later than January 1 of the 2nd year following the decennial federal census, the legislative reference bureau shall deliver to the majority leader of the senate and the speaker of the assembly identical bills creating plans of legislative and congressional redistricting, prepared in accordance with s. 4.007. Either the assembly or the senate shall bring the bill to a vote expeditiously, but not less than 7 days after the commission report under s. 13.49 (3) (d) 2. is received and made available to the members of the legislature. The vote shall be under a procedure or rule permitting no amendments. If the bill is approved by the first house in which it is considered, the bill shall expeditiously be brought to a vote in the 2nd house under a similar procedure or rule.

SB389,9,25 (2) If neither of the bills delivered by the legislative reference bureau under sub. (1) is approved by both the assembly and the senate, the chief clerk of the house that failed to approve the bill shall immediately transmit to the legislative reference bureau information that the house may direct regarding reasons why the plan was not approved. The legislative reference bureau shall prepare identical bills embodying a 2nd plan of legislative and congressional redistricting prepared in accordance with s. 4.007, taking into account the reasons transmitted to the legislative reference bureau under this subsection insofar as it is possible to do so within the requirements of s. 4.007. The legislative reference bureau shall deliver the bills to the majority leader of the senate and the speaker of the assembly no later than 21 days after the date of the vote by which the senate or the assembly failed to approve the bill submitted under sub. (1). Any bill delivered by the legislative reference bureau under this subsection shall be expeditiously introduced and brought to a vote not less than 7 days after the date of introduction, in the same manner as prescribed for the bill required under sub. (1).

SB389,10,12 (3) If neither of the bills delivered by the legislative reference bureau under sub. (2) is approved by both the assembly and the senate, the same procedure as prescribed by sub. (2) shall be followed. If a 3rd plan is required under this subsection, the legislative reference bureau shall deliver the bills to the majority leader of the senate and the speaker of the assembly no later than 21 days after the date of the vote by which the senate or the assembly failed to approve the bill submitted under sub. (2). Any bill delivered by the legislative reference bureau under this subsection shall be expeditiously introduced and brought to a vote not less than 7 days after the date of introduction and shall be subject to amendment in the same manner as other bills. Any bill delivered under this subsection, and any amendment to such a bill, may be passed only with the approval of three-fourths of all the members elected in each house.

SB389,10,13 (4) Notwithstanding subs. (1) to (3):

SB389,10,23 (a) If certified federal census data that is sufficient to permit preparation of a congressional redistricting plan becomes available at an earlier time than the population data needed to permit preparation of a legislative redistricting plan in accordance with s. 4.007, the legislative reference bureau shall so inform the majority leader of the senate and the speaker of the assembly. If the majority leader of the senate and the speaker of the assembly jointly direct, the legislative reference bureau shall prepare a separate bill establishing congressional districts and deliver it separately from the bill establishing legislative districts. The legislature shall proceed to consider the congressional redistricting bill in substantially the manner prescribed by subs. (1) to (3).

SB389,11,8 (b) If the population data for legislative redistricting that the U.S. bureau of the census is required to provide this state under P.L. 94-171 and, if used by the legislative reference bureau, the corresponding topologically integrated geographic encoding and referencing data file for that population data are not available to the legislative reference bureau on or before April 1 of the first year following the decennial federal census, the deadlines set forth in this section shall be extended by a number of days equal to the number of days after April 1 of the first year following the decennial federal census that the population data and the topologically integrated geographic encoding and referencing data file for legislative redistricting become available.

SB389,11,12 4.007 Redistricting standards. (1) Legislative and congressional districts shall be established on the basis of population requirements imposed under the Wisconsin Constitution and the U.S. Constitution and requirements imposed under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

SB389,11,24 (2) Senate and assembly districts, respectively, shall satisfy the population standards established in this subsection. The quotient, obtained by dividing the sum of the absolute values of the deviations of all district populations from the applicable ideal district population by the number of districts established, may not exceed 1 percent of the applicable ideal district population, unless necessary to maintain compliance with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. For purposes of this subsection, the ideal district population is determined by dividing the population of the state reported in the most recent federal decennial census by the number of districts to be established. 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.

SB389,12,6 (3) Congressional districts shall each have a population as nearly equal as practicable to the ideal district population, derived as prescribed in sub. (2), while maintaining compliance with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. No congressional district may have a population that varies by more than 1 percent from the applicable ideal district population, unless necessary to comply with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

SB389,12,14 (4) District boundaries shall coincide with ward boundaries and, to the extent consistent with sub. (1), shall coincide with the boundaries of political subdivisions. The number of political subdivisions divided among more than one district shall be as small as possible. When there is a choice among political subdivisions to divide, the more populous political subdivisions shall be divided before the less populous, except that this requirement does not apply to a legislative district boundary drawn along a county boundary which passes through a city with territory in more than one county.

SB389,12,16 (5) Districts shall be composed of convenient contiguous territory. Areas which meet only at the points of adjoining corners are not contiguous.

SB389,12,20 (6) Districts shall not be drawn with the intent or result of denying or abridging the equal opportunity of racial or language minorities to participate in the political process or diminishing their ability to elect representatives of their choice, whether by themselves or by voting in concert with other persons.

SB389,12,21 (7) (a) In this subsection:

SB389,13,5 1. “Geographic unit center" means that point within a population data unit approximately equidistant from the northern and southern extremities and also approximately equidistant from the eastern and western extremities of the population data unit. This point shall be determined by visual observation of a map of the population data unit, unless it is otherwise determined within the context of an appropriate coordinate system developed by the federal government or another source that the legislative reference bureau determines is qualified and objective and is obtained for use in this state with prior approval of the joint committee on legislative organization.

SB389,13,9 2. “Population data unit" means a ward, census enumeration district, block, or other unit of territory having clearly identified geographic boundaries and for which a total population figure is included in or can be derived directly from certified federal census data.

SB389,13,15 3. “X-coordinate" means the relative location of a point along the east–west axis of the state. Unless otherwise measured within the context of an appropriate coordinate system obtained for use as permitted by subd. 1., the x-coordinate shall be measured along a line drawn due east from a due north and south line running through the point which is the western extremity of this state, to the point to be located.

SB389,13,21 4. “Y-coordinate" means the relative location of a point along the north–south axis of the state. Unless otherwise measured within the context of an appropriate coordinate system obtained for use as permitted by subd. 1., the y-coordinate shall be measured along a line drawn due south from a due east and west line running through the point which is the northern extremity of this state, to the point to be located.

SB389,14,3 (b) To the extent consistent with subs. (1) to (3), districts shall be compact in form. Compact districts are those which are square, rectangular, or hexagonal in shape to the extent permitted by natural or political boundaries. When it is necessary to compare the relative compactness of 2 or more districts, or of 2 or more alternative redistricting plans, the tests prescribed by pars. (c) and (d) shall be used. Should the results of these 2 tests be contradictory, the standard under par. (c) shall be given greater weight than the standard under par. (d).

SB389,14,6 (c) 1. 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.

SB389,14,11 2. In measuring the compactness of a district by means of electronic data processing, the difference between the x-coordinates of the easternmost and the westernmost geographic unit centers included in the district shall be compared to the difference between the y-coordinates of the northernmost and southernmost geographic unit centers included in the district.

SB389,14,25 3. To determine the length and width of a district by manual measurement, 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 shall each be measured. If the northernmost or southernmost portion of the boundary, or each of these points, is a part of the boundary running due east and west, the line used to make the measurement required by this subdivision shall be drawn either due north and south or as nearly so as the configuration of the district permits. If the easternmost or westernmost portion of the boundary, or each of these points, is a part of the boundary running due north and south, a similar procedure shall be followed. The lines to be measured for the purpose of this subdivision shall each be drawn as required by this subdivision, even if some part of either or both lines lies outside the boundaries of the district that is being tested for compactness.

SB389,15,6 4. The absolute values computed for individual districts under this paragraph may be cumulated for all districts in a plan in order to compare the overall compactness of 2 or more alternative redistricting plans for the state or for a portion of the state. However, it is not valid to cumulate or compare absolute values computed using the measurements under subd. 2. with those computed using the measurements under subd. 3.

SB389,15,9 (d) 1. The compactness of a district is greatest when the ratio of the dispersion of population about the population center of the district to the dispersion of population about the geographic center of the district is one to one.

SB389,15,20 2. The population dispersion about the population center of a district or about the geographic center of a district is computed as the sum of the products of the population of each population data unit included in the district multiplied by the square of the distance from the geographic unit center of that population data unit to the population center or the geographic center of the district, as the case may be. The geographic center of the district is defined by averaging the locations of all geographic unit centers which are included in the district. The population center of the district is defined by computing the population–weighted average of the x-coordinates and y-coordinates of each geographic unit center assigned to the district, it being assumed for the purpose of this calculation that each population data unit possesses uniform density of population.

SB389,15,23 3. The ratios computed for individual districts under this paragraph may be averaged for all districts in a plan in order to compare the overall compactness of 2 or more alternative redistricting plans for the state or for a portion of the state.

SB389,16,5 (8) In preparing any redistricting plan, the legislative reference bureau shall 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 required under sub. (1), for the purpose of augmenting or diluting the voting strength of a language or racial minority group. Except as provided in sub. (10), in establishing districts, no use shall be made of any of the following data:

SB389,16,6 (a) The residence addresses of incumbent legislators or members of Congress.

SB389,16,7 (b) Political affiliations of registered voters.