June 10, 2021 - Introduced by Senators Smith, Roys, Agard, Bewley, Carpenter,
Erpenbach, Johnson, Larson, Pfaff, Ringhand, L. Taylor and Wirch,
cosponsored by Representatives Andraca, S. Rodriguez, Anderson, Baldeh,
Billings, Bowen, Brostoff, Cabrera, Conley, Considine, Doyle, Drake,
Emerson, Goyke, Haywood, Hebl, Hesselbein, Hintz, Hong, Kitchens,
McGuire, B. Meyers, Milroy, Moore Omokunde, Neubauer, Novak, Ohnstad,
Ortiz-Velez, Pope, Riemer, Shankland, Shelton, Sinicki, Snodgrass,
Spreitzer, Stubbs, Subeck, Tranel, Vining and Vruwink. Referred to
Committee on Government Operations, Legal Review and Consumer
Protection.

SB389,1,4 1An Act to repeal 3.002 (2); to consolidate, renumber and amend 3.002
2(intro.) and (1m); to amend 3.004 (2) and 5.15 (4) (a); to repeal and recreate
3subchapter I of chapter 4 [precedes 4.001]; and to create 13.49 of the statutes;
4relating to: legislative and congressional redistricting.

Currently, under the state constitution, the legislature is directed to redistrict
legislative districts according to the number of inhabitants at its next session
following each decennial federal census. At the same intervals, the legislature also
reapportions congressional districts in this state pursuant to federal law. Under
current state law, following each decennial federal census, most municipalities are
also required to divide their territory into wards. With limited exceptions, wards are
required to consist of one or more whole, contiguous census blocks (the smallest
geographic units for which census results are available). Traditionally, the
legislature has used municipal wards to construct legislative and congressional
districts, although the legislature may adjust the boundaries of a municipal ward
and use the revised ward boundaries instead. Legislative and congressional
redistricting plans enacted pursuant to this procedure are used to elect members of
the legislature and members of Congress in the fall of the second year following the
year of the census.

This bill creates a new procedure for the preparation of legislative and
congressional redistricting plans. The bill directs the Legislative Reference Bureau
to draw redistricting plans based upon standards specified in the bill and establishes

a Redistricting Advisory Commission to perform certain tasks in the redistricting
process. The bill also makes various other changes to the laws governing
redistricting. Significant aspects of the bill include the following:

Under the bill, a redistricting plan drawn by the LRB must satisfy several
criteria, including the following:

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.

2. The senate and assembly districts established in the plan must satisfy equal
population standards specified in the bill. 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.

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, with limited
exceptions, if there is a choice among political subdivisions to divide, the more
populous political subdivisions shall be divided before the less populous.

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.

5. To the extent consistent with the requirements described in items 1. to 3.,
districts must be compact. The bill also specifies how compactness is to be measured.

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.

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, with certain exceptions, each congressional
district may contain only whole senate districts, to the extent possible.

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.

The bill assigns several tasks to the Redistricting Advisory Commission,
including the following:

1. If requested to do so by the LRB, the commission must provide direction to
the LRB concerning any decision the LRB must make in preparing a redistricting
plan for which no clearly applicable guideline is provided under the bill.