AB415-engrossed,,20204.004 Preparations for redistricting. (1) The legislative reference bureau shall acquire appropriate information, review and evaluate available facilities, and develop programs and procedures in preparation for drawing plans on the basis of each federal decennial census.
AB415-engrossed,,2121(2) By December 1 of the year of the federal decennial census, the legislative reference bureau shall obtain from the U.S. bureau of the census information regarding geographic and political units in this state for which federal census population data has been gathered and will be tabulated. The legislative reference bureau shall use the information to do all of the following:
AB415-engrossed,,2222(a) Prepare necessary descriptions of geographic and political units for which census data will be reported and that are suitable for use as components of legislative districts.
AB415-engrossed,,2323(b) Prepare maps of geographic and political units within the state that may be used to illustrate the locations of district boundaries proposed in plans prepared in accordance with s. 4.007.
AB415-engrossed,,2424(3) As soon as possible after receiving from the U.S. bureau of the census the population data needed for legislative redistricting that the U.S. bureau of the census is required to provide this state under P.L. 94-171, the legislative reference bureau shall use that data to assign a population figure to each geographic or political unit described under sub. (2). The legislative reference bureau shall prepare and publish an analysis describing the population of current legislative districts and the extent to which the districts may violate the standards under s. 4.007. Upon satisfying these requirements, the legislative reference bureau shall begin the preparation of plans as required under s. 4.006.
AB415-engrossed,,25254.005 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 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 plans as required under s. 4.006.
AB415-engrossed,,26264.006 Preparation of redistricting plans. (1) Not later than January 1 of the 2nd year following the federal decennial census, the legislative reference bureau shall deliver to the majority leader of the senate and speaker of the assembly identical bills creating plans, 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) (c) 2. is received and made available to the members of the legislature. The vote shall be under a procedure or rule permitting no amendments except those of a purely corrective nature. 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.
AB415-engrossed,,2727(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 on why the plan was not approved by that house. The legislative reference bureau shall prepare identical bills embodying a 2nd plan prepared in accordance with s. 4.007, taking into account the reasons transmitted to the legislative reference bureau under this subsection or, if applicable, transmitted to the legislative reference bureau by the governor by veto message, 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).
AB415-engrossed,,2828(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 or subsequent 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, in the same manner as prescribed for the bills required under subs. (1) and (2). No plan may be considered and voted on after January 31 of the 2nd year following the federal decennial census.
AB415-engrossed,,2929(3m) A plan delivered under this section may only be passed by a bipartisan vote.
AB415-engrossed,,3030(4) Notwithstanding subs. (1) to (3), 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 federal decennial 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 federal decennial census that the population data and the topologically integrated geographic encoding and referencing data file for legislative redistricting become available.
AB415-engrossed,,31314.007 Redistricting standards. (1) Legislative districts shall be established on the basis of population requirements imposed under the Wisconsin Constitution and the U.S. Constitution and requirements imposed under the federal Voting Rights Act and any other applicable federal law.
AB415-engrossed,,3232(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 the federal Voting Rights Act or any other applicable federal law. 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.
AB415-engrossed,,3333(3) 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 and all such divisions shall preserve communities of interest.
AB415-engrossed,,3434(4) Districts shall be composed of convenient contiguous territory. Areas that meet only at the points of adjoining corners are not contiguous. A district containing detached portions of a municipality is legally contiguous even if the area around the detached portion of the municipality is part of a different district.
AB415-engrossed,,3535(5) To the extent consistent with subs. (1) to (3), districts shall be compact in form. Compact districts are those that are square, rectangular, or hexagonal in shape to the extent permitted by natural or political boundaries. The compactness of a district shall be measured by its Reock score. For each district, the Reock score shall be calculated by taking the ratio of the area of the district to the area of the minimum circumscribing circle. The Reock score ranges from zero to 1, with zero indicating that the district is not compact and one indicating that the district is optimally compact.
AB415-engrossed,,3636(6) In preparing any 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 other person or group. In establishing districts, no use shall be made of any of the following data for the purpose of augmenting or diluting the voting strength of a language or racial minority group, except to the extent required under sub. (1):
AB415-engrossed,,3737(a) The residence addresses of incumbent legislators.
AB415-engrossed,,3838(b) Political affiliations of registered voters.
AB415-engrossed,,3939(c) Previous election results.
AB415-engrossed,,4040(d) Demographic information.
AB415-engrossed,,4141(7) The number of assembly districts in any plan may not be less than 54 nor more than 100. The number of senate districts in any plan may not be more than one-third nor less than one-fourth of the number of assembly districts. Each senate district shall contain only whole assembly districts.
AB415-engrossed,,42424.008 Required provisions in redistricting bills. Each bill delivered under s. 4.006 shall provide all of the following:
AB415-engrossed,,4343(1) That, wherever territory is described in the bill by geographic boundaries, the following conventions are used:
AB415-engrossed,,4444(a) Each bound continues to the intersection with the bound next named, or to the intersection with a straight-line extension of such bound.
AB415-engrossed,,4545(b) If the bound is a street, it follows the center line of the street or the center line of the street extended.
AB415-engrossed,,4646(c) If the bound is a railroad right-of-way, it follows the center line of the railroad right-of-way.
AB415-engrossed,,4747(d) If the bound is a river or stream, it follows the center of the main channel of such river or stream.
AB415-engrossed,,4848(e) If the bound follows a municipal boundary, it coincides with such boundary.