Memorandum
City of Lawrence
Legal Department
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TO: |
David L. Corliss, City Manager |
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FROM: |
Toni R. Wheeler, Director of the Legal Department
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Date: |
August 17, 2011 |
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RE: |
Public Hearing on Redistricting on September 2, 2011 |
The Kansas Legislature’s Special Committee
on Redistricting is holding a public hearing in Lawrence at the Dole Institute
at 9:00 a.m. 2:00 p.m. on
September 2, 2011. At the public hearing, individuals may present testimony to
the Special Committee concerning plans for new state legislative districts,
state board of education districts, and federal congressional districts. It may
be appropriate for a representative of the City to provide testimony or
comments to the Special Committee regarding the City’s interests or opinions on
the congressional districts, and/or desired congressional district(s)
configuration. The City of Lawrence is currently split into two congressional
districts--the Second District represented by Representative Lynn Jenkins, and
the Third District, represented by Representative Kevin Yoder. Congressional
district maps are attached. Staff
requests the City Commission provide staff direction on this issue at its
regular meeting on August 23, 2011.
Background
The Kansas Legislature develops legislative, congressional, and state board of education districts every ten years following the decennial federal Census.[1] The results of the 2010 Census were made available to the Kansas Legislature in the spring of 2011. New district plans will be developed in the interim session of 2011, and the legislative session of 2012. The district plans must be finalized, and in the case of the state legislative districts, have the approval of the Kansas Supreme Court, by the June filing deadline for the August primary election of 2012. The district plans must be approved by both the Kansas House of Representatives and the Kansas Senate. The congressional and state board of education district plans become effective unless the plans are vetoed by the Governor. As noted earlier, in addition to being passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor, state house and senate districts must also obtain approval of the Kansas Supreme Court. Although the congressional district plans are not automatically subject to court review, historically, according to the Kansas Legislative Research Department, the plans have been challenged in court. Therefore, the Legislature is proceeding diligently to develop district plans so they may be considered by the Legislature early in the 2012 legislative session.
The congressional and legislative districts are re-drawn every ten years to ensure the one-person-one-vote goal established by the United States Supreme Court in 1964 in the cases, Wesberry v. Sanders and Reynolds v. Sims is achieved. This means that the population of the congressional districts must be equal, or as near thereto as possible. For legislative districts, the courts have granted greater leeway. For instance, the 2002 Kansas Senate districts had on overall deviation of 9.27%, and this was acceptable to the state supreme court.
Both the Second and Third Districts will have to be modified to achieve the objective of having the vote of the citizens approximately equal in weight throughout the state. For congressional districts, the ideal district will have a population of 713,280. Currently, the Second District is 3,233 under the ideal, while the Third District is 54,289 over the ideal.
The City Commission may with to provide a position statement to the Special Committee at some point during their deliberations or to our legislative delegation in anticipation of the 2012 Legislature.
Action Requested: Direct staff as appropriate.
[1] Congressional districts are based on the state’s population according to the most recent decennial federal Census. The Kansas Constitution, however, requires state legislative districts (and by extension State Board of Education Districts) to use the most recent decennial federal Census as adjusted to exclude nonresident students and military personnel. Resident students and members of the military are to be included at the place of their permanent residence. The Secretary of State is charged with the duty of gathering the necessary data to make the population adjustments.