Virginia House Joint Resolution 642 (Prior Session Legislation)

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Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: Introduced on January 7 2019 - 25% progression, died in committee
Action: 2019-02-05 - Left in Privileges and Elections
Pending: House Privileges and Elections Committee
Text: Latest bill text (Prefiled) [HTML]

Constitutional amendment (first resolution); Virginia Redistricting Commission; shortest split methodology. Establishes the seven-member Virginia Redistricting Commission to redraw congressional and General Assembly district boundaries after each decennial census of the United States. The Commission is directed to certify district plans for the General Assembly within 30 days of receipt of the new census data or by June 1 of the year following the census, whichever is earlier, and for the House of Representatives within 60 days of receipt of the census data or by July 1 of the year following the census, whichever is earlier. The amendment requires that districts be drawn using the Shortest Split methodology, which divides the geographic area of the Commonwealth into two halves of approximately equal population based on the official decennial census redistricting numbers, choosing the shortest possible dividing line to split the state. The division of halves shall continue until the required number of districts is achieved. The Commission is required to make adjustments to the resulting maps as may be necessary to achieve compliance with the requirements of the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended, and is authorized to make adjustments to the resulting maps so that district boundaries coincide with existing political boundaries and take into account geographic features.

Constitutional amendment; Virginia Redistricting Commission, shortest split methodology.

Sen. John Bell [D]

Date	Chamber	Action
2019-02-05	House	Left in Privileges and Elections
2019-01-12	House	Assigned P & E sub: Subcommittee #4
2019-01-07	House	Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections
2019-01-07	House	Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/09/19 19102210D

Type	Source
Summary	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+sum+HJ642
Text	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HJ642+hil