| Be it resolved by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, | 11 |
| three-fifths of the members elected to each house concurring | 12 |
| herein, that there shall be submitted to the electors of the | 13 |
| state, in the manner prescribed by law at the general election to | 14 |
| be held on November 7, 2006, a proposal to amend Sections 1, 2, 3, | 15 |
| 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 15 of Article XI, to amend, for | 16 |
| the purpose of adopting new Section numbers as indicated in | 17 |
| parentheses, Sections 5 (4), 6 (5), 7 (6), 8 (7), 10 (8), 11 (9), | 18 |
| 12 (11), 13 (12), and 15 (13) of Article XI, and to enact new | 19 |
| Section 10 of Article XI of the Constitution of Ohio to read as | 20 |
| follows: | 21 |
1. The governor, auditor of state, secretary of | 22 |
state, one person
chosen by the speaker of the house of | 23 |
representatives and the leader in the
senate of the political | 24 |
party of which the speaker is a member, and one person
chosen by | 25 |
the legislative leaders in the two houses of the major political | 26 |
party of which the speaker is not a member shall be the persons | 27 |
responsible
for the apportionment of this state for members of the | 28 |
general assembly. | 29 |
Such persons, or a majority of their number, shall meet and | 30 |
establish in the
manner prescribed in this Article the boundaries | 31 |
for each of ninety-nine house
of representatives districts and | 32 |
thirty-three senate districts. Such meeting
shall convene on a | 33 |
date designated by the governor between August 1 and
October 1 in | 34 |
the year one thousand nine hundred seventy-one and every tenth | 35 |
year thereafter.(A) The Ohio redistricting commission shall | 36 |
| consist of seven members and shall be responsible for the | 37 |
| redistricting of this state for congress and the general assembly. | 38 |
| Beginning with the year 2011, after the first day of February but | 39 |
| before the first day of March of each year ending in the numeral | 40 |
| one, four members shall be appointed to the commission in the | 41 |
| following manner: | 42 |
Theof the commission, which shall be held after the first | 57 |
| day of March but before the sixteenth day of March of the year | 58 |
| ending in the numeral one. At that first meeting, the four members | 59 |
| appointed under division (A) of this section, shall convene and | 60 |
| select cochairpersons. Those four members shall then proceed with | 61 |
| a process of appointing, by unanimous vote of the four members, | 62 |
| the remaining three members of the commission. If additional | 63 |
| meetings are required for the process of selecting the remaining | 64 |
| three members of the commission, the meetings shall be called by | 65 |
| the commission cochairpersons with at least two days prior notice. | 66 |
|
(c) The submission of names of proposed commission members | 85 |
| and the selection process established under division (B)(2)(a) and | 86 |
| (b) of this section shall be repeated for each position on the | 87 |
| commission that remains unfilled. The name of any proposed | 88 |
| commission member submitted under division (B)(2)(a) of this | 89 |
| section who is not selected as a member of the commission under | 90 |
| division (B)(2)(b) of this section may be resubmitted for each | 91 |
| position on the commission that remains unfilled. | 92 |
| (D) Not later than the first day of May of a year ending in | 104 |
| the numeral one, the Ohio redistricting commission shall convene, | 105 |
| public notice being given, to establish a schedule that it | 106 |
| determines appropriate to carry out the duties set forth in this | 107 |
| article. Not later than the first day of October of a year ending | 108 |
| in the numeral one, the commission shall adopt, in the manner | 109 |
| prescribed in this article, the boundaries for each of the | 110 |
| ninety-nine house of representatives districts, thirty-three | 111 |
| senate districts, and the prescribed number of congressional | 112 |
| districts as apportioned to the state pursuant to Section 2 of | 113 |
| Article 1 of the Constitution of the United States. After the | 114 |
| commission adopts each plan, the commission shall file that plan | 115 |
| with the secretary of state. Upon filing with the secretary of | 116 |
| state, the plan shall become effective. | 117 |
| (E) Unless otherwise specified in this article, a simple | 118 |
| majority of its members shall be required for any action by the | 119 |
| Ohio redistricting commission. The affirmative vote of five | 120 |
| members of the commission, including at least one member of each | 121 |
| political party who was appointed to the commission by the leaders | 122 |
| in the general assembly and at least one of the three members not | 123 |
| appointed to the commission by the leaders in the general | 124 |
| assembly, shall be required to adopt any plan or to change the | 125 |
| definition of a "competitive district" in Section 6 of this | 126 |
| article. | 127 |
| (F) The Ohio redistricting commission shall make the | 128 |
| necessary provisions to allow for public comment at public | 129 |
| hearings and in writing and to allow for any resident of Ohio to | 130 |
| submit a congressional plan or a general assembly plan for | 131 |
| consideration. The commission shall develop and implement a plan | 132 |
| to make available to the public all relevant data and information | 133 |
| necessary for the submission of a potential congressional plan and | 134 |
| a potential general assembly plan by any resident of Ohio. | 135 |
| (B) The population of each house of representatives district | 184 |
| shall be
substantially equal to the ratio of representation in the | 185 |
house of
representatives, as provided in sectionSection 2 of this | 186 |
Articlearticle, and in no event
shall any house of | 187 |
| representatives district contain a population of less than | 188 |
ninety-five percentper cent nor more than one hundred five | 189 |
percentper cent of the ratio of
representation in the house of | 190 |
representatives, except in those instances
where reasonable effort | 191 |
is made to avoid dividing a county in accordance with
section 9as | 192 |
otherwise provided in division (B) of Section 8 of this Article | 193 |
| article. | 194 |
Section 6 5. District boundaries established pursuant to | 210 |
this Articlearticle shall not
be changed until the ensuing | 211 |
federal decennial census and the ensuing
apportionment | 212 |
redistricting or as provided in section 13this section and | 213 |
Section 12 of this Articlearticle, notwithstanding
the fact that | 214 |
boundaries of political subdivisions or citymunicipal wards | 215 |
| within the
district may be changed during that time. District | 216 |
| boundaries shall be
created by using the boundaries of political | 217 |
subdivisions and citymunicipal wards as
they exist at the time of | 218 |
the federal decennial census on which the
apportionment | 219 |
| redistricting is based, or, if unavailable, on such other basis as | 220 |
| the general assembly has
directed. | 221 |
| If the currently applicable redistricting plan is determined | 222 |
| to be invalid by an unappealed final order of a court of competent | 223 |
| jurisdiction, the court shall convene the Ohio redistricting | 224 |
| commission to adopt a new plan that is in compliance with the law, | 225 |
| including the provisions of this article. In convening the | 226 |
| commission under this section, the court may adjust the timelines | 227 |
| established in this article as necessary for the timely adoption | 228 |
| of a new plan. In such a circumstance, the leaders in the general | 229 |
| assembly at the time shall each make a new appointment in the | 230 |
| manner specified in division (A) of Section 1 of this article. | 231 |
| Those four commission members shall then select the remaining | 232 |
| three commission members in the manner specified in division (B) | 233 |
| of Section 1 of this article. | 234 |
(B) Every house of representativescongressional and general | 243 |
| assembly district shall be compact and
composed of contiguous | 244 |
| territory, and the boundary of each district shall be a
single | 245 |
| nonintersecting continuous line. To the extent consistent with the | 246 |
requirements of section 3 of this Articlearticle, the boundary | 247 |
lines of districts
shall be so drawn as to delineate an area | 248 |
| containing one or more whole
counties. | 249 |
(C)(D) Where the requirements of section 3 of this Article | 256 |
| article cannot feasibly be
attained by combining the areas of | 257 |
governmental units as prescribed in
division (B)(C) of this | 258 |
section, only onetwo such unitunits may be divided between two | 259 |
districts, giving preference inper house of representatives | 260 |
| district. In the case of congressional districts, the number of | 261 |
| units divided per district may be more than two, but not more than | 262 |
| necessary to achieve the ratio of representation in the congress | 263 |
| as required by this article. In the selection of a unit for | 264 |
| division under division (D) of this section, preference shall be | 265 |
given to a
township, a city ward, a citycontiguous municipality, | 266 |
| and a village in the order named. | 267 |
| (1) The commission shall determine the three closest general | 276 |
| elections by percentage for nonjudicial statewide state or federal | 277 |
| office, including the elections of a president and vice president | 278 |
| of the United States, where the candidates receiving the highest | 279 |
| and second highest number of votes were the nominees of political | 280 |
| parties held in the three previous even-numbered years immediately | 281 |
| preceding the year in which the commission meets to adopt new | 282 |
| plans, provided that the two partisan candidates combined received | 283 |
| at least ninety-five per cent of the total votes cast. | 284 |
Section 11 9. Senate districts shall be composed of three | 336 |
| contiguous house of
representatives districts. A county having at | 337 |
| least one whole senate ratio of
representation shall have as many | 338 |
| senate districts wholly within the
boundaries of the county as it | 339 |
| has whole senate ratios of representation. Any
fraction of the | 340 |
| population in excess of a whole ratio shall be a part of only
one | 341 |
| adjoining senate district. Counties having less than one senate | 342 |
| ratio of
representation, but at least one house of representatives | 343 |
| ratio of
representation shall be part of only one senate district. | 344 |
Section 12 11. At any time the boundaries of senate | 370 |
districts are changed in any
plan of apportionmentredistricting | 371 |
made pursuant to any provision of this Articlearticle, a
senator | 372 |
| whose term will not expire within two years of the time the plan | 373 |
of
apportionmentredistricting is made shall represent, for the | 374 |
remainder of the term for which
hethe senator was elected, the | 375 |
| senate district which contains the largest portion of the | 376 |
population of the district from which hethe senator was elected, | 377 |
| and the district shall
be given the number of the district from | 378 |
| which the senator was elected. If
more than one senator whose term | 379 |
| will not so expire would represent the same
district by following | 380 |
the provisions of this section, the persons responsible
for | 381 |
apportionment, by a majority of their number,Ohio redistricting | 382 |
| commission shall designate which
senator shall represent the | 383 |
| district and shall designate which district the
other senator or | 384 |
| senators shall represent for the balance of their term or
terms. | 385 |
Section 13 12. The supreme court of Ohio or an applicable | 386 |
| federal court shall have exclusive, original
jurisdiction in all | 387 |
cases arising under this Articlearticle. In the event that any | 388 |
section of this Constitution relating to apportionment | 389 |
redistricting or any plan of
apportionmentredistricting made by | 390 |
the persons responsible forOhioapportionment, by a majority
of | 391 |
their number,Ohio redistricting commission is determined to be | 392 |
invalid by either the supreme court of
Ohio, or the supreme court | 393 |
of the United Statesan unappealed final order of a court of | 394 |
| competent jurisdiction, then notwithstanding any
other provisions | 395 |
of this Constitution, the persons responsible for apportionment by | 396 |
a majority of their numberOhio redistricting commission shall | 397 |
ascertain and determine a
plan of apportionmentredistricting in | 398 |
| conformity with such provisions of this Constitution
as are then | 399 |
| valid, including establishing terms of office and election of | 400 |
|
members of the general assembly from districts designated in the | 401 |
plan, to be
used until the next regular apportionment | 402 |
| redistricting in conformity with such provisions
of this | 403 |
| Constitution as are then valid. | 404 |
| If adopted by a majority of the electors voting on this | 418 |
| proposal, Sections 1, 2, 3, 5 ( Section 4. ), 6 (5), 7 (6), 8 (7), | 419 |
| 10 (8), 11 ( Section 9. ), 12 (11), 13 (12), and 15 (13) of Article | 420 |
| XI amended or amended and renumbered by this proposal and new | 421 |
| Section 10 of Article XI enacted by this proposal shall take | 422 |
| effect on January 1, 2007, and existing sections 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, | 423 |
| 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 15 of Article XI and Sections Section 4. , | 424 |
| Section 9. , and Section 14. of Article XI of the Constitution of | 425 |
| Ohio are repealed from that effective date. | 426 |
| The amendments to Section 12 (11) of Article XI of the Ohio | 428 |
| Constitution in part substitute gender neutral for gender specific | 429 |
| language. These gender neutralizing amendments are not intended to | 430 |
| make a substantive change in the Ohio Constitution. The gender | 431 |
| neutral language is to be construed as a restatement of, and | 432 |
| substituted in a continuing way for, the corresponding gender | 433 |
| specific language existing prior to adoption of the gender | 434 |
| neutralizing amendments. | 435 |