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H. J. R. No. 15 As Reported by the House Elections and Ethics CommitteeAs Reported by the House Elections and Ethics Committee
| 128th General Assembly | | Regular Session | | 2009-2010 |
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Representatives Letson, Garrison
A JOINT RESOLUTION | Proposing to amend Sections 1, 2, 6, 12, 13, and 15
of Article XI, to amend, for the purpose of
adopting new section numbers as indicated in
parentheses, Sections 6 (3), 12 (6), 13 (7), and
15 (9) of Article XI, to enact new Sections 4, 5,
and 8 of Article XI, and to repeal Sections 3, 4,
5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 14 of Article XI of the
Constitution of the State of Ohio to revise the
process for apportioning the state for General
Assembly districts.
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| Be it resolved by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio,
three-fifths of the members elected to each house concurring
herein, that there shall be submitted to the electors of the
state, in the manner prescribed by law at the special election to
be held on May 4, 2010, a proposal to amend Sections 1, 2, 6, 12,
13, and 15 of Article XI, to amend, for the purpose of adopting
new section numbers as indicated in parentheses, Sections 6 (3),
12 (6), 13 (7), and 15 (9) of Article XI, and to enact new
Sections 4, 5, and 8 of Article XI of the Constitution of the
State of Ohio to read as follows: |
| 1. (A) The governor, auditor of state, secretary of
state, one person chosen by the speaker of the house of
representatives and the leader in the senate of the political
party of which the speaker is a member, and one person chosen by
the legislative leaders in the two houses of the major political
party of which the speaker is not a member shall be the persons
responsible for the apportionment of this state for members of the
general assembly and shall collectively be referred to as the
apportionment board. The apportionment board shall decide all
matters coming before it by a majority vote of its members present
at any meeting. Members of the board may be represented by their
respective designees at any meeting of the board. |
Such persons(B) The apportionment board, or a majority of their numberits members, shall meet and establish in the manner
prescribed in this Articlearticle an apportionment of the state
that defines the boundaries for each of ninety-nine house of
representatives districts and thirty-three senate districts by the
first day of October of the year in which the board convenes. Such
meeting shall convene on a date designated by the governor between
August 1 and October 1 in the year one thousand nine hundred
seventy-one and every tenth year thereafter. The |
(C) All meetings of the apportionment board shall be open to
the public. The apportionment board shall be convened by the
governor, who shall preside at its meetings, not later than the
third Tuesday in January in each year ending in the numeral one.
The governor shall give such persons two weeksone week's advance public notice of the date, time, and place of sucheach
apportionment board meeting. The board may adopt procedural rules
for its operation. |
The(D) Upon its establishment, the governor shall cause the
apportionment to be published no later than October 5 of the year
in which it is made, in such manner as provided by law. Upon the
publication of the apportionment, the apportionment board shall
adjourn until the next year ending in the numeral one or until
convened under Section 7 of this article. |
Section 2. (A) The apportionment of this state for members of
the general assembly shall be made in the following manner: The |
(1) The whole population of the state, as determined by the
federal decennial census or, if such is unavailable, such other
basis as the general assembly may direct, shall be divided by the
number "ninety-nine" and the quotient shall be the ratio of
representation in the house of representatives for ten years next
succeeding such apportionment. The |
| (2) The whole population of the state as determined by the
federal decennial census or, if such is unavailable, such other
basis as the general assembly may direct, shall be divided by the
number "thirty-three" and the quotient shall be the ratio of
representation in the senate for ten years next succeeding such
apportionment. |
| (B) The population of each house of representatives district
shall be substantially equal to the ratio of representation in the
house of representatives, as provided in division (A) of this
section, and in no event shall any house of representatives
district contain a population of less than ninety-five per cent
nor more than one hundred five per cent of the ratio of
representation in the house of representatives. |
| (C) The population of each senate district shall be
substantially equal to the ratio of representation in the senate,
as provided in division (A) of this section, and in no event shall
any senate district contain a population of less than ninety-five
per cent nor more than one hundred five per cent of the ratio of
representation in the senate. |
| (D) Each house of representatives district shall be entitled
to a single representative in each general assembly. Each senate
district shall be entitled to a single senator in each general
assembly. |
Section 6 3. (A) District boundaries established pursuant to
this Articlearticle shall not be changed until the ensuing
federal decennial census and the ensuing apportionment or as
provided in section 137 of this Articlearticle, notwithstanding
the fact that boundaries of political subdivisions or city wards
within the district may be changed during that time. District
boundaries shall be created by using the boundaries of political
subdivisions
and city wards as they exist at the time of the
federal decennial census on which the apportionment is based, or if unavailable, on such other basis as the general assembly has
directed. |
| (B) Each house of representatives district shall be composed
of contiguous territory, and the boundary of each district shall
be a single nonintersecting continuous line. |
| (C) Each senate district shall be composed of three
contiguous house of representatives districts. |
| (D) Any island shall be part of the district which is
geographically closest to the island. |
| 4. (A) The secretary of state, by the first day of
April in a year ending in the numeral one, shall do all of the
following: |
| (1) Gather and make available to the public, in a form that
facilitates data analysis and the drawing of legislative
districts: |
| (a) Thorough and accurate census data; and |
| (b) Information detailing the boundaries of political
subdivisions and election precincts. |
| (2) Establish and make public the statewide partisan index,
which shall be calculated as follows: |
| (a) Using the results of all nonjudicial Ohio statewide state
or federal elections in the ten years immediately preceding the
year of an apportionment, the secretary of state shall determine
the three elections that had the smallest percentage margin
between the highest and second highest nominees of a political
party. If in any of the three elections the percentages of the two
highest nominees of political parties do not equal one hundred per
cent, the remaining percentage for that election shall be
attributed to the parties of the two highest nominees in the ratio
of the percentages received by those nominees. |
| (b) The secretary of state then shall add together the
percentage of the vote received by the candidates with the same
political party affiliation for each of the three elections
described in division (A)(2)(a) of this section and divide each of
those totals by three to establish the statewide partisan index
for those political parties. |
| (3) Establish and make public the precinct partisan index of
each election precinct. To establish the precinct partisan index
for each precinct in the state, the secretary of state shall add
together the percentage of the vote received in that precinct by
the political party nominees described in division (A)(2)(a) of
this section. If in any of the three elections the percentages of
those nominees do not equal one hundred per cent, the remaining
percentage for those nominees in those elections shall be
attributed to the parties of those nominees in the ratio of the
percentages received by those nominees. The secretary of state
shall then divide the percentage totals by three to establish the
precinct partisan index for each political party in each precinct
in the state. |
| (B) The secretary of state shall also provide to the
apportionment board, and make public, any additional data or
election information the apportionment board requests in the form
requested. |
| (C) The general assembly shall make appropriations to
adequately fund the activities of the apportionment board and the
secretary of state's activities in support of the board,
including, but not limited to, the provision of funds for
equipment and staff. |
| 5. (A) District boundaries for house of
representatives and senate districts shall be established in
accordance with the provisions of this section. |
| (B) The apportionment board shall administer a public
competition to determine the house of representatives district map
and the senate district map that comply, to the greatest extent,
with the criteria set forth below. Those maps shall be adopted by
the apportionment board as the general assembly maps until the
next apportionment and shall be effective for the next subsequent
general assembly. |
| (C) Any resident of Ohio may submit one proposed house of
representative district map and one proposed senate district map
in the manner prescribed by the apportionment board. Plans shall
be kept confidential by the board and its staff until the deadline
for plan submission, at which time all properly submitted plans
shall be made public. |
| (D)(1)(a) Proposed maps shall, to the greatest extent
possible, contain the number of house of representatives districts
and senate districts that favor each political party represented
in the state partisan index in the ratio reflected by that index. |
| (b) No house of representatives district map may be adopted
by the apportionment board that fails to include the number of
districts favoring each political party in the ratio reflected by
the state partisan index. |
| (c) No senate district map may be adopted by the
apportionment board that fails to include the number of districts
favoring each political party in the ratio reflected by the state
partisan index unless doing so is impossible, in which case the
only senate map that may be adopted by the apportionment board is
one that includes the number of districts favoring each political
party in a ratio as close to that reflected by the state partisan
index as is possible. |
| (2)(a) For the purpose of evaluating proposed maps, the
district partisan index shall be calculated for each proposed
district in each map submitted in the competition that meets the
requirements of division (D)(1) of this section. |
| (b) The district partisan index shall be calculated by first
adding together, for each of the elections represented in the
calculation of the statewide partisan index, the number of votes
cast in each precinct in a proposed district for the nominees of
each of the political parties in those elections. The
district-wide vote totals for the nominee of each party in each of
the three elections shall be used to determine the district
partisan ratio for each of those three elections by determining,
from all votes cast for either such party in each election, the
percentage of votes cast for the nominee of each party in each
election. The average of those three percentages for each party
will establish the district partisan index for each party in each
proposed district. |
| (E) In evaluating proposed maps, the apportionment board
shall determine the extent to which the district partisan index of
each proposed house of representatives district and each proposed
senate district varies from the statewide partisan index. In
particular, for each map, the board shall determine the number of
districts in which the district partisan index varies from the
state partisan index by: |
| (1) Less than one per cent; |
| (2) An amount equal to or greater than one per cent and less
than three per cent; |
| (3) An amount equal to or greater than three per cent and
less than five per cent; |
| (4) An amount equal to or greater than five per cent and less
than ten per cent; and |
| (5) An amount equal to or greater than ten per cent. |
| (F) Any map, with respect to the categories set forth in
divisions (E)(2) to (5) of this section, that has an equal number
of proposed districts in which the district partisan index favors
each political party which is represented in the state partisan
index in each of those categories will be deemed a better map than
one which has an unequal number of proposed districts in which the
district partisan index favors each political party in each of
those categories. |
| (G) If two or more maps are presented that equally meet the
criteria set forth in division (F) of this section, any map with a
greater number of proposed districts in which the district
partisan indices are between forty-nine per cent and fifty-one per
cent will be preferred over other such maps. |
| (H) If no map is presented that meets the criteria set forth
in division (F) of this section, or if two or more maps equally
meet the criteria set forth in division (G) of this section, the
map with closest to an equal number of proposed districts in which
the district partisan index favors each political party in each of
the categories set forth in division (E) of this section will be
deemed a better map than one which has a greater variance from an
equal number of proposed districts in which the district partisan
index favors each political party in those categories. |
| (I) If two or more maps are presented that equally meet the
criteria set forth in division (H) of this section, any map with a
greater number of proposed districts in which the district
partisan indices are between forty-nine per cent and fifty per
cent will be deemed a better map than other such maps. |
| (J) If two or more maps are presented that equally meet the
criteria set forth in division (I) of this section, the map that
preserves the greatest percentage of undivided municipalities will
be deemed a better map than one that preserves fewer undivided
municipalities. |
| (K) If two or more maps are presented that equally meet the
criteria set forth in division (J) of this section, the map with
the lowest compactness index will be deemed a better map than
others with a higher compactness index. For the purpose of this
division, the compactness index will be calculated by averaging
the compactness of all proposed districts in the map. The
compactness of each proposed district shall be determined by
dividing the area of the proposed district by its perimeter. |
| (L) If two or more maps are presented that equally meet the
criteria set forth in division (K) of this section, the
apportionment board shall randomly select the map to be adopted
from among those maps which equally meet the criteria set forth in
that division. |
| (M) The public competition for the establishment of senate
districts shall not commence until the board has established the
house of representatives districts. |
| (N) Any map adopted by the apportionment board shall comply
with all applicable federal constitutional provisions and all
applicable federal statutory provisions, including, but not
limited to, those dealing specifically with the protection of
minority voting rights. |
| (O) In calculating any of the percentages or indices in this
article, all calculations shall be made to within one
one-thousandth of one percent. |
Section 12 6. (A) Except as specified in division (B) of
this section, the apportionment board shall determine the
appropriate district numbers for house of representatives
districts and senate districts, seeking, in its sole and exclusive
discretion, to assign numbers that will minimize voter confusion. |
(B) At any time the boundaries of senate districts are
changed in any plan of apportionment made pursuant to any
provision of this Articlearticle, a senator whose term will not
expire within two years of the time the plan of apportionment is
made shall represent, for the remainder of the term for which
hethe senator was elected, the senate district which contains the
largest portion of the population of the district from which hethe senator was elected, and the district shall be given the
number of the district from which the senator was elected. If more
than one senator whose term will not so expire would represent the
same district by following the provisions of this section, the persons responsible for apportionment, by a majority of their
number,board shall designate which senator shall represent the
district and shall designate which district the other senator or
senators shall represent for the balance of their term or terms. |
Section 13 7. The supreme court of Ohio(A) Notwithstanding
any provision of this Constitution or any law, the apportionment
special tribunal established in division (B) of this section shall
have exclusive, original jurisdiction in all cases and questions
of law arising under this Articlearticle. In the event that any
section of this Constitution relating to apportionment or any plan
of apportionment made by the persons responsible for
apportionment, by a majority of their number,board is determined
to be invalid by either the supreme court of Ohio,apportionment
special tribunal or the supreme court of the United Statesby an
unappealed final order of a federal court of competent
jurisdiction, then notwithstanding any other provisions of this
Constitution, the persons responsible for apportionment by a
majority of their numberboard shall ascertain and determineconvene to establish a plan of apportionment in conformity with
such provisions of this Constitution as are then valid, including
establishing terms of office and election of members of the
general assembly from districts designated in the plan, to be used
until the next regular apportionment in conformity with such
provisions of this Constitution as are then valid. |
Notwithstanding any provision of this Constitution or any law
regarding the residence of senators and representatives, a plan of
apportionment made pursuant to this section shall allow thirty
days for persons to change residence in order to be eligible for
election. |
The governor shall give the persons responsible for
apportionment two weeks advance written notice of the date, time,
and place of any meeting held pursuant to this section. A decision
of the apportionment special tribunal shall be final and is not
appealable. |
| (B) The apportionment special tribunal shall be composed of
the following: |
| (1) Two retired Ohio judges appointed by the governor; |
| (2) Two retired Ohio judges appointed by the first of the
following legislative leaders that is a member of a political
party represented in the state partisan index that is not the
political party of which the governor is a member: |
| (a) The president of the Ohio senate; |
| (b) The speaker of the Ohio house of representatives; |
| (c) The minority leader of the Ohio senate; or |
| (d) The minority leader of the Ohio house of representatives. |
| (3) One retired Ohio judge, who will preside over the
tribunal, who shall be appointed by the four judges appointed
under divisions (B)(1) and (2) of this section. |
| (C) The retired Ohio judges appointed under division (B) of
this section shall have voluntarily retired from judicial service
more than one year before their appointment to the apportionment
special tribunal. |
| (D) In each year ending in the numeral one, a new
apportionment special tribunal shall be appointed. Members of the
tribunal are eligible for reappointment. |
| (E) The apportionment special tribunal shall operate using
the rules of the Ohio supreme court, except as clearly
inapplicable, and shall have all of the constitutional and
statutory authority that the Ohio supreme court would have if it
had jurisdiction to review cases and certified questions arising
under this article, but at no time shall the tribunal or any other
court order the establishment or implementation of any
apportionment plan or the establishment or implementation of any
house of representatives or senate district boundary map that has
not been approved by the apportionment board in the manner
prescribed by this article. |
| (F) The general assembly shall make appropriations to
adequately fund the activities of the apportionment special
tribunal, including, but not limited to, the provision of funds
for equipment and staff, and shall make other laws to facilitate
the operations of the tribunal. |
| 8. Notwithstanding any provision of this
Constitution or any law regarding the residence of senators and
representatives, a plan of apportionment made pursuant to this
article shall allow thirty days for persons to change residence in
order to be eligible for election. |
Section 15 9. The various provisions of this Article XIarticle are intended to be severable, and the invalidity of one or
more of such provisions shall not affect the validity of the
remaining provisions. |
| If adopted by a majority of the electors voting on this
proposal, Sections 1, 2, 6 (3), 12 (6), 13 (7), and 15 (9) of
Article XI amended or amended and renumbered by this proposal and
new Sections 4, 5, and 8 of Article XI enacted by this proposal
shall take effect on January 1, 2011, and existing Sections 1, 2,
6, 12, 13, and 15 and Sections 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 14 of
Article XI of the Constitution of Ohio are repealed from that
effective date. |
| The amendments to Section 12 (6) of Article XI of the Ohio
Constitution in part substitute gender neutral for gender specific
language. These gender neutralizing amendments are not intended to
make a substantive change in the Ohio Constitution. The gender
neutral language is to be construed as a restatement of, and
substituted in a continuing way for, the corresponding gender
specific language existing prior to adoption of the gender
neutralizing amendments. |
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