AB 198

The Wisconsin Constitution requires the legislature to redistrict legislative

districts according to the number of inhabitants at its next session following each

decennial federal census. The legislature also reapportions congressional districts

pursuant to federal law.

This bill creates a new procedure for the preparation of legislative and

congressional redistricting plans. The bill requires the Legislative Reference

Bureau (LRB) and the Government Accountability Board (GAB) to jointly develop

standards for legislative and congressional districts based on population

requirements under the Wisconsin Constitution and the U.S. Constitution and

requirements under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. One of the standards must

be electoral competitiveness of the districts. The bill then directs the LRB and the

GAB to draw redistricting plans for submission to the legislature for approval in

accordance with the standards. Under the bill, no later than January 1 of the second

year following the decennial federal census, the LRB and the GAB must deliver to

the majority leader of the senate and speaker of the assembly identical bills

embodying a plan of legislative and congressional districting.

The bill requires either the assembly or the senate to expeditiously introduce

and bring a bill to a vote not less than seven days after the date of introduction. The

vote must be under a procedure or rule permitting no amendments, except those of

a purely corrective nature. If a bill is approved by the first house in which it is

considered, the bill must expeditiously be brought to a vote in the second house under

a similar procedure or rule.

If neither of the bills delivered by the LRB and the GAB is approved by the

assembly and the senate, the LRB and the GAB must then prepare identical bills

embodying a second plan of legislative and congressional redistricting. The LRB and

the GAB must deliver the bill 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 assembly failed to approve the first bill. This second bill must be expeditiously

introduced and brought to a vote not less than seven days after the date of

introduction, in the same manner as prescribed for the initial bill.

If the second bill is not approved by the assembly and the senate, the same

procedure applies for the preparation of a third plan by the LRB and the GAB and

legislative consideration of a third plan. The bill does not provide any procedure for

the preparation and submission of a fourth plan by the LRB and the GAB. It is

important to note that the procedure established under the bill for legislative

consideration of any legislative or congressional districting plan is a rule of

proceeding under the Wisconsin Constitution and, as such, would not be legally

enforceable in a court of law if the assembly or senate failed to follow the procedure.