Virginia Redistricting Commission; established.

Virginia Redistricting Commission. Establishes theVirginia Redistricting Commission (the Commission). The Commission, tasked withestablishing districts for the United States House of Representatives and forthe Senate and the House of Delegates of the General Assembly, will consist ofeight legislative commissioners and eight citizen commissioners. Thelegislative commissioners consist of four members of the Senate of Virginia andfour members of the House of Delegates, with equal representation given to thepolitical parties having the highest and next highest number of members intheir respective houses. The citizen commissioners are chosen by a selectioncommittee consisting of five retired judges of the circuit courts of Virginia,from lists submitted to the selection committee by the Speaker of the House ofDelegates, the leader in the House of Delegates of the political party havingthe next highest number of members in the House of Delegates, the President protempore of the Senate of Virginia, and the leader in the Senate of thepolitical party having the next highest number of members in the Senate. TheCommission is required to submit to the General Assembly plans of districtswithin certain time periods, and the General Assembly may reject initial plansand provide information to the Commission regarding the reasons for rejectingsuch plans. The General Assembly is limited in its ability to amend plans untilmultiple plans have been submitted and rejected. The bill sets out criteria bywhich the districts are to be drawn, including equal population, racial andethnic fairness, contiguity, and compactness. Provisions to ensure publicparticipation in the redistricting process are included.