Sen. Adam Ebbin

Establishes the Virginia Redistricting Commission, a 16-member Commission tasked with establishing districts for the United States House of Representatives and for the Senate and the House of Delegates of the General Assembly. The Commission consists of eight legislative members and eight citizen members. The legislative members consist of four members of the Senate of Virginia and four members of the House of Delegates, with equal representation given to the political parties having the highest and next highest number of members in their respective houses. The citizen members are selected by a selection committee consisting of five retired judges of the circuit courts of Virginia. The selection committee is tasked with adopting a process by which registered Virginia voters may apply to serve on the Commission and selecting from the applicants a list of 16 candidates. The amendment requires four of the candidates to be voters who affiliate with the political party receiving the highest number of votes for governor at the immediately preceding gubernatorial election, four candidates to be voters who affiliate with the political party receiving the next highest number of votes for governor at the immediately preceding gubernatorial election, and eight candidates to be voters who do not affiliate with any political party. The Speaker of the House of Delegates, the minority leader in the House of Delegates, and the majority and minority leaders in the Senate then strike names from the list until there is the final list of eight citizen members, two of whom affiliate with the political party receiving the highest number of votes for governor at the immediately preceding gubernatorial election, two of whom affiliate with the political party receiving the next highest number of votes for governor at the immediately preceding gubernatorial election, and four of whom do not affiliate with any political party. The Commission is required to submit to the General Assembly plans of districts for the Senate and the House of Delegates of the General Assembly no later than 45 days following the receipt of census data and plans of districts for the United States House of Representatives no later than 60 days following the receipt of census data. In order to be submitted to the General Assembly for a vote, a plan must receive an affirmative vote of at least six of the eight legislative members and six of the eight citizen members. No amendments may be made to a plan by the General Assembly or the Governor. In the event that the Commission fails to submit a plan by its deadline, or the General Assembly fails to adopt a plan by its deadline, or the Governor fails to act on or vetoes a plan by his deadline, districts shall be decided by judicial decision.

Provides that, for purposes of congressional, senate, and House of Delegates districts, if a boundary of such a district virtually coincides with the boundary between two or more localities, the boundary of the congressional district shall conform to the boundary between the localities that has been (i) agreed upon by those localities, (ii) adopted in ordinances by those localities, and (iii) reported by those localities to the United States Bureau of the Census. The bill requires the State Board of Elections to review any change of boundary to determine whether there is evidence that the change was made with fraudulent intent, and if it appears there was fraudulent intent, the Board refers the matter to a circuit court to approve or deny the change. If two or more localities sharing a boundary cannot agree on the true boundary line between them, the boundary shall be that which was in existence on April 1, 2011, and was reported by the United States Bureau of the Census in the 2010 Census reports provided pursuant to United States Public Law 94-171. The bill provides a process by which a voter who believes he has been incorrectly assigned to an election district or precinct may request and have his assignment reviewed by the general registrar and, if necessary, the governing body of the county or city.