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A00229 Summary:

A00229 Actions:

A00229 Floor Votes:

A00229 Memo:

NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY
MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION
 submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)



 
BILL NUMBER: A229C         REVISED 05/26/2021
 
SPONSOR: Paulin

 
TITLE OF BILL:
 
An act to amend the municipal home rule law, in relation to the division
of a county into districts for the apportionment of members of its local
legislative body
 
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
 
To provide that no county shall supersede any state law which relates to
the division of any county into districts for the purposes of apportion-
ment
 
 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
 
Section one amends section 34 of the municipal home rule law by adding a
new subdivision 4 which provides that notwithstanding any local law to
the contrary, any plan of districting or redistricting adopted pursuant
to a county charter or charter law relating to the division of any coun-
ty, except a county wholly contained within a city, into districts for
the purpose of the apportionment or reapportionment of members of its
local legislative body shall be subjected to federal and state constitu-
tional requirements and shall comply with the following standards, which
shall have priority in the order herein set forth, to the extent appli-
cable:
 
a. If such plan of districting or redistricting includes only single-
member districts, such districts shall be as nearly equal in population
as is practicable; the difference in population between the most and
least populous district shall not exceed five percent of the mean popu-
lation of all districts. If such plan of districting or redistricting
includes multi-member districts, the plan shall provide substantially
equal weight for the population of that county in the allocation of
representation in the legislative body of that county; and
 
b. Districts shall not be drawn with the intent or result of denying or
abridging the equal opportunity of racial or language minority groups to
participate in the political process or to diminish their ability to
elect representatives of their choice; and
 
c. Districts shall consist of contiguous territory; and
 
d. Districts shall be as compact in form as practicable; and
 
e. Districts shall not be drawn to discourage competition or for the
purpose of favoring or disfavoring incumbents or other particular candi-
dates or political parties. The maintenance of cores of existing
districts, of preexisting political subdivisions including cities,
villages, and towns, and of communities of interest shall also be
considered. To the extent practicable, no villages, cities or towns
except those having more than forty percent of a full ratio for each
district shall be divided; and
 
f. Districts shall be formed so as to promote the orderly and efficient
administration of elections.
 
 
Section two amends subparagraph 13 of paragraph a of subdivision 1 of
section 10 of the municipal home rule law to mirror new subdivision 4 of
section 34 of the municipal home rule law as described above and to make
other conforming changes.
 
Section three provides the effective date.
 
 
JUSTIFICATION:
 
The Municipal Home Rule Law (MHRL) contains specific guidelines for
county redistricting. The guidelines include a directive that counties
should follow political subdivision lines to the extent applicable
during redistricting.
 
In 1991, a county League of Women Voters challenged their county's
legislative redistricting in State Supreme Court on the ground that it
ignored the state guidelines. The Court ruled that the county was immune
from the directives of MHRL, a finding that was upheld in the Appellate
Division. It stated that the county "operates under a charter form of
government and its reapportionment plans are adopted pursuant to its
charter, not Municipal Home Rule Law Sec 10(1) (a) (13)(a)." According-
ly, charter counties are not legally required to follow the State redis-
tricting standards set forth in MHRL. The State should extend the reach
of the MHRL guidelines on redistricting to cover charter counties so
that statutory provisions for electoral procedures would be uniformly
applied in New York State.
 
In the years since this bill was originally introduced in 2002, the
consensus on which standards should govern redistricting has evolved.
This bill updates the provisions of MHRL Sec 10(1)(a) (13) (a) and
applies those provisions to charter counties by adding identical
provisions to Section 34 of MHRL, which covers charter counties.
Several of the standards included in this bill were part of the 2014
amendment to the New York State Constitution, which applied redistrict-
ing standards to the drawing of congressional and state legislative
districts. By adding these standards to MHRL, they would also apply to
the drawing of county legislative districts. The changes set forth in
this bill will extend generally accepted standards for representation to
all the people of New York.
 
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
 
A.426b reported to rules in 2019 and advanced to third reading cal.399
in 2020 / Same as S.4611a, advanced to third reading and committed to
rules in 2019 and referred to local government in 2020.
 
A.446 of 2017 and 2018, referred to local governments.
 
A.1408 of 2015 and 2016,referred to local governments.
 
A.501 of 2013 and 2014,referred to local governments.
 
A.142 of 2011 and 2012,referred to local governments.
 
A.782 of 2009 and 2010,referred to local governments.
 
A.1017 of 2007 and 2008,referred to local governments.

A.1773 of 2005 and 2006,referred to local governments.
 
A.5008 of 2003 and 2004,recommitted to local governments.
 
A.10698 of 2002, referred to local governments.
 
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
 
None.
 
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.

A00229 Text:

 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                         229--C
 
                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                   IN ASSEMBLY
 
                                       (Prefiled)
 
                                     January 6, 2021
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced  by  M.  of  A.  PAULIN,  HUNTER,  JACOBSON  -- read once and
          referred  to  the  Committee  on  Local   Governments   --   committee
          discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
          to  said  committee  -- again reported from said committee with amend-
          ments, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said  committee
          --  reported and referred to the Committee on Rules -- Rules Committee
          discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
          to the Committee on Rules
 
        AN ACT to amend the municipal home rule law, in relation to the division
          of a county into districts for the apportionment  of  members  of  its
          local legislative body
 
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
 
     1    Section 1.  Subdivision 4 of section 34 of the municipal home rule law
     2  is renumbered subdivision 5 and a new subdivision 4 is added to read  as
     3  follows:
     4    4.  Notwithstanding  any  local  law  to  the  contrary,  any  plan of
     5  districting or redistricting adopted pursuant to  a  county  charter  or
     6  charter  law  relating  to  the  division of any county, except a county
     7  wholly contained within a city, into districts for the  purpose  of  the
     8  apportionment  or  reapportionment  of  members of its local legislative
     9  body shall be subject to federal and state  constitutional  requirements
    10  and shall comply with the following standards, which shall have priority
    11  in the order herein set forth, to the extent applicable:
    12    a.  If such plan of districting or redistricting includes only single-
    13  member districts, such districts shall be as nearly equal in  population
    14  as  is  practicable;  the  difference in population between the most and
    15  least populous district shall not exceed five percent of the mean  popu-
    16  lation  of  all  districts. If such plan of districting or redistricting
    17  includes multi-member districts, the plan  shall  provide  substantially
 
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD01955-13-1
        A. 229--C                           2
 
     1  equal  weight  for  the  population  of that county in the allocation of
     2  representation in the legislative body of that county; and
     3    b.  Districts  shall not be drawn with the intent or result of denying
     4  or abridging the equal opportunity of racial or language minority groups
     5  to participate in the political process or to diminish their ability  to
     6  elect representatives of their choice; and
     7    c. Districts shall consist of contiguous territory; and
     8    d. Districts shall be as compact in form as practicable; and
     9    e.  Districts  shall not be drawn to discourage competition or for the
    10  purpose of favoring or disfavoring incumbents or other particular candi-
    11  dates or  political  parties.  The  maintenance  of  cores  of  existing
    12  districts,  of  pre-existing  political  subdivisions  including cities,
    13  villages, and towns, and  of  communities  of  interest  shall  also  be
    14  considered.  To  the  extent  practicable,  no villages, cities or towns
    15  except those having more than forty percent of a  full  ratio  for  each
    16  district shall be divided; and
    17    f.  Districts  shall  be formed so as to promote the orderly and effi-
    18  cient administration of elections.
    19    § 2. The opening paragraph and clauses (a.) and (b.)  of  subparagraph
    20  13  of  paragraph a of subdivision 1 of section 10 of the municipal home
    21  rule law, the opening paragraph and subclause (i.) of clause  (a.)    as
    22  amended  by  section  3  of  part  XX of chapter 57 of the laws of 2010,
    23  clauses (a.) and (b.)  as added by chapter 834 of the laws of 1969,  are
    24  amended to read as follows:
    25    The apportionment of its legislative body and, only in connection with
    26  such  action  taken  pursuant  to this subparagraph, the composition and
    27  membership of such body, the terms of office  of  members  thereof,  the
    28  units  of local government or other areas from which representatives are
    29  to be chosen and the voting powers of individual members of such  legis-
    30  lative   body.  Except  for  the  equal  apportionment  requirements  in
    31  subclause (i.) of clause (a.) and  clause  (c.)  of  this  subparagraph,
    32  which  shall  apply generally to any local government, the power granted
    33  by this subparagraph shall be in addition to and not in substitution for
    34  any other power and the provisions of this subparagraph shall apply only
    35  to local governments which adopt a plan of  [apportionment]  districting
    36  or redistricting thereunder.
    37    (a.)  A  plan  of [apportionment] districting or redistricting adopted
    38  under this subparagraph shall comply with the following standards, which
    39  shall have priority in the order herein set forth, to the extent  appli-
    40  cable:
    41    (i.)  [The plan shall provide substantially equal weight for the popu-
    42  lation of that local government in the allocation of  representation  in
    43  the local legislative body.
    44    (ii.)  In  such plan adopted by a county, no town except a town having
    45  more than one hundred and ten per cent of a full ratio for  each  repre-
    46  sentative,  shall  be  divided in the formation of representation areas.
    47  Adjacent representation areas in the same town or city shall not contain
    48  a greater excess in population than five per cent of a  full  ratio  for
    49  each representative.
    50    (iii.)  The plan shall provide substantially fair and effective repre-
    51  sentation for the people of the local government as organized  in  poli-
    52  tical parties.
    53    (iv.)  Representation  areas  shall  be  of  convenient and contiguous
    54  territory in as compact form as practicable.] If such plan of  district-
    55  ing   or  redistricting  includes  only  single-member  districts,  such
    56  districts shall be as nearly equal in population as is practicable;  the
        A. 229--C                           3
 
     1  difference  in  population  between the most and least populous district
     2  shall not exceed five percent of the mean population of  all  districts.
     3  If  such  plan  of  districting  or  redistricting includes multi-member
     4  districts,  the  plan  shall  provide substantially equal weight for the
     5  population of that local government in the allocation of  representation
     6  in the local legislative body; and
     7    (ii.)  Districts shall not be drawn with the intent or result of deny-
     8  ing or abridging the equal opportunity of racial  or  language  minority
     9  groups  to  participate  in  the  political process or to diminish their
    10  ability to elect representatives of their choice; and
    11    (iii.) Districts shall consist of contiguous territory; and
    12    (iv.) Districts shall be as compact in form as practicable; and
    13    (v.) Districts shall not be drawn to discourage competition or for the
    14  purpose of favoring or disfavoring incumbents or other particular candi-
    15  dates or  political  parties.  The  maintenance  of  cores  of  existing
    16  districts,  of  pre-existing  political  subdivisions  including cities,
    17  villages, and towns, and  of  communities  of  interest  shall  also  be
    18  considered.  To  the  extent practicable, no villages or cities or towns
    19  except those having more than forty percent of a  full  ratio  for  each
    20  district shall be divided; and
    21    (vi.) Districts shall be formed so as to promote the orderly and effi-
    22  cient administration of elections.
    23    (b.) A plan of [apportionment] districting or redistricting adopted by
    24  a  county  under  this subparagraph may provide that mayors of cities or
    25  villages, supervisors of towns or members of the legislative  bodies  of
    26  cities,  towns,  or villages, who reside in the county shall be eligible
    27  to be elected as members of the county legislative body.
    28    § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.