Signed by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that establishes a citizen's redistricting committee to hold public hearings and develop recommended redistricting plans to recommend to the legislature.

Highlights:

• Defines "committee" as the citizen redistricting committee (Sec. 3.A).

• Establishes the committee is composed of 7 members, appointed, with due regard to the cultural and geographic diversity of the state, as follows (Sec. 4.B):

• 1 member appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives;

• 1 member appointed by the Minority Floor Leader of the House of Representatives;

• 1 member appointed by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate;

• 1 member appointed by the Minority Floor Leader of the Senate;

• 2 members appointed by the State Ethics Commission, who will not be members of the largest or second-largest political parties in the state; and

• 1 member appointed by the State Ethics Commission, who will be a retired justice of the New Mexico Supreme Court or a retired judge of the New Mexico Court of Appeals, and who will chair the committee.

• Prohibits the committee from doing the following when proposing or adopting district plans (Sec. 8.C):

• Using, relying upon, or referencing partisan data, such as voting history or party registration data; provided that voting history in elections may be considered to ensure that the district plan complies with applicable federal law; or

• Consider the voting address of candidates or incumbents, except to avoid the pairing of incumbents unless necessary to conform to other traditional districting principles.

• Requires doing the following in the same calendar year in which the state receives the results of a federal decennial census (Sec. 12.D):

• The legislature will redistrict federal congressional districts, each house of the legislature and any other state districts requiring redistricting; and

• Each local public body subject to districting and whose governing body members are not elected at the regular local election will create or redraw districts for the local public body.

• Classifies "local public body subject to districting" as any political subdivision of the state with elected governing body members who (Sec. 12.H):

• Must reside in designated areas of the political subdivision to qualify for election; or

• Are elected by a geographically defined subset of voters within the boundaries of the political subdivision.

Full Bill Text