COM 0067.017 2010-2012 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE HAWAII COUNTY CODE 1983 (2005 EDITION, AS AMENDED), BY ESTABLISHING A NEW CHAPTER RELATING TO REDISTRICTING. BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE COUNTY OF HAWAII: SECTION 1. Purpose. Article III, Legislative Branch, County Council, section 3 -17, Hawaii County Charter provides for a Redistricting Commission to establish council district boundaries. This chapter establishes criteria and procedures in addition to that contained in the Charter relating to redistricting, and incorporates federal case law into Hawaii County's redistricting policy. SECTION 2. The Hawaii County Code, 1983 (2005 Edition, as amended), is amended by adding a new chapter to be appropriately designated and to read as follows: "Chapter _ REDISTRICTING Article 1. Definitions. Section Definitions. As used in this chapter: "Bizarre council district shape" means a council district that is drawn to have a very odd or grotesque shape, that has absurdities or is ridiculous in design, may cause grotesque projections into another district, may add an area that defies logic as to why it was included, or is so weird on its face that it is unexplainable on grounds other than gerrymandering. "Commission" means the redistricting commission. "Commissioner" means one of the nine members of the commission, duly appointed in the manner prescribed in section 13 -4 of the Charter. "Community of interest" or "community of common interest" means a group defined by actual shared interests. "Council district deviation" means the number of percentage points plus or minus 4.99% that a population assigned to a council district differs from that of an ideal council district's population. "Fracturing" or "cracking" means drawing council district lines so that a minority population is broken up and spread among as many council districts as possible, keeping them a minority in every council district, rather than permitting them to concentrate their strength enough to elect representatives in some council districts. "Gerrymander" means the process of drawing council districts with odd or bizarre shapes to create an unfair advantage. "Ideal council district's population" means the total number of the County's permanent residents divided by the number of council districts.