Communication 07 Supreme Court Opinion

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120 P.3d 217 Page 5 108 Hawai'i 318, 120 P.3d 217 (Cite as: 108 Hawai'i 318, 120 P.3d 217) Puna, one from the judicial district of Kau, one from the combined judicial dis- (4) Districts shall have approximately tricts of North and South Kona, one from equal resident populations as required by the combined judicial districts of North applicable constitutional provisions. and South Kohala, and one from the judi- cial district of Hamakua. The members (g) The district boundaries as established shall be appointed by the mayor and con- by the reapportionment commission shall firmed by the council in the manner pre- be in effect at the first regularly scheduled scribed in section 13-4. council election following the filing of the plan and for any subsequent council elec- (c)Each subsequent reapportionment tion. The district boundaries in effect prior commission shall consist of nine mem- to the filing of the reapportionment plan bers. One member shall be a resident of shall remain in effect during the duration each council district as established by the of the term of all councilmembers elected previous reapportionment commission. or appointed to represent such districts un- The members shall be appointed by the til the expiration of the full term of such mayor and confirmed by the council in the councilmembers, including any election manner prescribed in section 13-4. held to fill an unexpired term under sec- tion 3-4. (d) The year 1991 and every tenth year thereafter shall be reapportionment years. Charter of the County of Hawaii § 3-17 The reapportionment commission shall be (1990) (emphases added). appointed and confirmed by March 1 of the reapportionment year, and shall file a Subsequent to the filing of the Commission's reapportionment plan with the county plan, Plaintiffs-Appellants Citizens for Equitable and clerk by December 31 of the reapportion- Responsible Government, Brenda J. Ford, Stanley A. ment year. Boren, Floyd H. Lundquist, Marlene E. Lundquist, Ronald C. Phillips, (collectively, Appellants) and (e) The county clerk shall furnish all nec- Plaintiffs-Appellees Beverly Byouk and Sandra W. essary technical and secretarial services Scarr filed a Complaint and First Amended Com- for the reapportionment commission. The plaint against County of Hawai‘i and other Defen- council shall appropriate necessary funds dants-Appellees, the County Clerk, Hawai‘i County to enable the commission to carry out its and Llyod Van De Car, Chairman of the Commission duties. (collectively, County Appellees) in the third circuit FN2 requesting, inter alia, a declara- court (the court) (f) The reapportionment commission shall tory ruling that the Commission's plan was invalid. be guided by the following criteria in es- tablishing the boundaries of the council FN2. The Honorable Riki May Amano pre- districts: sided. (1) No district shall be drawn to unduly Appellants moved for partial summary judgment favor or penalize a person or political fac- on the ground the Commission used the wrong popu- tion; lation base and that, therefore, the Commission's plan was unconstitutional because its total deviation from (2) Insofar as possible, districts should be the ideal mean exceeded 10%. Appellants appended contiguous and compact; to their motion for summary judgment a letter dated October 25, 1989, written by Christopher J. Yuen (Yuen), the attorney representing the Commission (3) District lines shall, where possible, during the drafting of the reapportionment plan, for follow permanent and easily recognizable the proposition that the Commission was advised to features; use the same population base as used by the State © 2011 Thomson Reuters. No Claim to Orig. US Gov. Works.