HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 1121.008 2006-2008
J~t~ af,M~
, ~'~~'~~r Phone: (808) 326- 5421
BRENDA J. FORD Fax: (808) 329- 4786
Council Member E-Mail: bford@co.hawaii.hi.us
District 7 -Central Kona Mo,~:',~
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HAWAII COUNTY COUNCIL ~ ~
County of Hawai `i ~ ~ ~c
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Kailua Trade Center
75-5706 Hanama Place, Suite 109
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii 96740
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DATE: May 12, 2008 ~ `
~II~ M.~..JI. x
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T0: Pete Hoffmann Chai erson
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and Members of the Hawaii County Council
FROM: Brenda J. Ford, Council Member ~ M
SUBJECT: Transmitting Proposed Amendments to Bill 276, Relating to a Proposed Charter
Amendment to Article III, Section 3-17, County Reapportionment Commission
Attached please find proposed amendments to Bill 276. Bill 276 proposes to initiate amendments
to the Hawaii County Charter, article III, Legislative Branch, County Council, section 3-17,
which sets forth the requirements for redistricting (County Reapportionment Commission).
Due to a massive rewrite of this bill, the application of Ramseyer format to illustrate proposed
amendments to specific areas of Bi11276 is not a practical exercise. Therefore, in an effort to
provide a clear and concise picture of the proposed amendments to Bill 276, the attached
proposed draft:
1. Deletes SECTION 1(Purpose), in its entirety, and replaces the deleted material with a
newly-drafted purpose section;
2. Retains the bracketed and stricken Charter language (current Charter section 3 -17) in
SECTION 2, to illustrate that the current Charter language is proposed to be deleted in its
entirety;
3. Deletes Bill 276 proposed amendment language from SECTION 2, in its entirety;
4. Replaces deleted amendment language in SECTION 2 of Bill 276 with new amendment
language, which differs from the language proposed in Bill 276 by the following:
a. Removed the legislative nomination process and returned to the established
method as described in Charter section 13-4 (Boards and Commissions).
b. Reduced the number of criteria from 29 to 13 by eliminating redundancies,
removing any criteria that could be construed as ambiguous, and removing
"criteria" that could be considered educational issues (e.g. "keep socio-economic
groups together") or belonged in its own section ("Determination of the final
plan").
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Ref. To: ~~C1I
• def. ~~~e 2 2008
Serving the Interests of the People of Our Island
Hawai `i County Is An Equal Opportunity Provider And Employer
May 12, 2008
Page 2
c. Created new sections that placed appropriate subj ect matter in the same section,
such as, "Redistricting Commission", "Operation of the commission",
"Justification of the redistricting plan", and ``Determination ofthe final plan".
d. Removed the section that required a computerized map from members of the
public who want to provide the commission with an alternate redistricting plan; as
public access to an appropriate computer with the required software maybe
limited; and
5. Retains SECTIONS 3, 4, 5, and 6 as originally drafted in Bill 276.
This process is meant to facilitate the reader's ability to follow the proposed amendment
language and clearly comprehend the purpose and scope of this proposed charter amendment.
Prior concurrence to apply this technique {"motion to substitute", Robert's Rules of Order, 9t"
Edition, section 12-3(b)} was provided by the Deputy County Clerk and the legal specialist for
the Office of the County Clerk and the Hawaii County Council.
A draft copy of Bill 276, Draft 2, is attached. The proposed amendments outlined within this
transmittal communication have been incorporated into the attached draft copy.
Thank you.
BJF
Att.
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ARTICLE III, LEGISLATIVE BRANCH, COUNTY
COUNCIL, SECTION 3-17, OF THE HAWAII COUNTY CHARTER (2000), RELATING TO
THE COUNTY REAPPORTIONMENT COMMISSION, AMENDING SECTION 3-17 IN ITS
ENTIRETY, RENAMING IT THE REDISTRICTING COMMISSION, AND ESTABLISHING
APPROPRIATE REDISTRICTING CRITERIA.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE COUNTY OF HAWAI` I:
SECTION 1. Purpose. The Hawaii County Charter, article III, Legislative Branch,
County Council, section 3-17 sets forth the requirements of redistrictin to change the council
district boundaries to produce council districts of substantially equal population or as nearly
equal in population as practicable. The most basic right of an American is the ri hg, t to vote.
Additionally, the ri ht to have an equal vote and to vote in a fair election are basic concepts in
American tradition and law.
Currently, section 3-17 refers to the county reapportionment commission.
"Reapportionment" is sometimes defined as the process of reassi Wing a given number of seats in
a legislative bod~to established districts, usually in accordance with an established lp an or
formula. The number and boundaries of the districts do not change, but the number of members
per district does. "Redistricting" is the process of changing the council district boundaries. The
number of council members per district does not change, but the districts' boundaries do.
Section 3-17 will now be renamed "County Redistricting and the Redistricting Commission".
Presently, section 3-17 has four criteria that "guides" the commission in establishing
council district boundaries. Additional criteria are proposed to provide further direction to the
commission prior to the next census year in 2010.
SECTION 2. Article III, section 3-17, of the Hawaii County Charter 2000 (2006
Edition) is amended to read as follows:
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"Section 3-17. County Redistricting and the Redistricting Commission.
~a) Purp- ose.
(1) To establish the redistricting commission that shall establish the boundaries of
council districts;
~2~ To ,provide fair, equal, and representative redistricting_practices; and
~3) , To provide fair and representative council district boundaries.
fib) Census and Redistricting years. United States census Xears are years ending, in the
numeral zero e.g. 2010, 2020, etc.). A redistricting_year is the year following a census
~c) Redistricting commission.
(1) There shall be a county redistricting commission ~"commission") that ,shall
establish the boundaries of the council districts following each United States
census year=
(2) The commission shall be appointed and confirmed b,~y 1 of the United States
census year to allow sufficient time for training commissioners regarding the
requirements for redistricting;
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~3) Each commission shall consist of one commissioner from each existing council
district. Each commissioner shall be a permanent resident of the county of
Hawaii, a resident of the council district represented, and a qualified voter;
~4) The commissioners shall be appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the council
in the manner prescribed in section 13-4, as applicable; and
~5) The commissioners shall serve until a general election is held under a redistricting
plan of the commission or of a court of competent jurisdiction, or a new
commission is constituted, whichever event occurs first.
~d) Operation of the commission.
~1) The commission shall be subject to all requirements in Hawaii Revised Statutes,
chapter 92 ("Sunshine Law");
~2) A chairperson and a vice chairperson shall be elected annually by the
commissioners of the commission;
~3) The county clerk shall furnish all necessary educational, technical and secretarial
services for the commission. The county council shall appropriate necessary funds
to enable the clerk and the commission to Carr out their duties;
~4) The commission shall file a redistricting_plan with the count clerk by December
31 of the redistrictingyear; and
~5) The district boundaries as established by the commission shall be in effect at the
first regularly scheduled county council election followin , the film o~ f the plan
and for all subsequent county council elections until a new redistricting_plan is
finalized. The district boundaries in effect prior to the filing of the redistricting
plan shall remain in effect throughout the duration of the term of all council
members elected or appointed to represent such districts until the expiration of the
full term of such council members, including any election held to fill an unexpired
term under section 3-4 of this charter.
fie) Redistricting criteria. The commission shall follow the criteria below as practicable and
to the extent provided by law in establishing the boundaries of the council districts:
~1) Council districts shall have approximatel~qual, permanent, resident populations,
as required b~pplicable constitutional provisions;
~2) Nonresident military, nonresident military dependent s), nonresident student(s),
and foreign nationals or aliens shall be excluded from the permanent, resident
population base used to calculate each proposed council district's population and
its deviations from an ideal council district's population;
~3) An ideal council district's population shall be determined b, dy ividin the total
number of permanent residents in the count~by the number of council districts;
~4~ The total deviation for the entire redistricting plan shall be less than 10%;
~5) The maximum council district's deviation for a proposed district shall not exceed
plus or minus 4.99% of an ideal council district's population;
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(6) No district shall be drawn to unduly f~ vor or disfavor a person, political faction,
racial minority, or incumbent council member;
~7) There shall be no partisanship in drawing district boundaries;
(S) Communities of common interest such as subdivisions) shall be respected and
kept together in the same council district;
(9) Districts shall be compact and contiguous;
(10) All parts of a district shall be reachable by roads internal to the district;
(11) Council district boundary lines shall follow permanent and easily reco _ nizable
features;
(12) There shall be no gerrymandering; and
(13 Drawing bizarre district shapes shall be avoided.
Justification of the redistricting plan. All criteria used in the redistrictin~,plan shall be
identified, documented, and approved b~majority vote of the commission, before drawing
proposed district boundaries, if practicable. If there is an,, d~r~ence from approved
criteria, each divergence shall be approved by majority vote of the commission, and shall
be documented and included in the final redistricting plan.
Determination of the final plan.
~ 1 ~ The date for making a final decision on a redistricting_plan and the deadline date
for the submission of alternate plan s) from the public (which shall be at least eight
weeks prior to the deadline for the final redistricting plan) shall be determined bX
the second meeting of the commission and publicly announced.
(2) Any alternate plan submitted by a member of the public:
(A) Shall be given reasonable consideration by the commission;
~B) Shall conform to the criteria in section fie) above and an_y other criteria
adopted by the commission and shall include written justification for any
divergence from those criteria; and
~C) Shall identify, document, and submit all criteria and data that is used in
the alternate plan along with a sufficiently detailed map and chart showing
the proposed redistricting_plan and shall include the total~opulation
number used, the total deviation, each district's assigned population, and
each district's deviation for the proposed districts.
(3) A final written report shall be submitted to the count~erk by the commission
containing the final redistricting_plan chosen and shall include:
(A) The final vote of the commission as to its choice of redistricting_plan;
~B) The total permanent, resident population number used by the commission;
(C) The total deviation of the final redistricting plan;
~D Each proposed council district's assigned population number and its
associated deviation;
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~E) Maps of each district, and a written description of each district's
oun arses;
~F) A map of the entire county with all proposed council districts included;
~G~ Justification for any divergence of the redistricting criteria in (e) above
and any additional criteria adopted bX the commission;
~H) All alternate plans submitted b~ the public with explanation as to whX
each alternate plan was either selected or rejected;
~I) Minutes of all meetings .and hearings; and
~J) Any other data used b~ commission in their deliberations."
SECTION 3. Material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New material is
underscored. In printing this ordinance, the brackets, bracketed material, and underscoring need
not be included.
SECTION 4. Severability. If any provision of this ordinance or the application thereof
to any person or circumstance, is held invalid, such invalidity does not affect other provisions or
applications of the ordinance which can be given effect without the invalid provision or
application, and to this end, the provisions of this ordinance are declared to be severable.
SECTION 5. Upon adoption of this ordinance, this council, by appropriate resolution,
shall provide that this amendment be submitted to the electorate of Hawaii county for approval
at the 2008 general election.
SECTION 6. The charter amendment proposed in this ordinance shall take effect upon
its approval by a maj ority of voters in the 2008 general election.
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