AN ACT to establish a process for the creation and selection of county cluster maps to be used when revising districts for the senate and THE house of representatives Following the return of the 2020 decennial census.

Whereas, the United States Bureau of the Census intends to release the 2020 federal decennial census apportionment counts to the President of the United States no later than April 30, 2021; and

Whereas, the 2021 Regular Session of the General Assembly convened for the 2021‑2022 biennium on January 13, 2021; and

Whereas, G.S. 163‑132.1C requires that [t]he State of North Carolina shall participate in the 2020 Census Redistricting Data Program, conducted pursuant to P.L. 94‑171, of the United States Bureau of the Census, so that the State will receive 2020 Census data by voting districts; and

Whereas, on March 31, 2020, the Census Redistricting and Voting Rights Data Office completed Phase 2 of the 2020 Census Redistricting Data Program, entitled The Voting District Project, which provides states the opportunity to submit their voting districts for inclusion in the 2020 census redistricting data tabulations (P.L. 94‑171, Redistricting Data File); and

Whereas, the Secretary of Commerce intends to provide census results to each state's governor and the officers or public bodies with responsibility for legislative redistricting no later than September 30, 2021; and

Whereas, the filing period for the Senate and the House of Representatives of the General Assembly will begin December 6, 2021, and conclude December 17, 2021, for candidates who are seeking their party's nomination in the March 8, 2022, primary; and

Whereas, Sections 3(3) and 5(3) of Article II of the Constitution of North Carolina, the Whole County Provisions, as interpreted by the Supreme Court of North Carolina in Stephenson v. Bartlett, 355 N.C. 354, 562 S.E.2d 377 (2002), Stephenson v. Bartlett, 357 N.C. 301, 582 S.E.2d 247 (2003), Dickson v. Rucho, 367 N.C. 542, 766 S.E.2d 238 (2014), and Dickson v. Rucho, 368 N.C. 481, 781 S.E.2d 460 (2015), require that legislative districts be drawn within county clusters; and

Whereas, in 2019, a team of mathematicians sponsored by Duke University released a report entitled, Optimal Legislative County Clustering in North Carolina, which revealed that multiple optimal county cluster maps for the Senate and the House of Representatives of the General Assembly would likely emerge from a given census population; and

Whereas, in 2019, a team of mathematicians sponsored by Duke University made publicly available computer code that can be used to generate the total set of optimum cluster maps; and

Whereas, the General Assembly must choose one cluster map for each chamber from among multiple options for the purpose of decennially revising districts for the Senate and the House of Representatives of the General Assembly; and

Whereas, the selection of a cluster map for revising districts for the Senate and the House of Representatives of the General Assembly has the potential to influence the partisan distribution of future General Assemblies; and

Whereas, objective criteria need to be established and used for selecting one optimum cluster map for each chamber of the General Assembly from among the several options; Now, therefore,

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  For purposes of this act, the following definitions shall apply:

(1)        Census Bureau. – The United States Bureau of the Census.

(2)        Cluster. – A grouping of one or more counties that is capable of containing a whole number of legislative districts.

(3)        Cluster code. – A shorthand cluster descriptor consisting of four numbers and a colon (##:##). The first two spaces indicate the number of districts that can be contained in a cluster. The last two spaces indicate the number of counties that form a cluster.

(4)        Cluster count. – The number of unique clusters in a cluster map.

(5)        Cluster map. – A statewide map depicting a complete set of clusters for use in revising districts for the Senate or the House of Representatives of the General Assembly.

(6)        Cluster map set. – The total collection of optimum cluster maps for consideration prior to revising districts for the Senate and the House of Representatives of the General Assembly.

(7)        Data from the 2020 decennial census. – Population data needed for legislative redistricting that the Census Bureau is required to provide to the State under P.L. 94‑171, including the population of the State and population amounts for each county therein.

(8)        Ideal cluster population. – The number determined by multiplying the ideal district population by the number of whole districts that can be contained in a cluster.

(9)        Ideal district population. – The number determined by dividing the number of members in a plan into the population of the State as reported in the 2020 decennial census.

(10)      Monocluster (MC). – A cluster that contains a single district of the Senate or the House of Representatives of the General Assembly and is within five percent (5%) of its ideal cluster population. In a monocluster, the geographic boundary of the cluster and the district that it supports are the same. Thus, all measurable attributes, e.g., compactness and political performance, for the cluster and the district it contains are the same.

(11)      Optimum cluster map. – A cluster map that meets the requirements of Sections 3(3) and 5(3) of Article II of the Constitution of North Carolina, as interpreted by the Supreme Court of North Carolina, including the requirement that no cluster within the map may deviate from the ideal cluster population by more or less than five percent (5%).

(12)      Plan. – A plan for revising districts for the Senate or the House of Representatives of the General Assembly.

(13)      Polycluster (PC). – A cluster that contains two or more districts of the Senate or the House of Representatives of the General Assembly and is within five percent (5%) of its ideal cluster population. In a polycluster, the geographic boundary of the cluster and the boundaries of the districts contained therein are not the same. All measurable attributes of a polycluster, e.g., compactness and political performance, may differ from those of the districts contained therein.

(14)      Super cluster. – A collection of clusters formed from a subset of counties in which the counties can be combined in alternate ways to form one or more complete sets of county clusters. A super cluster may consist of monoclusters, polyclusters, or both.

SECTION 2.  For the purpose of establishing cluster maps to serve as the basis for the apportionment of seats in the Senate and the House of Representatives of the General Assembly following the return of the 2020 decennial census, in order to nominate and elect members of the two chambers, the following process shall be used:

(1)        Within 14 days of the date on which the Census Bureau provides data from the 2020 decennial census to the State, the Legislative Services Officer shall provide that data to the State Board of Elections. From that data, the State Board shall develop a cluster map set. The State Board may, in its discretion, delegate all or a portion of the responsibility of developing a cluster map set to the Department of Mathematics at Duke University or the School of Government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

(2)        Within 28 days of the date on which the Census Bureau provides data from the 2020 decennial census to the State, the Executive Director of the State Board of Elections (Executive Director) shall provide the cluster map set, obtained pursuant to subdivision (1) of this section, to the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Principal Clerk of the Senate, and the Principal Clerk of the House of Representatives.

(3)        Within 29 days of the date on which the Census Bureau provides data from the 2020 decennial census to the State, the Principal Clerk of the Senate and the Principal Clerk of the House of Representatives shall make available the cluster map set to the members of the Senate and the House of Representatives, including the chairs of any standing or select redistricting committee.

(4)        Within 30 days of the date on which the Census Bureau provides data from the 2020 decennial census to the State, the chair or chairs of any committee tasked with reapportioning districts for the Senate or the House of Representatives shall post the cluster map set on the website for the General Assembly for comment and review by the public. Comments shall be received for a period of at least five days, and the committee or committees shall take no action during that time.

(5)        Within 37 days of the date on which the Census Bureau provides data from the 2020 decennial census to the State, all committees tasked with reapportioning districts for the Senate and the House of Representatives of the General Assembly shall meet jointly for the purpose of receiving in‑person public comments regarding the selection of a cluster map from the cluster map set provided by the State Board of Elections.

(6)        When selecting a cluster map, no committee tasked with reapportioning districts for the Senate and the House of Representatives of the General Assembly shall consider the following factors:

a.         Incumbency protection. – The committee or committees shall not make any effort to avoid pairing an incumbent member of the Senate or the House of Representatives with another incumbent when selecting a cluster map.

b.         Partisan advantage. – The committee or committees shall not make any effort to favor one political party over another when selecting a cluster map.

(7)        The Executive Director shall ensure that each cluster map in the cluster map set provided to the General Assembly pursuant to subdivision (2) of this section includes the following:

a.         A notes section on each cluster map that identifies the total number of clusters, monoclusters, and polyclusters. Cluster maps shall be provided in Portable Document Format.

b.         Shapefiles and block assignment files for each cluster map.

c.         A table for each cluster map that contains the following data in separate columns:

1.         An identifying number for the cluster map.

2.         An identifier for each cluster.

3.         A list of all counties in each cluster.

4.         The cluster code for each cluster.

5.         The population of each cluster.

6.         The percentage by which the cluster varies from its ideal cluster population.

SECTION 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law.