Mock Constitution
Draft/Comments Phase
(What is this?)
Index
Preamble
Article I: Declaration of Rights
Article II: Distribution of
Powers of Government
Article III: Legislative Branch
Article IV: Representation
Article V: Executive Branch
Article VI: Judicial Branch
Article VII: Suffrage and Elections
Article VIII: Taxation and
Debt Limitation
Article IX: Local Government
Article X: Education
Article XI: Public Officers
Article XII: Impeachment
Article XIII: Amending the Constitution
Article XIV: Transition Schedule
Entire Draft
Section 1. Composition of Senate and House of Representatives.
The number of senators shall not be more than thirty-five and the number of representatives shall not be more than one hundred five.
Section 2. Legislative Districts.
The state shall be divided by law into districts for the election of members of the Senate and into districts for the election of members of the House of Representatives. Each district shall consist of compact and adjoining territory, and the ratio of the number of legislators in each district to the population of such district shall be as nearly equal among districts as practicable.
Section 3. Legislative Reapportionment Procedure.
(a) Reapportionment of senatorial and house of representative districts shall be accomplished as soon as practical after official publication of each decennial census of the United States. A commission on legislative reapportionment, consisting of five members, shall be established no later than the first day of February in each year following the year in which the decennial census of the United States is officially reported. The lieutenant governor, attorney general, and chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court shall, by a majority vote, appoint all members of the commission and shall certify their names to the officer designated by law.
(b) No commission member shall hold an elected office in the state. Not more than one member of the commission shall be appointed from any congressional district. The members of the commission shall select one of their number as chairman. Any vacancy on the commission shall be filled within fifteen days in the same manner in which such position was originally filled.
(c) It shall be the duty of the legislature to appropriate sufficient funds for the compensation and expenses of the commission and staff appointed by the Commission.
(d) No later than ninety days after the commission has been certified, or the population data for the state as determined by the census has become available, whichever is later, the commission, by a majority vote of its membership, shall adopt a reapportionment plan for the senate and house and shall submit it to the governor, the lieutenant governor and speaker of the house. If the commission plan is reported to such officials before the expiration of the first ten legislative days of the first regular session of the legislature held after the appointment of the commission, such plan shall become law if the legislature does not adopt a reapportionment plan at such session. If the commission plan is not reported until after the expiration of the first ten legislative days of such legislative session, and if the legislature does not adopt a reapportionment plan at such session, the
governor shall, as soon as practicable after the commission plan has been reported, call a special session of the legislature to adopt a reapportionment plan. If the legislature does not adopt a reapportionment plan at such special session, the commission plan shall become law.
(e) The supreme court shall have original jurisdiction, upon the petition of any qualified voter of the state, to review the new reapportionment law. If the supreme court holds invalid a reapportionment plan enacted by the legislature, then the commission plan shall become law if it complies with the requirements of this constitution. If the supreme court finds the commission plan invalid, the court shall issue an order remanding the plan to the commission and directing the commission to reapportion the state in a manner not inconsistent with such order. When the court finally approves a reapportionment plan, such plan shall remain in effect until the adoption under this section of a reapportionment plan after the next United States decennial census.
Section 4. Congressional Redistricting.
The state shall be divided by law into congressional districts for the election of the members of the United States House of Representatives under the same procedure, under the same commission, and according to the mandate of the preceding section prescribing the manner of reapportioning senate and house representative districts.
Legislative Dispatch
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I feel that the Senate should consist of one Senator for each county, and the House districts should be drawn out such that “the ratio of the number of legislators in each district to the population of such district shall be as nearly equal among districts as practicable.” By alloting one Senator to each county, you guarantee that they will be immune to the effects of gerrymandering.
Rick, according to the US Supreme Court, we can’t set it up in the manner you’re suggesting. The US Congress gets away with it because it was part of the “Great Compromise” that allowed for the passage of the US Constitution. States can’t do it, though. All legislative bodies are required to follow proportional representation.
My only concern is with the detail in Sec. 2. Could it not be written so as to establish a commission and allow the details to be enacted as a part of the Alabama Code, or is our distrust of the Legislature too great to consider that option?
I live in a very Gerrymandered county (Lee). i look forward to the day when we can actually have compact and contiguous districts.
How about making it unconstitutional to gerrymander districts? How about taking away the right of incumbents to draw potential opponents out of their district?
I agree with Lou. I don’t believe we can outlaw gerrymandering when landmark S.C. decisions have ruled it constitutional in federal districting. I may be wrong, but I am a former AP government teacher, and that is the procedure as I taught it and in the college texts and court rulings I have read.
Also, maybe this point is addressed in a later section of the document, but I haven’t seen a section that covers the powers of the legislative branch as outlined in Article I Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution. I feel that Article I Sec 8 of the U.S. Constitution is possibly the most important section because it both gives and limits the power of the legislature. Madsion believed that the most dangerous branch of government was the legislative.
On powers of Legislature:
I would like to know more about what is covered by the last sentence in section 14:
“The legislature shall have all the powers necessary to a free state.”