Bill Text: MI HB5356 | 2019-2020 | 100th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Counties; boards and commissions; county apportionment commission; modify, and modify number of county commissioner districts. Amends secs. 1, 2, 3 & 4 of 1966 PA 261 (MCL 46.401 et seq.).

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 16-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-01-21 - Bill Electronically Reproduced 01/21/2020 [HB5356 Detail]

Download: Michigan-2019-HB5356-Introduced.html

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HOUSE BILL NO. 5356

January 16, 2020, Introduced by Reps. LaGrand, Hood, Lasinski, Ellison, Sneller, Warren, Liberati, Garza, Brenda Carter, Haadsma, Hope, Wittenberg, Stone, Rabhi, Sabo and Jones and referred to the Committee on Elections and Ethics.

A bill to amend 1966 PA 261, entitled

"An act to provide for the apportionment of county boards of commissioners; to prescribe the size of the board; to provide for appeals; to prescribe the manner of election of the members of the county board of commissioners; to provide for compensation of members; to prescribe penalties and provide remedies; and to repeal acts and parts of acts,"

by amending sections 1, 2, 3, and 4 (MCL 46.401, 46.402, 46.403, and 46.404), sections 1, 2, and 3 as amended by 2011 PA 280.

the people of the state of michigan enact:

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Sec. 1. (1) Within 60 days after the publication of the latest

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United States official decennial census figures by the United States Census, the county apportionment commission in each county of this state shall apportion the county into not less than 5 nor more than 21 county commissioner districts that are as nearly of equal population as is practicable and that are within the limitations of section 2.

(2) If a county is not in compliance with section 2 on the effective date of the amendatory act that added this subsection, the county apportionment commission of that county shall, within 30 days of the effective date of the amendatory act that added this subsection, apportion the county in compliance with section 2. For subsequent apportionments in a county that is apportioned under this subsection, the county apportionment commission of that county shall comply with the provisions of subsection (1).

Sec. 2.

County Population	Number of Commissioners
Under 5,001	Not fewer than 5 or more than 7
5,001 to 10,000	Not fewer than 5 or more than 10
10,001 to 50,000100,000	Not fewer than 7 or more than 15
100,001 to 500,000	Not fewer than 11 or more than 21
Over 50,000500,000	Not fewer than 13 or more than 2125

Sec. 3. (1) Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, the The county apportionment commission shall consist of the county clerk, the county treasurer, the prosecuting attorney, and the

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statutory county chairperson of each of the 2 political parties receiving the greatest number of votes cast for the office of secretary of state in the last preceding general election. If a county does not have a statutory chairperson of a political party, the 2 additional members shall be a party representative from each of the 2 political parties receiving the greatest number of votes cast for the office of secretary of state in the last preceding general election and appointed by the chairperson of the state central committee for each of the political parties. In a county with a population of 1,000,000 or more that has adopted an optional unified form of county government under 1973 PA 139, MCL 45.551 to 45.573, with an elected county executive, the county apportionment commission shall be the county board of commissioners. for each county consists of 3 judges who are selected as provided in this subsection. Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, 5 judges from the circuit court and district courts located in or serving the county shall be randomly selected. The statutory county chairperson of each of the 2 political parties receiving the greatest number of votes cast for the office of secretary of state in the last preceding general election shall strike 1 of the 5 selected judges, and the remaining 3 judges constitute the county apportionment commission. If a county does not have 5 judges from the circuit court and district courts located in or serving that county, the judges from the circuit court and district courts located in the closest contiguous or neighboring counties to that county are eligible to serve on the county apportionment commission. The county clerk shall convene the county apportionment commission and they the commission shall adopt their rules of procedure. The county clerk shall serve as staff for the county

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apportionment commission. A majority of the members of the county apportionment commission shall be is a quorum sufficient to conduct its business. All action of the county apportionment commission shall must be by majority vote of the commission.

(2) The business which that the county apportionment commission may perform shall must be conducted at a public meeting held in compliance with the open meetings act, 1976 PA 267, MCL 15.261 to 15.275. Public notice of the time, date, and place of the meeting shall must be given in the manner required by the open meetings act, 1976 PA 267, MCL 15.261 to 15.275.

(3) A writing prepared, owned, used, in the possession of, or retained by the commission in the performance of an official function shall must be made available to the public in compliance with the freedom of information act, 1976 PA 442, MCL 15.231 to 15.246.

Sec. 4. (1) In apportioning the county into commissioner districts, the county apportionment commission shall be is governed by the following guidelines in the stated order of importance:

(a) All districts shall must be single-member districts and as nearly of equal population as is practicable. A district must not exceed a 5% deviation from the target population, and the average deviation of all districts in the county must not exceed 3% of the target population. The latest official published figures of the United States official census shall Census must be used in this determination, except that in cases requiring division of official census units to meet the population standard, an actual population count may be used to make such the division. Other governmental census figures of total population may be used if taken subsequent to the last decennial United States census Census and the United

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States census Census figures are not adequate for the purposes of this act. The secretary of state shall furnish the latest official published figures to the county apportionment commissions forthwith upon this act taking effect, and within 15 days after publication of subsequent official United States official census Census figures. A contract may be entered into with the United States census bureau Census Bureau to make any special census if the latest United States decennial census figures are not adequate.

(b) All districts shall must be contiguous.

(c) All districts shall must be as compact and of as nearly square shape as is practicable, depending on the geography of the county area involved.

(d) No A township or part thereof of a township shall not be combined with any city or part thereof of a city for a single district, unless such the combination is needed to meet the population standard.

(e) Townships, villages, and cities shall be divided only if necessary to meet the population standard.

(f) City wards shall be divided only if necessary to meet the population standard.

(g) (f) Precincts shall be divided only if necessary to meet the population standard.

(h) (g) Residents of state institutions who cannot by law register in the county as electors shall must be excluded from any consideration of representation.

(i) (h) Districts shall must not be drawn to effect partisan political advantage.

(2) As used in this section, "target population" means the sum of the individuals counted in the United States Census for the

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county divided by the total number of districts in the county.