Brief(1)
S.B. 351 would designate in statute the population data to be used for legislative and congressional redistricting. Both sets of districts would be based on the actual enumeration of the population by the federal Bureau of Census used for apportionment of congressional seats. S.B. 351 would mandate that the Secretary of State use results of the actual enumeration, instead of results based on sampling, to calculate populations for legislative redistricting as required by the Kansas Constitution.
The bill would specify that any available census data could be used by the Secretary of State and local political subdivisions for the purpose of grant applications.
Background
S.B. 351 was requested for introduction by the Redistricting Advisory Group. The bill was in response to Census Bureau plans announced after a January 25, 1999, decision in Department of Commerce v. U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. , No. 98-404 in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the federal Census Act prohibits the use of sampling in the census for apportionment of the U.S. House of Representatives. After that decision, the Census Bureau announced plans to use the results of sampling in population totals produced for other purposes, including redistricting, in order to correct for the anticipated undercount in the 2000 census. The existing constitutional requirement regarding the population figures to be used for legislative redistricting would not be altered by the bill.
Staff briefed the committees on the bill. No conferees testified before the Senate Committee on Elections and Local Government or the House Committee on Federal and State Affairs.
The House Committee amended the bill to include the provision regarding grant applicants.
The fiscal note prepared by the Division of the Budget states that the bill would have no fiscal impact.
1. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/bill_search.html