Nonpartisan Campaign Seeks to Reform Illinois Redistricting

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Is there a way to add it to the Constitution without going through the legislature?

No. Public initiatives to amend the IL constitution can only affect the legislative article of constitution, and then it must affect both structural and procedural aspects of the legislature.

Wouldn't that include prohibitions on what the legislature can and cannot do, though?

[muon2]

Is there a way to add it to the Constitution without going through the legislature?

No. Public initiatives to amend the IL constitution can only affect the legislative article of constitution, and then it must affect both structural and procedural aspects of the legislature.

Wouldn't that include prohibitions on what the legislature can and cannot do, though?

It couldn't be done as a stand-alone since that would not involve a structural element. It might be possible to do it in the same amendment as affects legislative redistricting, but there is some legal question as whether it would be germane to the legislative article if it was assigning a task unrelated to the legislature to a non-legislative body. If it gets the signatures to reach the ballot it will certainly be challenged and there was no desire to add a provision that was questionable to begin with.

[ill ind]

  Looking at the Illinois SBE website, it appears that the committee to pass this has so far  raised $25,000--all from 3 wealthy northshore or north suburbanites.  They seem to have all in the past contributed to both Democrats and Republicans. (1 even donated to both Obama and Romney the last cycle)
   I wonder what their angle is in financing this effort to ammend the state constitution?  Perhaps they really do want fairness and a return to competitive elections between moderates of both parties.

Ill_Ind

[jimrtex]

Is there a way to add it to the Constitution without going through the legislature?

No. Public initiatives to amend the IL constitution can only affect the legislative article of constitution, and then it must affect both structural and procedural aspects of the legislature.

Are there court decisions interpreting Article XIV.3 that way? (i.e. requiring an amendment to affecting both structural and procedural aspects.)

I would interpret a limit to mean that an initiative could not affect matters that are not procedural or structural.

That senators and representatives are elected from districts is structural.  That representative districts are nested inside senatorial districts is structural.  The manner in which senatorial districts are delineated is structural.

What XIV.3 is preventing an initiative from affecting the content of legislation.  Article IV in broad terms describes how the legislature is constituted or structured (Sections 1-4) and how it legislates or procedures (Section 5-14).

I doubt that removing matters from legislative authority, such as congressional redistricting, and vesting it in a separate body would qualify as either a structural or procedural change.

In addition, the power of congressional districting is vested in the legislature by the US Constitution, and the Illinois Constitution does not make the broad claims of the People being the ultimate source of legislative authority that the constitutions of Florida, Arizona, and California do.

[muon2]

Is there a way to add it to the Constitution without going through the legislature?

No. Public initiatives to amend the IL constitution can only affect the legislative article of constitution, and then it must affect both structural and procedural aspects of the legislature.

Are there court decisions interpreting Article XIV.3 that way? (i.e. requiring an amendment to affecting both structural and procedural aspects.)

I would interpret a limit to mean that an initiative could not affect matters that are not procedural or structural.

That senators and representatives are elected from districts is structural.  That representative districts are nested inside senatorial districts is structural.  The manner in which senatorial districts are delineated is structural.

What XIV.3 is preventing an initiative from affecting the content of legislation.  Article IV in broad terms describes how the legislature is constituted or structured (Sections 1-4) and how it legislates or procedures (Section 5-14).

I doubt that removing matters from legislative authority, such as congressional redistricting, and vesting it in a separate body would qualify as either a structural or procedural change.

In addition, the power of congressional districting is vested in the legislature by the US Constitution, and the Illinois Constitution does not make the broad claims of the People being the ultimate source of legislative authority that the constitutions of Florida, Arizona, and California do.

There was a court decision shortly after the 1970 Constitution was adopted that interpreted the word and to require both. Legislative redistricting reform that de-nests districts and changes the legislature's role in its own mapping is considered by most analysts to meet that two-prong requirement.

[jimrtex]

No. Public initiatives to amend the IL constitution can only affect the legislative article of constitution, and then it must affect both structural and procedural aspects of the legislature.

Are there court decisions interpreting Article XIV.3 that way? (i.e. requiring an amendment to affecting both structural and procedural aspects.)

I would interpret a limit to mean that an initiative could not affect matters that are not procedural or structural.

That senators and representatives are elected from districts is structural.  That representative districts are nested inside senatorial districts is structural.  The manner in which senatorial districts are delineated is structural.

What XIV.3 is preventing an initiative from affecting the content of legislation.  Article IV in broad terms describes how the legislature is constituted or structured (Sections 1-4) and how it legislates or procedures (Section 5-14).

I doubt that removing matters from legislative authority, such as congressional redistricting, and vesting it in a separate body would qualify as either a structural or procedural change.

In addition, the power of congressional districting is vested in the legislature by the US Constitution, and the Illinois Constitution does not make the broad claims of the People being the ultimate source of legislative authority that the constitutions of Florida, Arizona, and California do.

There was a court decision shortly after the 1970 Constitution was adopted that interpreted the word and to require both. Legislative redistricting reform that de-nests districts and changes the legislature's role in its own mapping is considered by most analysts to meet that two-prong requirement.

You wouldn't happen to know where a copy of the opinion is would you?

You're suggesting that it would be unconstitutional to change the number of senators and representatives to 58 and 116, because that is only a structural change; and it wouldn't be constitutional to change the threshold for acceptance of a gubernatorial-rewrite to 3/5 since that is only a procedural change.  But if I gratuitously combined the two changes, it would satisfy the constitution.

Does the current proposal de-nest districts?   A previous version was ambiguous, since it referred to two plans, and used the term "senatorial districts".  This version goes back to the term "legislative district" and refers to a single plan.

[politicallefty]

I do support nonpartisan redistricting for all states, but I'm rather annoyed that this sort of movement is largely concentrated in Democratic states (with the obvious exception being the failed initiative in Ohio last year). I'll admit that Democrats got dealt a good hand in California, but the state's geography favours Democrats (LA County and the Bay Area are just too far gone for Republicans) and the state has also moved considerably to the left over recent years. Ohio and Michigan seem like strong possibilities for good redistricting measures before the next Census. Unfortunately, most Republican gerrymanders are immune to initiatives that bypass the legislature, like Pennsylvania or North Carolina.