Georgia CommonsSB 114: General Assembly; certain procedures for redistricting of the General Assembly and congressional districts in this state; provide
Introduced version, the latest LegiScan holds · Last action February 6, 2025 · Introduced
The text as LegiScan holds it, read from the PDF the legislature publishes with its margin line numbers, running heads, and page footers removed. Line breaks are joined into paragraphs here; no word is changed.
Underlined words are what the bill adds to current law and struck-through words are what it removes, as the printed bill shows them.
Senate Bill 114
By: Senators Parent of the 44th, Jones II of the 22nd, Halpern of the 39th, Harrell of the 40th, Mangham of the 55th and others
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
To amend Chapter 1 of Title 28 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to general provisions regarding the General Assembly, so as to provide certain procedures for redistricting of the General Assembly and congressional districts in this state; to provide for certain hearings, information availability, procedures, and notifications; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION 1.
Chapter 1 of Title 28 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to general provisions regarding the General Assembly, is amended by adding a new Code section to read as follows:
"28-1-17.
In redistricting the General Assembly and the congressional districts in Georgia, the General Assembly shall follow the following procedures:
(1) There shall be a minimum of two public hearings in each judicial district of this state during the redistricting process. There shall be one public hearing in each judicial district of this state prior to the development of the redistricting plans. There shall be one public hearing in each judicial district of this state after the introduction of the proposed plan or plans in the General Assembly which shall be held not later than one week prior to the final vote on such proposed plan or plans;
(2) At least one public hearing shall be held in the municipality with the highest population in each judicial district of this state, and at least one public hearing shall be held in the municipality with the second highest population in each judicial district of this state. Such hearings shall be open to the general public, and at least two members of the General Assembly from each house of the General Assembly shall attend such public hearings. One member from each house shall represent the majority party in such house, and one member from each house shall represent the minority party in such house. Such members shall come from the committee of each house that considers proposed redistricting plans;
(3) The public hearings shall be recorded and made available both live as they occur and as archived files for public viewing on the internet. During each public hearing, the General Assembly members representing each house of the General Assembly shall present the initial proposed plan or plans, explain the procedure or process used to create such plan or plans, and hear public comments and suggestions. Public notice of such public hearings shall be published on the public website of the General Assembly and once a week for two consecutive weeks in the legal organ of each county, not later than seven days prior to the date of the public hearing. Visual representations of the proposed plan or plans shall be prominently displayed at each public hearing, and the plan or plans shall be presented visually in sufficient detail so that the public may visually inspect all district boundaries down to the residence level. The plan or plans shall be presented in a manner that will allow any member of the public to immediately inspect the proposed district in which such member lives as well as all neighboring districts;
(4) The proposed plan or plans shall be published on the public website of the General Assembly not later than 48 hours after the proposed plan or plans have been assigned to committee. The plan or plans shall be presented visually in sufficient detail so that the public may visually inspect all district boundaries down to the residence level, and the plan or plans shall also include all data necessary for a third party to recreate an accurate visual representation of such proposed plan or plans. The plan or plans shall be presented in a manner that will allow any member of the public to immediately visually inspect the proposed district in which such member lives as well as all neighboring districts. Any initially proposed plan or plans published on the public website of the General Assembly shall also include a detailed explanation of the procedure or process used to create such plan or plans, including, but not limited to, all inputs, variables, factors, or other bases used to create such plan or plans; draft maps; formulae or algorithms; and any hardware or software relied upon to create such plan or plans. This paragraph shall be construed to defeat any legal claim or defense that is brought or raised by any party to prevent the disclosure of such procedure or process, including, but not limited to, a claim or defense that such disclosure would constitute unlawful disclosure of a trade secret or other confidential or proprietary information;
(5) All meetings, discussions, and deliberations concerning reapportionment upon the assignment of a plan or plans to committee shall be conducted in public, and public notice of such meetings, discussions, and deliberations shall be published on the public website of the General Assembly at least seven days in advance;
(6) No committee vote shall be taken on a plan or plans unless such plan or plans have been posted on the public website of the General Assembly and released at least two weeks before such vote with the plan or plans presented visually in sufficient detail so that the public may visually inspect all district boundaries down to the residence level, and such plan or plans shall also include all data necessary for a third party to recreate an accurate visual representation of such proposed plan or plans. Such plan or plans shall be presented in a manner that will allow any member of the public to immediately visually inspect the proposed district in which such member lives as well as all neighboring districts. Such plan or plans shall also include all relevant statistics concerning such plan or plans;
(7) All communications sent to or from any government official or employee involved in the reapportionment process, including electronic communications, shall be released to the public for inspection and copying; and
(8) All communications with any party not hired or contracted to perform or not responsible for performing the duties set forth in this Code section are strictly prohibited. Such prohibition shall not apply to any public communications explicitly authorized by this Code section. Nothing in this paragraph shall be construed as limiting any obligations set forth in the law relating to disclosure of public records and open meetings which shall apply to this Code section or any other applicable laws."
SECTION 2.
All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.