SR 58: Legislative and Congressional Reapportionment; independent nonpartisan commission instead of the General Assembly; provide

Currently, the Georgia General Assembly draws the state's congressional, state Senate, and state House district lines after each U.S. Census, a process known as reapportionment or redistricting. This resolution proposes a constitutional amendment that would take that power away from lawmakers and give it to a new 14 member Citizens' Redistricting Commission made up of five members from each of the two largest political parties and four members unaffiliated with any party. The amendment lays out detailed rules for how commissioners are selected (through an application and screening process run by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court), who is disqualified (recent officeholders, lobbyists, party officials, big campaign donors), and how maps must be drawn (equal population, contiguous territory, no use of incumbent addresses or past election results, public hearings, an online mapping portal). Any Georgia citizen could challenge a certified plan before the Supreme Court. If approved by the General Assembly and then by voters statewide, this would become part of the Georgia Constitution, with the commission process first used after the 2030 census.

• Creates a 14 member Citizens' Redistricting Commission to draw Georgia's congressional and legislative district lines instead of the General Assembly.
• Sets member qualifications and bars recent officeholders, political staff, lobbyists, and large campaign donors from serving on the commission.
• Requires an application, screening, and random selection process run by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and a retired judges review panel to pick commissioners.
• Bans the use of incumbent addresses, party affiliation data, and past election results when drawing new district maps.
• Requires a public online redistricting portal, public hearings in each congressional district, and Supreme Court review of any challenged plan.
• Removes the current constitutional language stating the General Assembly apportions Senate and House districts, replacing it with the new commission process.

Georgia voters generally, since the amendment must be ratified statewide, as well as members of the General Assembly and Georgia's congressional delegation, who would lose direct control over drawing their own districts. It also affects registered voters who might serve on the new commission and county election officials who publish redistricting notices.

If ratified, the power to draw Georgia's congressional and legislative maps would shift from elected lawmakers to a commission of ordinary registered voters selected through a screened, partly random process, changing who controls decisions that affect which voters end up in which districts and how competitive those districts are.

• Section 1 adds a new Article II, Section IV creating the Citizens' Redistricting Commission and setting mapping standards including equal population, contiguity, and county boundary preservation.
• Commission membership is fixed at 14: five from each of the two largest parties by last governor's race vote share, and four unaffiliated members, chosen through an application and screening process starting no later than January 1, 2030.
• Disqualifies applicants who were recent candidates, officeholders, party officials, lobbyists, gubernatorial appointees, or donors of $2,000 or more in the prior ten years.
• Requires a public internet redistricting portal, published draft maps by April 15 of a reapportionment year, and public hearings in each congressional district between May 1 and May 31.
• Final plans must be certified to the Secretary of State by August 1 of a reapportionment year, and any citizen may petition the Supreme Court within 15 days to challenge a plan's validity.
• Section 2 revises Article III, Section II, Paragraph II to remove language stating the General Assembly apportions Senate and House districts.
• Section 3 sets the ballot question voters would see, asking whether to create an independent nonpartisan citizens' redistricting commission.

1. 2025-01-29Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
2. 2025-01-28Senate Hopper (Senate)

• Elena Parent (D, SD-044)Primary sponsor
• Harold Jones (D, SD-022)
• Kim Jackson (D, SD-041)
• Nikki Merritt (D, SD-009)
• Nan Orrock (D, SD-036)
• Sheikh Rahman (D, SD-005)
• Sonya Halpern (D, SD-039)
• Josh McLaurin (D, SD-014)
• Sally Harrell (D, SD-040)
• Jason Esteves (D, SD-035)
• Randal Mangham (D, SD-055)

• redistricting
• voting rights
• constitutional amendment
• government reform
• election maps