Congressional and state legislative districts; standards and criteria.

Standards and criteria for congressional and state legislative districts. Provides criteria by which congressional and state legislative districts are to be drawn. Such criteria include equal population requirements, with a deviation of no more than five percent permitted for state legislative districts; compliance with laws and judicial decisions relating to racial and ethnic fairness; preservation of communities of interest, which are defined to mean a neighborhood or any geographically defined group of people living in an area who share similar social, cultural, and economic interests; and compactness and contiguity. The bill also includes provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended, related to redistricting, that prohibit the drawing of districts in ways that improperly dilute minority populations' voting power. The bill prohibits maps of districts, when considered on a statewide basis, from unduly favoring or disfavoring any political party. The bill further provides for the preparation and use of adjusted population data for redistricting and reapportionment purposes to reflect the reallocation of persons incarcerated in federal, state, and local correctional facilities. Persons incarcerated in such a facility whose address at the time of incarceration was in the Commonwealth are to be counted at that address and persons incarcerated in such a facility whose address at the time of incarceration was outside of the Commonwealth or cannot be determined are to be counted at the facility. This bill is identical to SB 717.