New Mexico 2025 Regular Session

New Mexico Senate Bill SJR9 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

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28	28	SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION 9
29	29	57
30	30	TH LEGISLATURE
31	31	- STATE OF NEW MEXICO -
32	32	FIRST SESSION
33	33	, 2025
34	34	INTRODUCED BY
35	35	Natalie Figueroa
36	36	A JOINT RESOLUTION
37	37	PROPOSING TO AMEND THE CONSTITUTION OF NEW MEXICO TO PROVIDE
38	38	FOR THE CREATION OF AN INDEPENDENT REDISTRICTING COMMISSION TO
39	39	DEVELOP AND ADOPT REDISTRICTING PLANS FOR STATE LEGISLATIVE
40	40	DISTRICTS AND THE DISTRICTS OF OTHER STATE OFFICES REQUIRING
41	41	REDISTRICTING.
42	42	BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
43	43	SECTION 1. It is proposed to amend Article 4, Section 3
44	44	of the constitution of New Mexico to read:
45	45	"A. Senators shall not be less than twenty-five
46	46	years of age and representatives not less than twenty-one years
47	47	of age at the time of their election. If any senator or
48	48	representative permanently removes [his ] the senator's or
49	49	representative's residence from or maintains no residence in
50	50	the district from which [he ] the senator or representative was
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78	78	elected, then [he] the senator or representative shall be
79	79	deemed to have resigned and [his ] a successor shall be selected
80	80	as provided in Section 4 of this article. No person shall be
81	81	eligible to serve in the legislature who, at the time of
82	82	qualifying, holds any office of trust or profit with the state,
83	83	county or national governments, except notaries public and
84	84	officers of the militia who receive no salary.
85	85	B. The senate shall be composed of no more than
86	86	forty-two members elected from single-member districts.
87	87	C. The house of representatives shall be composed
88	88	of no more than seventy members elected from single-member
89	89	districts.
90	90	[D. Once following publication of the official
91	91	report of each federal decennial census hereafter conducted,
92	92	the legislature may by statute reapportion its membership. ]"
93	93	SECTION 2. It is proposed to amend Article 20 of the
94	94	constitution of New Mexico by adding a new section to read:
95	95	"A. By September 1 of the year of the federal
96	96	decennial census, an independent redistricting commission shall
97	97	be established to develop and adopt plans for the redistricting
98	98	of state legislative districts and the districts of other state
99	99	offices requiring redistricting. The commission shall file its
100	100	adopted plans with the secretary of state within six months of
101	101	the release of redistricting data by the United States census
102	102	bureau. Plans adopted by the commission shall determine the
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131	131	districts for use in the succeeding elections for each
132	132	respective office.
133	133	B. The redistricting commission shall consist of
134	134	nine members who are registered qualified electors of New
135	135	Mexico, three of whom are members of the largest political
136	136	party, three of whom are members of the second largest
137	137	political party and three of whom are not members of either of
138	138	the two largest political parties and that, as closely as
139	139	possible, reflects the demographic makeup and geographic
140	140	distribution of the population of the state. From applications
141	141	received, the secretary of state shall administer the process
142	142	to randomly select two-thirds of the members of the commission
143	143	using a statistically accepted weighting methodology as
144	144	provided by law. The final one-third shall be selected from
145	145	among the remaining applicant pool by majority vote of the
146	146	commission members. The legislature shall provide by law a
147	147	procedure for meetings of the redistricting commission.
148	148	C. Districts shall be drawn using traditional
149	149	redistricting principles and shall not result in minority vote
150	150	dilution when a minority group is sufficiently large and
151	151	geographically compact to constitute a majority in a single-
152	152	member district and is politically cohesive and the non-
153	153	minority group votes sufficiently as a block to usually enable
154	154	it to defeat the minority group's preferred candidate. The
155	155	commission shall not consider the voting address of incumbents.
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184	184	The commission shall not use party membership or voting history
185	185	to develop redistricting plans but may use such information to
186	186	assess compliance with federal law and this section.
187	187	D. The redistricting commission has procurement and
188	188	contracting authority and may employ or contract with staff,
189	189	consultants and legal counsel as necessary to carry out its
190	190	duties. The redistricting commission has standing in legal
191	191	actions challenging the redistricting plans or process or the
192	192	adequacy of resources provided for the operation of the
193	193	redistricting commission. The redistricting commission has
194	194	sole authority to determine whether the attorney general or the
195	195	commission's counsel shall represent the state in the legal
196	196	defense of a redistricting plan."
197	197	SECTION 3. The amendment proposed by this resolution
198	198	shall be submitted to the people for their approval or
199	199	rejection at the next general election or at any special
200	200	election prior to that date that may be called for that
201	201	purpose.
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