S. 2885 — Redistricting Reform Act of 2025

This section requires, notwithstanding any other provision of law, that congressional redistricting conducted by a state follow (1) a plan developed and enacted by an independent redistricting commission established under title II, or (2) if no such plan is enacted, a plan developed and enacted by a three-judge court under section 301. It amends 2 U.S.C. 2a(c)—governing the election of Representatives until a state redistricts following decennial census-based apportionment—by striking "in the manner provided by the law thereof" and inserting "in the manner provided by the Redistricting Reform Act of 2025". The requirements do not apply to states with independent commissions in continuous effect that meet seven criteria—(1) publicly available application process, (2) disqualification of recent public officials, candidates, or campaign staff, (3) screening for conflicts of interest, (4) multi-partisan composition, (5) criteria minimizing community divisions and banning partisan favoritism in map-drawing, (6) public hearings and input, and (7) majority approval including support from each partisan and independent group—or to Iowa under its existing process using the Iowa Legislative Services Agency and Temporary Redistricting Advisory Commission.

This section prohibits a state redistricted under this Act or as described in sec. 101(c) or (d) from conducting subsequent redistricting until after the next apportionment of House seats under 2 U.S.C. 2a (i.e., the post-decennial census apportionment process), unless required by court order to comply with the U.S. Constitution, Voting Rights Act, state constitution, or this Act. (Thus, it bans mid-decade redistricting for covered states.) It applies the noncompliance remedies of sec. 402 to violations of this prohibition and takes effect for redistricting after the 2020 decennial census or any subsequent census.

This section establishes mandatory criteria, in ranked order of priority, for state congressional redistricting plans, which must use single-member districts and comply with all such criteria: (1) equalizing total population under the Constitution; (2) complying with the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA), including coalition districts for politically cohesive protected groups; (3) preventing dilution of any VRA-protected group's practical ability to nominate candidates and elect representatives of choice—assessed via factors including political cohesion, racially polarized voting, and crossover support—regardless of whether the group is a majority of the district's citizen voting age population; and (4) representing communities of interest (i.e., areas with shared ethnic, racial, economic, social, cultural, geographic, or historic identities or socioeconomic conditions, potentially including political subdivisions but excluding partisan ties) to the extent practicable, prioritizing those with the greatest representational needs from intact districts. This section further prohibits any plan, statewide, from materially favoring or disfavoring a political party due to intent or effect, determined by the totality of circumstances including (A) computer modeling of recent statewide federal general elections under varied conditions, (B) statistical likelihood and degree of partisan advantage or disadvantage, (C) comparisons to compliant alternative plans with lower partisan skew, and (D) process transparency and support; it also creates a rebuttable presumption of violation via court motion within 30 days of plan enactment (or this Act's effective date, if later), with a hearing within 15 days.

This section requires each state's nonpartisan agency to establish an independent redistricting commission consisting of 15 members to develop the state's congressional redistricting plan, with appointments as follows: (1) by October 1 of a year ending in the numeral zero, the agency appoints 6 members randomly at a public meeting (2 from the majority category, 2 from the minority category, and 2 from the independent category of an approved selection pool); (2) by November 15 of that year, those 6 members appoint 9 additional members at a public meeting (3 from each category), requiring the affirmative vote of at least 4 of the initial 6 (including one from each category) and ensuring demographic and geographic diversity as well as meaningful participation by racial, ethnic, and language minorities protected under the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The agency and initial appointees must designate 2 alternates per category to fill vacancies randomly (with replacement alternates as needed), and a commission member may be removed by majority vote of the remaining members upon a preponderance-of-evidence showing of ineligibility.

This section establishes eligibility criteria for individuals to serve as members of a state's independent redistricting commission, requiring (1) registration to vote in the state's federal elections as of appointment and continuous registration with the same political party (or no party) for the prior three years; (2) submission of an application to the state's nonpartisan agency with personal details (i.e., name, contact information, demographics, party affiliation, qualifications, and reasons for service), plus attestations of impartiality and compliance; and (3) no disqualifying actions by the individual or immediate family member (i.e., father, mother, son, daughter, sibling, spouse, or in-law) during covered periods (10 years before appointment, from appointment through August 14 of the next year ending in the numeral "1," and the subsequent 10 years), including holding public office, serving as a party or campaign officer or paid consultant, registered lobbying, government employment or contracting, campaign donations over $1,000 aggregate, FECA violations, or acting as a foreign agent. This section further directs each state's nonpartisan agency, by June 15 of each year ending in the numeral "0," to develop and submit to the state's Select Committee on Redistricting a pool of 36 eligible individuals, consisting of (1) a majority category of 12 individuals affiliated with the political party receiving the most votes in the state's most recent statewide federal election and (2) a minority category.

This section establishes public notice and input requirements for a State's independent redistricting commission in developing congressional redistricting plans. The commission must hold public meetings throughout the process; maintain a nonpartisan public website (operational by January 1 of the year ending in the numeral one) with general information, schedules, draft and final plans, public comments and proposed maps, live-streamed hearings, demographic data and mapping software, submission tools, records, contractor lists, and applicant names/applications; accept public comments from January 1 of the year ending in the numeral one until seven days before the final plan vote; hold meetings across geographic regions; and provide all required notices in languages mandated for election materials under section 203 of the Voting Rights Act (52 U.S.C. 10503) (i.e., for covered jurisdictions with significant limited-English proficient language minority citizens). Prior to a final plan, the commission must hold at least three public hearings (with 14 days' notice) to solicit input on potential plans; accept public map submissions (posted online); and publish a preliminary plan with responses to comments (with 14 days' notice).

This section requires each state to establish or designate a nonpartisan agency (i.e., statutorily required to provide services impartially without advocating legislation) in its legislative branch, by October 15 of each year ending in the numeral nine (e.g., 2029), to appoint members of the state's independent redistricting commission; provide those members with training on legal obligations including the Voting Rights Act by January 15 of each year ending in the numeral one (e.g., 2031); adopt transparent regulations on applicant vetting, selection pools, randomization, and operations; preserve records for potential civil actions; and, if newly created, terminate upon enactment of the state's redistricting plan. Separately, this section requires each state to appoint, by January 15 of each year ending in the numeral zero (e.g., 2030), a bipartisan Select Committee on Redistricting—consisting of one upper-house member each appointed by that chamber's majority and minority party leaders, one lower-house member each appointed similarly (or, for unicameral legislatures, two members each appointed by chairs of the top two parties from the most recent statewide federal election)—to approve or disapprove the commission's selection pool.

This section directs the Comptroller General of the United States to submit to Congress, not later than May 15 of each year ending in the numeral one, a report on the extent to which the memberships of independent redistricting commissions for states established under this title met the diversity requirements of sections 201(a)(2)(B) and 202(b)(2) during the immediately preceding year ending in the numeral zero.

This section establishes deadlines and procedures for a federal three-judge district court (convened under 28 U.S.C. §2284) to develop a congressional redistricting plan if a state fails to enact one by the earliest of (1) its state law deadline, (2) February 15 of the federal election year, or (3) 90 days before the next federal primary election. Any state citizen may file such an action in the District of Columbia or the state's capital judicial district (as selected by the first filer with sufficient evidence of likely failure), granting the court exclusive authority to draw the plan using state criteria under section 103, with access to state data, public hearings and comments, and optional use of a special master. The court must publicly release initial plans with data and evaluations (per section 203(d)) for 14 days of comment before publishing a final plan (deemed enacted upon publication); it may issue an interim plan for imminent elections. Appeals follow section 402, and the filing stays state court redistricting proceedings unless the federal court orders otherwise. (As background, 28 U.S.C. §2284 generally requires three-judge courts for apportionment challenges; thus, this provision repurposes that mechanism to impose court-drawn maps for deadline failures, overriding state processes.)

This section establishes a special rule for state redistricting ordered by a federal court after apportionment of Representatives to comply with the Constitution or Voting Rights Act of 1965, applying section 203 to such redistricting but authorizing the court to revise its deadlines if needed for timely enactment of a new plan.

This section directs the Election Assistance Commission to make payments to states entitled to more than one Representative, not later than 30 days after receipt of a state apportionment notice and subject to appropriations, in an amount equal to $150,000 multiplied by the state's number of Representatives. Payments must be used to establish and operate a state's independent redistricting commission, implement its redistricting plan, and carry out congressional redistricting; payments are conditioned on state certification of compliance with independent redistricting requirements (with exceptions for states with existing commissions under sec. 101(c) and for Iowa), and authorizes such sums as necessary for these payments.

This section establishes civil enforcement procedures for claims that a state's congressional redistricting plan violates the Constitution, federal law, or this Act. It authorizes the Attorney General or any aggrieved citizen to bring such an action; requires prompt delivery of the complaint to the Clerk of the House and Secretary of the Senate; vests exclusive jurisdiction in specified U.S. district courts (District of Columbia or the judicial district of the state capital, or solely the District of Columbia for claims under section 103(c)); mandates a three-judge district court under 28 U.S.C. §2284 for statewide claims; limits appeals to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (with filing within 10 days) and subsequent Supreme Court certiorari; and requires expedited consideration by all courts. This section further specifies remedies, including (1) court adoption of a replacement plan under section 301 or, in limited circumstances without discriminatory intent or election delay, state submission of a remedial plan for court approval; (2) prohibition on using noncompliant plans or conducting elections under violating terms; (3) for cases not resolvable at least three months before a state House primary, adoption of an interim plan under section 301(f) for likely successful claims and adjustments to primary deadlines; and (4) no stays pending appeal except for abuse of discretion, with the D.C. Circuit able to direct development of a new remedial plan via special master.

This section defines the term “State apportionment notice” as the notice sent by the Clerk of the House of Representatives to a state executive under 2 U.S.C. §2a(b) certifying the number of Representatives to which the state is entitled following a decennial census apportionment.

This section specifies that nothing in this Act affects the manner in which a State carries out elections for State or local office, including the process by which a State establishes the districts used in such elections.

This section specifies that the Act and its amendments apply to redistricting carried out pursuant to the decennial census conducted during 2030 or any succeeding decennial census, except as provided in section 102.