Act No. 74 (H.629). Elections; periodic reapportionment; house of representatives; initial districts

An act relating to reapportioning the initial districts of the house of representatives

This act established new initial legislative districts in the house of representatives based on the 2010 U.S. Census and is the first of two acts that reapportion the house. These districts consist of geographic electoral subdivisions entitled to one to 12 legislative representatives and are based on the U.S. and Vermont constitutional mandates of equality of representation and Vermont statutory periodic reapportionment standards set forth in 17 V.S.A. § 1903, which are preservation of existing political subdivision lines; recognition and maintenance of patterns of geography, social interaction, trade, political ties, and common interests; and use of compact and contiguous territory.

Pursuant to 17 V.S.A. § 1906a(a), the initial districts entitled to elect a single representative to the house are final until the next reapportionment. The initial districts entitled to elect two members to the house may, pursuant to 17 V.S.A. § 1906a(b), either remain as a two-member district until the next reapportionment or alternatively, be further subdivided into two single-member districts. Initial districts entitled to three or more members are required to be further subdivided into single- or two-member districts or a combination thereof pursuant to 17 V.S.A. § 1906a(c) and chapter II, § 13 of Vermont's Constitution, which states that voters of each representative district established by law shall elect one or two representatives from that district.

The processes for the discretion to subdivide an initial district entitled to two representatives and the requirement to subdivide an initial district entitled to three or more representatives are set forth in 17 V.S.A. §§ 1906b and 1906c, respectively. Both statutes involve the boards of civil authority of the towns within each initial district convening to make proposals for subdivisions. Both sections require that boards of civil authority consider the same periodic reapportionment standards that are found in 17 V.S.A. § 1903, with the additional requirement that the boards also consider incumbencies. The act required that boards of civil authority submit any proposals to the clerk of the house by March 15, 2012. Subdivisions of these multiple-member initial districts were subsequently enacted in the second of the two reapportionment acts, Act No. 93.

Overall, many of the house districts remained the same as under 2002 reapportionment, or were redrawn with only slight variations from 2002 boundaries. However, the shift in population northward resulted in the general assembly assigning a 10th house member to the city of Burlington and consolidating portions of two districts in Rutland and Windsor Counties, which resulted in a new Mt. Holly/Ludlow/Shrewsbury single-member district and the reassignments of the towns of Plymouth, Tinmouth, and Wallingford to different districts. For purposes of this act, the cities of Burlington and Winooski were assigned to a 12-member district.

In Bennington County, another example of a change from 2002 reapportionment was combining the existing Shaftsbury/Glastenbury single-member district with the existing Arlington/Sandgate/Sunderland/southern portion of Rupert single-member district, and adding the town of Stratton. In Franklin County, there was established a two-member district, including St. Albans City and a part of St. Albans Town, with the balance of the town placed in a single-member district. Moreover, a Bakersfield/Fairfield/Fletcher single-member district was drawn; the towns of Fairfax and Georgia were split into two single-member districts; and the towns of Enosburgh and Montgomery were combined into a single-member district. In Lamoille County, the Wolcott/Hyde Park and Johnson/Eden 2002 single-member districts, along with the town of Belvidere, were merged into a two-member district, except that Eden was split along Route 100 so that the western portion was assigned to the new Orleans-Lamoille single-member district that also included Jay, Lowell, Troy, and Westfield. These changes left a new single-member Cambridge/Waterville district.

Several realignments in Rutland and Bennington Counties required splitting a small portion of the town of Wells around Lake St. Catherine and placing it with Poultney and Ira, with Ira being made whole after it had been split under 2002 reapportionment. The rest of Wells was placed with Middletown Springs, Pawlet, Tinmouth, and the northern portion of Rupert. In Washington County, a new two-member district encompassing the towns of Berlin and Northfield was established, which resulted in the reassignment of the town of Roxbury to the existing 2002 Orange-Addison district that includes the towns of Braintree, Brookfield, Granville, and Randolph. Moreover, the 2002 single-member district containing the Mad River Valley towns of Fayston, Waitsfield, and Warren combined with the towns of Duxbury and Moretown to form a new two-member district, and the town of Waterbury was aligned in a two-member district with the Chittenden County towns of Bolton and Huntington and Buel's Gore. In Windham County, a small segment of Townshend was assigned to the existing Dover/Readsboro/Searsburg/Somerset/Stamford/Wardsboro single-member district. And in Windsor County, the single-member districts encompassing Windsor and Hartland/West Windsor were merged into a two-member district.

Effective Date: February 28, 2012