# Plain Language Summary: Coretta Scott King Mid-Decade Redistricting Prohibition Act of 2021

This bill prevents states from redrawing their congressional district maps more than once every ten years. Here's what that means: Every ten years, after the census counts the population, states get to redraw the lines that determine which voters are in which congressional districts. This bill says that once a state does this redistricting, they have to stick with those maps for the entire decade—they can't redraw them again until after the next census, with two important exceptions.

The exceptions are crucial because they protect people's voting rights. A state can still redraw its districts if a court orders them to do so because the current maps violate the Constitution or break the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This matters because sometimes district maps are drawn in ways that unfairly dilute the voting power of certain groups, and courts need the ability to fix those problems. The bill is named after Coretta Scott King to honor her civil rights legacy and emphasize the importance of protecting voting rights.

The practical effect is that it stops what's called "mid-decade redistricting"—when politicians redraw maps in the middle of a ten-year cycle to gain political advantage. This has happened in states like Texas and Pennsylvania, where one party controlled the legislature and used redistricting to boost their power between censuses. By limiting redistricting to once per decade, the bill aims to make elections more stable and reduce the ability of politicians to manipulate district lines for partisan gain. However, the bill only applies to congressional districts for the U.S. House of Representatives, not to state or local elections, so states can still redraw those maps as they see fit.

Coretta Scott King Mid-Decade Redistricting Prohibition Act of 2021

Jackson Lee, Sheila

Coretta Scott King Mid-Decade Redistricting Prohibition Act of 2021 This bill prohibits a state where the congressional districts have been redistricted after a decennial census from carrying out another redistricting until after the next apportionment of Representatives following a decennial census, unless a court requires the state to conduct a subsequent redistricting to comply with the Constitution or enforce the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The bill is applicable to any congressional redistricting which occurs after the regular decennial census conducted during 2020.