Article
8
Apportionment - Membership in General Assembly |
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| Sec.
1. Board of apportionment created - Powers and duties. |
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| A
Board to be known as "The Board of
Apportionment," consisting of the Governor (who
shall be Chairman), the Secretary of State and the
Attorney General is hereby created and it shall be its
imperative duty to make apportionment of representatives
in accordance with the provisions hereof; the action of
a majority in each instance shall be deemed the action
of said board. [As amended by Const. Amends. 23 and 45.] |
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| Sec.
2. One hundred members in House of Representatives -
Apportionment. |
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| The
House of Representatives shall consist of one hundred
members and each county existing at the time of any
apportionment shall have at least one representative;
the remaining members shall be equally distributed (as
nearly as practicable) among the more populous counties
of the State, in accordance with a ratio to be
determined by the population of said counties as shown
by the Federal census next preceding any apportionment
hereunder. [As amended by Const. Amends. 23 and 45.] |
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| Sec.
3. Senatorial districts - Thirty-five members of Senate. |
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| The
Senate shall consist of thirty-five members. Senatorial
districts shall at all times consist of contiguous
territory, and no county shall be divided in the
formation of such districts. "The Board of
Apportionment" hereby created shall, from time to
time, divide the state into convenient senatorial
districts in such manner as that the Senate shall be
based upon the inhabitants of the state, each senator
representing, as nearly as practicable, an equal number
thereof; each district shall have at least one senator.
[As amended by Const. Amend. 23.] |
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| Sec.
4. Duties of Board of Apportionment. |
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| On
or before February 1 immediately following each Federal
census, said board shall reapportion the State for
Representatives, and in each instance said board shall
file its report with the Secretary of State, setting
forth (a) the basis of population adopted for
representatives; (b) the number of representatives
assigned to each county; whereupon, after 30 days from
such filing date, the apportionment thus made shall
become effective unless proceedings for revision be
instituted in the Supreme Court within said period. [As
amended by Const. Amends. 23 and 45.] |
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| Sec.
5. Mandamus to compel Board of Apportionment to act. |
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| Original
jurisdiction (to be exercised on application of any
citizens and taxpayers) is hereby vested in the Supreme
Court of the State (a) to compel (by mandamus or
otherwise) the board to perform its duties as here
directed and (b) to revise any arbitrary action of or
abuse of discretion by the board in making such
apportionment; provided any such application for
revision shall be filed with said Court within 30 days
after the filing of the report of apportionment by said
board with the Secretary of State; if revised by the
court, a certified copy of its judgment shall be by the
clerk thereof forthwith transmitted to the Secretary of
State, and thereupon be and become a substitute for the
apportionment made by the board. [As amended by Const.
Amends. 23 and 45.] |
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| Sec.
6. Election of Senators and Representatives. |
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| At
the next general election for State and County officers
ensuing after any such apportionment, Representatives
shall be elected in accordance therewith, Senators shall
be elected henceforth according to the apportionment now
existing, and their respective terms of office shall
begin on January 1 next following. Senators shall be
elected for a term of four years at the expiration of
their present terms of office. [As amended by Const.
Amends. 23 and 45.]
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Article 8
of the Arkansas Constitution as amended by Amendment 23
and Amendment 45, thus provides that the Board of
Apportionment consists of the Governor (chairman), the
Secretary of State and the Attorney General. With regard
to the General Assembly itself, Article 8 states that
there will be 100 members of the House of
Representatives, and 35 members of the Senate.
Representatives have two-year terms (set out more
clearly in Section 2 of Amendment 73
to the Arkansas Constitution) and Senators
have four-year terms. Article 8 vests the Arkansas
Supreme Court with original jurisdiction to hear
lawsuits to compel the Board to perform its duties and
to revise an improper plan. A lawsuit to revise a plan
must be filed within 30 days of the date the plan is
filed with the Secretary of State.
Beyond
that, much of Article 8 is either archaic or has been
held to be in violation of the United States
Constitution. Some of the duties it prescribes to the
Board of Apportionment cannot be performed as envisioned
by those who drafted Article 8. For instance, regarding
the House of Representatives, Article 8 Section 2
provided that "each county … shall have at least
one representative; the remaining members shall be
equally distributed (as nearly as practicable) among the
more populous counties." Similarly, Section 3
provided that "no county shall be divided in the
formation" of senate districts. The United States
District Court declared these provisions
unconstitutional in 1965 (Yancy v. Faubus, 238 F.Supp.
290) and the Arkansas Supreme Court did so in 1965
(Faubus v Kinney, 239 Ark. 443) and 1981 (Wells v.
White, 274 Ark. 197). These courts made their rulings on
the basis of United States Supreme Court cases which
required that legislative districts be equal in
population as nearly as possible. The counties in
Arkansas vary widely in population, and it is not
possible for each county to have a representative of its
own and also comply with the population equality rule.
Justice Purtle stated in the Wells case that where it is
"obviously necessary to deviate from county lines
in order to achieve … equal population among the
districts" the Board of Apportionment must
disregard county lines.
An
archaic part of Article 8 is the deadline for filing a
plan. Article 8 imposes an impossible deadline of
"February 1 immediately following each Federal
census" for the Board of Apportionment to complete
its work. Essentially, this provision can be read to
require that redistricting be completed before the
census is released! (The
results of the 2000 census will be released about April
1, 2001.) While this deadline may have been practical
when it was written, in modern times Census data have
not been released to the states until March or April in
the year following the census. The Arkansas Supreme
Court recognized this problem and held in 1951 that the
February 1 deadline need not be met when census data is
not available until after that date. Indeed, since the
1950 redistricting, at least, the Board has filed its
plan well after February 1, and there has not been a
legal challenge invoking the February 1 deadline.
Also, the
term "apportionment" as used in Article 8
became outdated when the courts ruled Sections 2 and 3
unconstitutional. These rulings changed the Board’s
function from a true "apportionment" board to
one that actually "redistricts" the state. The
word "apportionment", when used in the
legislative context, means the distribution of
legislative seats to geographic areas that are entitled
to representation. For instance, Congress
"apportions" House of Representative positions
to the states when it decides after the census the
number of Representatives each state will have pursuant
to a mathematical formula. This was essentially the task
of the Board of Apportionment prior to 1965, at least
with regard to the House of Representatives, when it was
required to decide how many representatives each county
received. Now, the Board of Apportionment actually
redistricts the state - its primary function is to draw
legislative districts of roughly equal population from
which legislators will be elected.
Article
8, as amended by the people and interpreted by the
courts, is the legal requirement for redistricting in
Arkansas. Federal statutes and constitutional provisions
also establish legal guidelines for redistricting in
Arkansas and raise redistricting issues that often get
resolved in court. |
