New Jersey Legislative
Apportionment Commission
NEW JERSEY STATE CONSTITUTION 1947
(UPDATED THROUGH AMENDMENTS ADOPTED IN NOVEMBER, 2020)
LEGISLATIVE
SECTION II*
1. The Senate shall be composed of forty senators apportioned among Senate districts as nearly as may be according to the number of their inhabitants as reported in the last preceding decennial census of the United States and according to the method of equal proportions. Each Senate district shall be composed, wherever practicable, of one single county, and, if not so practicable, of two or more contiguous whole counties.
2. Each senator shall be elected by the legally qualified voters of the Senate district, except that if the Senate district is composed of two or more counties and two senators are apportioned to the district, one senator shall be elected by the legally qualified voters of each Assembly district. Each senator shall be elected for a term beginning at noon of the second Tuesday in January next following his election and ending at noon of the second Tuesday in January four years thereafter, except that each senator, to be elected for a term beginning in January of the second year following the year in which a decennial census of the United States is taken, shall be elected for a term of two years.
3. The General Assembly shall be composed of eighty members. Each Senate district to which only one senator is apportioned shall constitute an Assembly district. Each of the remaining Senate districts shall be divided into Assembly districts equal in number to the number of senators apportioned to the Senate district. The Assembly districts shall be composed of contiguous territory, as nearly compact and equal in the number of their inhabitants as possible, and in no event shall each such district contain less than eighty per cent nor more than one hundred twenty per cent of one-fortieth of the total number of inhabitants of the State as reported in the last preceding decennial census of the United States. Unless necessary to meet the foregoing requirements, no county or municipality shall be divided among Assembly districts unless it shall contain more than one-fortieth of the total number of inhabitants of the State, and no county or municipality shall be divided among a number of Assembly districts larger than one plus the whole number obtained by dividing the number of inhabitants in the county or municipality by one-fortieth of the total number of inhabitants of the State.
4. Two members of the General Assembly shall be elected by the legally qualified voters of each Assembly district for terms beginning at noon of the second Tuesday in January next following their election and ending at noon of the second Tuesday in January two years thereafter.
(cf: Article IV, Section II, paragraphs 1, 2, 3, 4 amended effective December 8, 1966)
* Please note that various provisions of Section II have been modified by subsequent court rulings. Currently, there are 40 legislative districts, with one senator and two members of the General Assembly elected from each district.
SECTION III
1. After the next and every subsequent decennial census of the United States, the Senate districts and Assembly districts shall be established, and the senators and members of the General Assembly shall be apportioned among them, by an Apportionment Commission consisting of ten members, five to be appointed by the chairman of the State committee of each of the two political parties whose candidates for Governor receive the largest number of votes at the most recent gubernatorial election. Each State chairman, in making such appointments, shall give due consideration to the representation of the various geographical areas of the State. Appointments to the Commission shall be made on or before November 15 of the year in which such census is taken and shall be certified by the Secretary of State on or before December 1 of that year. The Commission, by a majority of the whole number of its members, shall certify the establishment of Senate and Assembly districts and the apportionment of senators and members of the General Assembly to the Secretary of State within one month of the receipt by the Governor of the official decennial census of the United States for New Jersey, or on or before February 1 of the year following the year in which the census is taken, whichever date is later.
2. If the Apportionment Commission fails so to certify such establishment and apportionment to the Secretary of State on or before the date fixed or if prior thereto it determines that it will be unable so to do, it shall so certify to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey and he shall appoint an eleventh member of the Commission. The Commission so constituted, by a majority of the whole number of its members, shall, within one month after the appointment of such eleventh member, certify to the Secretary of State the establishment of Senate and Assembly districts and the apportionment of senators and members of the General Assembly.
3. Such establishment and apportionment shall be used thereafter for the election of members of the Legislature and shall remain unaltered until the following decennial census of the United States for New Jersey shall have been received by the Governor.
(cf: Article IV, Section III, paragraphs 1, 2, 3 amended effective December 8, 1966)
4. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraphs 1, 2, and 3 of this Section III, when the receipt by the Governor of the official decennial census of the United States for New Jersey occurs after February 15 of the year ending in one, following the year in which the census is taken, the commission shall certify the establishment of Senate and Assembly districts and the apportionment of Senators and members of the General Assembly to the Secretary of State after the November general election of that year ending in one, but not later than March 1 of the year ending in two. The commission shall begin conducting its business upon the receipt by the Governor of the official decennial census of the United States for New Jersey, and the eleventh member of the commission shall be appointed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey within one month of the Governor's receipt of that census data. Such establishment and apportionment shall be used for the election of members of the Senate and General Assembly beginning with elections conducted in the year ending in three, and elections thereafter, and shall remain unaltered until the following decennial census of the United States for New Jersey shall have been received by the Governor.
The Senate and Assembly districts certified to the Secretary of State by the previous Apportionment Commission for the previous decade shall remain in effect in that year ending in one and in the year ending in two, and shall be used for legislative elections in those years.
For the election of members of the Senate and General Assembly occurring in November of that year ending in one, members shall be elected by the legally qualified voters of their district as drawn by the previous Apportionment Commission for the previous decade, for terms beginning at noon of the second Tuesday in January next following their election and ending at noon of the second Tuesday in January two years thereafter.
(cf: Article IV, Section III, paragraph 4, added effective December 3, 2020)
NEW JERSEY APPORTIONMENT COMMISSION RULES
Adopted on October 15, 2021
(UPDATED THROUGH AMENDMENTS ADOPTED ON NOVEMBER 6, 2021)
The New Jersey Apportionment Commission (the "Commission") is established and operates according to the mandate set forth in Article IV, Section III, paragraphs 1 through 3 of the New Jersey Constitution.
1. The Commission shall adopt Robert's Rules of Order Revised (12th Ed.) and shall organize and operate under Robert’s Rules of Order Revised, as standard authority, when not in conflict with its constitutional mandate or these rules.
2. One Co-Chairperson shall be designated from among the Commissioners of each delegation by the Commissioners of each delegation. The Co-Chairpersons so elected shall have the power to act on behalf of their respective Commissioners with respect to such items as may be deemed necessary or expedient by a unanimous vote of said partisan Commissioners.
3. The Co-Chairpersons so selected shall alternate presiding at alternate meetings/hearings of the Commission.
a.Official Meetings. After the presiding officer has taken the Chair to preside over an official meeting, the order of business shall be as follows:
i. Call to Order;
ii. Adoption of the minutes of the previous meeting by a vote by a majority of the members present unless the previous meeting was recorded or transcribed;
iii. If applicable, reading of the minutes of the previous meeting may be waived by a majority vote of the members present;
iv. Reading of any correspondence or a summary of correspondence by the Secretary to the Commission unless dispensed with by a vote of a majority of the members present;
v. Old Business;
vi. New Business; and
vii. Motion to adjourn.
b.Public Hearings. After the presiding officer has taken the Chair to preside over an official hearing, the order of business shall be as follows:
i. Call to Order;
ii. Introduction by the Chair;
iii. Public Testimony/Comment; and
iv. Motion to adjourn.
4. One Vice Co-Chairperson may be designated from among the Commissioners of each delegation by the Commissioners of each delegation. Each Vice Co-Chairperson shall act in the place and stead of the Co-Chairperson of his/her party in the absence of that Co-Chairperson.
5. The Co-Chairperson of each delegation, after consultation with the Commissioners of that delegation, shall designate their delegation's Legal Counsel and such other consultants and staff as they deem necessary. The Co-Chairperson of each delegation shall notify their counterpart of his or her delegation's selections.
6. No member of the Commission may serve as a staff member to the Commission.
In the event a vacancy in the membership of the Commission occurring prior to the certification by the Commission of legislative districts or during any period in which the legislative districts established by the Commission may be or are under challenge in the Courts of this State or the United States, the vacancy shall be filled within five days of the occurrence of the vacancy, in the same manner as the original appointment of the person whose position became vacant.
1. The appropriation of funds made available to the Commission as authorized by the FY 2022 Appropriations Act shall be allocated to (a) the Common Fund of the Commission to carry out the Commission's common responsibilities; (b) to each of the two delegations; and (c) to the Eleventh Member to carry out his responsibilities.
2. Each Co-Chairperson shall be authorized to approve payments from the fund allocated to his/her respective delegation, and both Co-Chairpersons are empowered to jointly authorize expenditures from the common fund on behalf of the Commission and shall approve every expenditure and sign all necessary vouchers for common services and expenses of the Commission. The Eleventh member shall be authorized to sign vouchers for the fund allocated to his/her use.
1. Six members of the Commission who are present shall constitute a quorum sufficient to transact business. Meetings may be held physically, virtually or telephonically.
2. A schedule and agenda of meetings of the Commission shall be jointly agreed to by the Co-Chairs of the Commission or at the request of six Commissioners.
3. Six affirmative votes by the Commissioners present at any meeting at which there is a quorum shall be required for any action taken by the Commission.
4. Notice of any meeting shall be given and shall include a statement of time, date, place and subject matter of the meeting. Notice shall be given by the Co-chairs to Commissioners at least 48 hours in advance of such meeting. Notice may be given either in writing, electronic mail or telephonically. The notice requirement provided above can be waived by six affirmative votes of the Commissioners, which may be cast by telephonic means.
5. Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 10:4-8, meetings of the Commission are not subject to the Open Public Meetings Act.
6. Members of the public may be permitted to speak at public hearings of the Commission only upon being recognized by the Chair.
1. The Commission shall hold at least ten (10) official meetings/public hearings.
2. At least one Public Hearing will be held in each of the northern, southern and central parts of the State. The Commission shall determine the location where such public hearings are located and which part of the state (northern, southern, or central) such meeting is designated as serving.
3. Official Meetings and Public Hearings may take place via an electronic video meeting system. The Commission may, subject to the constraints of time and convenience, review written plans for the establishment of legislative districts submitted by members of the general public.
4. The Co-Chairpersons of the Commission shall direct the Secretary to the Commission to arrange for a Certified Court Reporter or a reporter from the Hearing Reporter Unit of the Office of Legislative Services to be present at public hearings of the Commission or to review recordings of public hearings held via an electronic video meeting system and said reporter shall transcribe full proceedings of said public hearing. A typewritten transcript of the public hearings shall be prepared as soon as possible after such hearings and shall be available to the Commissioners. Such transcripts will be posted on the Commission’s website for review by the public.
(Article VI, paragraph 4, amended effective November 6, 2021)
5. The certified transcript of the above public hearings prepared by the Certified Court Reporter shall become part of the official records of the Commission and shall be submitted to the Secretary of State with other official records of the Commission, if any, when the Commission terminates its business.
The Commission shall certify the establishment of legislative districts upon a vote of six members of the Commission. The certification of legislative districts shall be signed by all the Commissioners who cast the votes approving the legislative district plan and the certification thereof.
Before terminating its business, the Commission may submit to the Legislature any recommendations for modifying or amending existing statutes or the State Constitution by a vote of seven members of the Commission.