Committee Charge:

In accordance with the Senate order passed on January 29, 2009 and concurred with by the House of Representatives on March 5, 2009, the special Joint Committee on Redistricting shall study the division of the Commonwealth into (a) 9 Congressional districts under the United States Constitution, (b) 40 senatorial and 8 councillor districts and (c) 160 representative districts. 

The charge of the Special Joint Committee on Redistricting is to develop legislation for the redistricting of congressional, state representative, state senatorial, and governor’s councillor districts for the Commonwealth that meet all applicable constitutional and legal standards and to recommend plans for such districts to the Legislature in a timely fashion so as to permit deliberation and enactment by the Legislature in a timely manner for the 2012 state and federal elections.

The proposed districts submitted by the Committee to the Legislature for consideration shall be created to meet applicable constitutional and legal standards.

The districts within each plan shall be composed of contiguous territory. No town containing fewer than 2500 inhabitants shall be divided in the formation of representative districts. When creating districts, the Committee shall be mindful of federal and state redistricting case law, equal voting opportunities established by the Voting Rights Act, the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, the Massachusetts Constitution and traditional redistricting principles.

The Committee shall hold public hearings across the Commonwealth to solicit the views of interested parties.