Proposes constitutional amendment to require that legislative districts be established in manner that promotes competition between political parties.

SCR72

SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION No. 72

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

INTRODUCED JANUARY 28, 2026

Sponsored by:

Senator� JON M. BRAMNICK

District 21 (Middlesex, Morris, Somerset and Union)

SYNOPSIS

���� Proposes constitutional amendment to require that
legislative districts be established in manner that promotes competition
between political parties.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� As introduced.

��

A
Concurrent Resolution

proposing to
amend Article IV, Section III, paragraph 1 of the New Jersey Constitution.

����
Be It
Resolved
by the Senate of the State of New
Jersey (the General Assembly concurring):

���� 1.��� The following proposed amendment to the
Constitution of the State of New Jersey is agreed to:

PROPOSED AMENDMENT

���� Amend Article IV, Section III, paragraph 1 to
read as follows:

���� 1.���
a.
�
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.

����
b.� In establishing
districts, the commission, while giving due consideration to all other
applicable constitutional principles, shall establish districts that promote
competition between the two major political parties.� The goal of the
commission shall be to establish districts such that candidates of the
political party receiving the majority of the votes Statewide for each House of
the Legislature will be elected to the majority of the seats in the respective
House.

����
Subject to compliance with
other applicable constitutional principles, the commission shall establish as
many competitive districts as possible.� A �competitive district� is one in
which no political party is favored to win election by more than 10 percentage
points.� To determine whether a political party is favored to win election by
more than 10 percentage points, the commission shall use

the vote totals of the last two
gubernatorial elections in those municipalities comprising an established
district as a proxy for actual vote totals in order to estimate the likely
results in future legislative elections for each newly established district.

����
Any person registered to
vote in this State shall have standing to challenge the districts established by
the commission on the grounds that the districts do not sufficiently promote competition
as required by this subparagraph. �The New Jersey Supreme Court shall have
original jurisdiction to hear directly any such challenge.� To be successful, the
person shall demonstrate, by a preponderance of the evidence, that it is
possible to establish more competitive districts than the number established by
the commission and those districts are more likely to result in members of the
party that receives the most votes Statewide for members of each House
constituting a majority in the respective House, while complying with all
applicable constitutional principles.� If the challenge is successful, the Court
shall order that the districts proposed by the challenger shall replace the
districts established by the commission.

����
As used in this
subparagraph, �major political party� means a political party whose candidates
received the largest number or the second largest number of votes in the most
recent gubernatorial election in this State.

����
New districts shall be
established in the next odd-numbered year after this subparagraph becomes a
part of the Constitution.� Thereafter, districts shall be established at the
intervals provided for by the constitution.

(cf: Art. IV, Sec. III, par. 1
amended effective December 8, 1966)

���� 2.��� When this proposed
amendment to the Constitution is finally agreed to pursuant to Article IX,
paragraph 1 of the Constitution, it shall be submitted to the people at the
next general election occurring more than three months after the final
agreement and shall be published at least once in at least one newspaper of
each county designated by the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the
General Assembly and the Secretary of State, not less than three months prior
to the general election.

���� 3.��� This proposed amendment
to the Constitution shall be submitted to the people at that election in the
following manner and form:

���� There shall be printed on each
official ballot to be used at the general election, the following:

���� a.���� In every municipality
in which voting machines are not used, a legend which shall immediately precede
the question as follows:

���� If you favor the proposition
printed below make a cross (X), plus (+), or check (
a
) in the square opposite the word "Yes." If you are
opposed thereto make a cross (X), plus (+) or check (
a
) in the square opposite the
word "No."

b.

In every municipality the following
question:

CONSTITUTIONAL
AMENDMENT TO REQUIRE THAT LEGISLATIVE DISTRICTS BE ESTABLISHED TO PROMOTE
COMPETITION BETWEEN POLITICAL PARTIES

YES

���� Do you approve changing the
Constitution to require that legislative districts be established in a way
that promotes competition between political parties?� This change would make
it more likely that districts would more accurately reflect the preference of
the voters for which party will control the Legislature.

NO

INTERPRETIVE
STATEMENT

���� Every ten years, the
Apportionment Commission creates new legislative districts to ensure that
each district has about the same number of people and to meet other
constitutional requirements.�

���� This amendment would change
the Constitution to require the commission to create districts in a manner
that also promotes competition between political parties during legislative
elections.

���� The amendment would also
allow any registered voter who believes the districts created by the
commission are not competitive enough to bring a challenge before the New
Jersey Supreme Court.� If the challenge is successful, the Supreme Court will
order that the challenger�s districts replace the districts prepared by the
commission.

���� New districts complying with
these changes would be created in the next odd-numbered year after this
amendment takes effect.� After that, new districts would be created at the
ten-year intervals provided for by the Constitution.

SCHEDULE

���� This
constitutional amendment shall take effect upon approval by the voters.

STATEMENT

���� This constitutional amendment
would provide that, in establishing legislative districts, the Apportionment
Commission, while giving due consideration to all other applicable
constitutional principles, must establish districts that promote competition
between the two major political parties.

���� The goal of the commission is
to establish districts such that candidates of the political party receiving
the majority of the votes Statewide for each House of the Legislature will be
elected to the majority of the seats in the respective House. �The commission is
required to establish as many competitive districts as possible.� A
�competitive district� is one in which no political party is favored to win
election by more than 10 percentage points.� To determine whether a political
party is favored to win election by more than 10 percentage points, the
commission will use the vote totals of the last two gubernatorial elections in
those municipalities comprising an established district as a proxy for actual
vote totals in order to estimate the likely results in future legislative
elections for each newly established district.

���� The Supreme Court will have
original jurisdiction to directly hear a challenge brought by any registered
voter on the grounds that the districts drawn by the commission do not
sufficiently promote competition.� To be successful, any such challenge must
demonstrate by a preponderance of the evidence that it is possible to establish
more competitive districts than the number established by the commission and
those districts are more likely to result in members of the party that receives
the most votes Statewide for members of each House constituting a majority in
the respective House.� If the challenge is successful, the Court will order
that the districts proposed by the challenger replace the districts established
by the commission.

���� The amendment provides that a �major
political party� is a political party whose candidates received the largest
number or the second largest number of votes in the most recent gubernatorial
election in this State.

���� In addition, the amendment
provides that new districts will be established in the next odd-numbered year
after the amendment becomes a part of the Constitution and thereafter at the
ten-year intervals provided by the Constitution.