The Hawaii State Supreme Court ruled Wednesday afternoon the State’s 2011 final reapportionment plan, which divides the state into state senate and state house districts, is invalid. The court says the Commission violated the State Constitution by not excluding nonresident military and dependents, and nonresident students.
Hilo attorney Stan Roehrig says this is precedent-setting; there has never been a Supreme Court challenge to a state reapportionment plan. The court has not issued its final written order…Roehrig only appeared before the court Wednesday morning, and they issued their order before Roehrig had even landed back in Hilo Wednesday afternoon. But he says the next step should be for the State Reapportionment Commission to reconvene and extract the nonresidents, which Roehrig says the Commission’s own staff identified as around 120,000 last August. The information was based on figures provided by the military and by state universities, based on students paying out-of-state tuition.
The implications for Hawaii Island are big, politically: if 20,000 are extracted from the count, Hawaii Island should get a fourth Senate seat–and Oahu one less. If the number is 107,000, Hawaii Island may get an additional state representative–and Oahu would lose one. Roehrig says this is indicative of the population shift occurring in the state. Hawaii Island had a 25% population increase as of the 2010 census.
Roehrig and Kona attorney Robert Kim filed the suit on behalf of Hawaii Island residents Malama Solomon, Patricia Cook, Louis Hao, and Steven Pavao. The decision has no effect on the Hawaii County Redistricting Plan, which set the boundaries for the County Council districts, and which was finalized December 30, 2011.
Attorney Stan Roehrig explains the Supreme Court ruling
Stan Roehirg
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