119-hr5837

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5837 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 5837

To prohibit States from carrying out Congressional redistricting after 
 a decennial census and apportionment.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 October 28, 2025

 Mr. Davis of North Carolina introduced the following bill; which was 
 referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

To prohibit States from carrying out Congressional redistricting after 
 a decennial census and apportionment.

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE: FINDING OF CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Restoring 
Electoral Stability to Enhance Trust

    (RESET) Act of 2025''.

    (b) 

=== Finding ===
-Congress finds that it has the authority to establish 
the terms and conditions States must follow in carrying out 
Congressional redistricting after an apportionment of Members of the 
House of Representatives because--

    (1) the authority granted to Congress under Article I, 
 

Section 4 of the Constitution of the United States gives 
 Congress the power to enact laws governing the time, place, and 
 manner of elections for Members of the House of 
 Representatives; and

    (2) the authority granted to Congress under 

section 5 of 
 the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution gives Congress the 
 power to enact laws to enforce 

section 2 of such amendment, 
 which requires Representatives to be apportioned among the 
 several States according to their number.

SEC. 2. LIMIT ON CONGRESSIONAL REDISTRICTING AFTER AN APPORTIONMENT.

 2 U.S.C. 2c is amended by adding at the end the following: ``A 
State which has been redistricted in the manner provided by law after 
an apportionment under 

section 22

    (a) of the Act entitled `An Act to 
provide for the fifteenth and subsequent decennial censuses and to 
provide for an apportionment of Representatives in Congress', approved 
June 18, 1929 (2 U.S.C. 2a), may not be redistricted again until after 
the next apportionment of Representatives under such section, unless:
 ``

    (a) a court requires the State to conduct such subsequent 
redistricting to comply with the Constitution or to enforce the Voting 
Rights Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 5 1973 et seq.).
 ``

    (b) a court conducts such subsequent redistricting to comply with 
the Constitution or to enforce the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 
5 1973 et seq.), in which case a State, through its legislature or a 
state-mandated redistricting commission approved through a State 
constitution, shall have an opportunity following a court-constructed 
apportionment to conduct alternate subsequent redistricting to comply 
with the Constitution or to enforce the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (42 
U.S.C. 5 1973 et seq.).
 ``
            (c) a State orders a statewide referendum to conduct such 
subsequent redistricting to comply with the Constitution or to enforce 
the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 5 1973 et seq.).''.

SEC. 3. NO EFFECT ON ELECTIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL OFFICE.

 Nothing in this Act or in any amendment made by this Act may be 
construed to affect the manner in which a State carries out elections 
for State or local office, including the process by which a State 
establishes the districts used in such elections.

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

 Sections 2

    (a) and 2

    (b) and the amendment made by this Act shall 
apply with respect to any Congressional redistricting which occurs 
after the regular decennial census conducted during 2020. 

Section 2
            (c) shall apply only with respect to statewide referenda ordered after 
November 3, 2026.
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