CHARTER COUNTIES (EXCERPT)
Act 293 of 1966

45.505 Partisan election of charter commission; nomination of candidates; petition or filing fee; primary election; composition and convening of county apportionment commission; rules of procedure; quorum; majority vote; establishment of charter commission districts; requirements for districts; use of census figures; apportionment; division; date of primary; election of charter commission; filing and availability of apportionment plan and copies thereof; judicial review; appeal; submission and filing of plan by registered voter; official apportionment plan; duration; election of 1 charter commissioner for each district; limitation on representation.

Sec. 5.

(1) The resolution shall provide for a partisan election of a charter commission, for the nomination of candidates for the charter commission by petitioning or filing a fee, and for a primary election of charter commission candidates. A charter commission candidate who elects to pay a filing fee shall pay the fee not less than 3 days before the final day upon which petitions may be filed. The resolution shall provide for the election of charter commissioners from districts established by the county apportionment commission. The county apportionment commission shall consist of the county clerk, the county treasurer, the prosecuting attorney, and the statutory county chairperson of each of the 2 political parties receiving the greatest number of votes cast for the office of secretary of state in the last general election in which a secretary of state was elected. If a county does not have a statutory chairperson of a political party, the 2 additional members shall be a party representative from each of the 2 political parties receiving the greatest number of votes cast for the office of secretary of state in the last general election in which a secretary of state was elected and appointed by the chairperson of the state central committee for each of the political parties. The county clerk shall convene the county apportionment commission and the county apportionment commission shall adopt the rules of procedure. Three members of the county apportionment commission are a quorum sufficient to conduct its business. All action of the apportionment commission shall be by majority vote of the apportionment commission.

(2) The county apportionment commission, within 30 days after the adoption of the resolution by the county board of commissioners, shall establish charter commission districts equal to the number of charter commissioners to be elected. All districts shall be single member districts and as equal in population as practicable. The latest official published figures of the United States official census shall be used in this determination, except that in cases requiring a division of official census units to meet the population standard, an actual population count may be used to make the division. Other governmental census figures of total population may be used if taken after the last decennial United States census and the United States census figures are not adequate for the purposes of this act. The secretary of state shall furnish the latest official published figures to the county apportionment commission within 15 days after publication of subsequent United States official census figures. A contract may be entered into with the United States census bureau to conduct a special census if the latest United States decennial census figures are not adequate. Each district shall be contiguous, compact, and as nearly square in shape as is practicable, depending on the geography of the county area involved, and shall be drawn without regard to partisan political advantage. Each city and township shall be apportioned so that it shall have the largest possible number of complete districts within its boundaries before any part of the city or township is joined to territory outside the boundaries of the city or township to form a district. Townships, villages, cities, and precincts shall be divided only if necessary to meet the population standard.

(3) In a county having a population of less than 1,500,000, the date of the primary election for charter commissioners may be the same as the date for the submisson of the question as provided in section 3. Otherwise, the date of the primary election for charter commissioners shall be the same as the date for the submission of the question as provided in section 3. The election of the charter commission shall be at the next primary or general election occurring not less than 60 days after the primary election for charter commissioners. If a regular primary or general election does not occur within 180 days after the date of the primary, the county board of commissioners shall provide, in the resolution, for a date on which the final election of the commission shall be held.

(4) The apportionment plan approved by the apportionment commission shall be filed in the office of the county clerk at which time the plan shall become effective, and copies of the plan immediately shall be forwarded by the county clerk to the secretary of state for filing. The plan shall be made available at cost to any registered voter of the county.

(5) Any registered voter of the county, within 30 days after the filing of the plan for his or her county, may petition the court of appeals to review the plan to determine if the plan meets the requirements of the laws of this state. A finding of the court of appeals may be appealed to the supreme court of this state as provided by law.

(6) If the apportionment commission has failed to submit a plan for its county within 60 days but not less than 30 days after the latest official published census figures are available or within an additional time as may be granted by the court of appeals for good cause shown on petition from the apportionment commission, any registered voter of the county may submit a plan to the commission for approval. The apportionment commission shall choose, from among those plans submitted, a plan meeting the requirements of the laws of this state and shall file the plan in the office of the county clerk as provided in this section within 30 days after the deadline for filing of the apportionment commission's own plan or any extension granted on the filing of the plan.

(7) Once an apportionment plan has been found constitutional and not in violation of this act and all appeals have been exhausted or, if an appeal has not been taken, when the time for appeal has expired, that plan shall be the official apportionment plan for the county until the next United States official decennial census figures are available. When the next United States official decennial census figures are available, a new apportionment plan under this act shall be established by the county apportionment commission.

(8) The electors of each district established pursuant to this act shall elect 1 charter commissioner. There shall not be representation other than that set forth by this act.


History: 1966, Act 293, Eff. Mar. 10, 1967

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Am. 1980, Act 7, Imd. Eff. Feb. 13, 1980

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