The general assembly shall consist of a senate composed of thirty-three (33) members and a house of representatives composed of ninety-nine (99) members, to be apportioned among the qualified voters of the several counties and districts as provided in §§ 3-1-102 and 3-1-103.
(a) Senators elected to the One Hundred Twelfth General Assembly shall, until the next general election for senators, represent their respective districts as constituted prior to February 6, 2022. Nothing in this section shall be construed as depriving any member of the senate of the One Hundred Twelfth General Assembly of such member's office, or as affecting or modifying the constitutional requirement of staggered senatorial terms, or as affecting or modifying any other provisions of Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution of Tennessee. At the November 2022 general election, and thereafter until changed by law, senators shall be elected to represent the districts as constituted and provided by this section. On the date of such November 2022 general election and thereafter until changed by law, senators shall represent the districts as constituted and provided by this section. If an election is required prior to the general election in November 2022, to fill a vacancy in accordance with Article II, Section 15(a) of the Constitution of Tennessee, then the election to fill the vacancy shall be held in the district as constituted and provided prior to February 6, 2022.
(b)
(1) All census descriptions, counties, voting districts (VTDs), whether designated as precincts, wards, council districts, or otherwise, tracts, blocks, census delineations, census district lines and other census designations are those established for or by the United States department of commerce, bureau of the census, for taking the 2020 federal decennial census in Tennessee as contained in the automated geographic database, known as the TIGER (topologically integrated geographic encoding and referencing) system.
(2) As provided in subsection (d), each district is described county by county in alphabetical order and, if a county is split, by the portion of such split county. Split counties are described by VTDs and, if further divided, by census blocks.
(c) Any reapportionment of county legislative bodies shall not affect these legislative districts.
(d) Until the next enumeration of qualified voters and apportionment of senators, the state senatorial districts shall be composed as follows:
(e) It is the legislative intent that all senate districts shall be contiguous and contiguity by water is sufficient, and, toward that end, if any voting district or other geographical entity designated as a portion of a senate district is found to be noncontiguous with the larger portion of the senate district, it shall be constituted a portion of the senate district smallest in population to which it is contiguous.
(f) A candidate for election to the office of senator shall be required to reside in the senatorial district from which such candidate seeks to be elected for one (1) year immediately preceding the election.
(g) County election commissions shall, with the assistance of the comptroller of the treasury, redraw or establish any precinct lines to ensure that there will be no split precincts in legislative districts.
(h) Any subsequent reapportionment of county legislative bodies shall not affect these legislative districts.
(i) It is the intention of the general assembly in passing a plan apportioning the state senatorial districts to do so in a manner which complies with the constitutional mandates of the United States Constitution and the Constitution of Tennessee and applicable judicial decisions.
(1) All census descriptions, counties, voting districts (VTDs), tracts, blocks, census delineations, census district lines, and other census designations are those established for or by the United States department of commerce, bureau of the census, for taking the 2020 federal decennial census in Tennessee as contained in the automated geographic database, known as the TIGER (topologically integrated geographic encoding and referencing) system.
(2) As provided in subsection (c), each district is described county by county in alphabetical order and, if a county is split, by the portion of such split county. Split counties are described by VTDs and, if further divided, by census blocks.
(b) It is the intention of the general assembly that:
(1) Each district be represented by a single member;
(2) Districts are substantially equal in population in accordance with constitutional requirements for “one (1) person one (1) vote” as judicially interpreted to apply to state legislative districts;
(3) Geographic areas, boundaries, and population counts used for redistricting are based on the 2020 federal decennial census;
(4) Districts are contiguous and contiguity by water is sufficient, and, toward that end, if any voting district or other geographical entity designated as a portion of a district is found to be noncontiguous with the larger portion of such district, it must be constituted a portion of the district smallest in population to which it is contiguous;
(5) No more than thirty (30) counties are split to attach to other counties or parts of counties to form multi-county districts; and
(6) The redistricting plan complies with the Voting Rights Act and the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the United States Constitution.
(c) Until the next enumeration of qualified voters and apportionment of representatives, the state house of representatives shall be composed as follows: