Yatauro v. Mangano
| Decision Date | 30 August 2011 |
| Docket Number | No. 218,218 |
| Court | New York Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
| Parties | Diane Yatauro, et al., Appellants, v. Edward P. Mangano, & c., et al., Respondents, William T. Biamonte, Appellant. |
Steven R. Schlesinger, for appellants Diane Yatauro et al.
John Ciampoli, for respondents Edward P. Mangano et al.
Peter A. Bee, for respondents Peter J. Schmitt et al.
Carrie M. Solages, amicus curiae.
In 1994, pursuant to a judicial determination that the system of "weighted voting" used by the local legislative body ran afoul of the Equal Protection Clause (see Jackson v Nassau County Bd. of Supervisors, 818 F Supp 509, 535 [ED NY 1993]), the Nassau County Board of Supervisors passed Local Law No. 11-1994. To complete the court-ordered legislative restructuring, the Nassau County Commission on Government Revision was established and,after conducting public hearings, generated a proposal. The proposal ultimately resulted in the amendment of the County Government Law, approved by voter referendum, to establish a County Legislature comprised of 19 single member districts, taking the place of the existing 6-member Board of Supervisors (see Local Law No. 11-1994). The amendments included provisions setting forth the boundaries of the 19 legislative districts and providing procedures for reapportioning those districts based on the results of each decennial United States Census. As first proposed by the Commission on Governmental Revision, section 112 of the Charter constituted the core reapportionment provision. The outgoing Board of Supervisors, however, refused to approve the proposal in that form and added sections 113 and 114 to the final version of the Charter.
Section 112 mandates that "[t]he nineteen legislative districts shall be set forth in the map attached hereto as Annex A, bounded and described in said Annex A" (Nassau County Charter § 112 [1]). In addition, the statute requires that:
(Nassau County Charter § 112 [2]).
Section 113 provides for an 11-member bipartisan commission — a "temporary districting advisory commission" — which would be "established [in] each legislative term in which the legislature is required to reapportion the county legislative districts as a result of the federal decennial census" (Nassau County Charter § 113 [1][a]). The time frame for the appointment of commission members is "no earlier than one year and eight months before, and no later than one year and six months before, the general election of the county legislators to be held in the year two thousand and three and every ten years thereafter in accordance with the provisions of this section" (Nassau County Charter § 113 [1][a]). The commission is to recommend a reapportionment plan for the 19 legislative districts and is permitted to hold public hearings, and hire consultants, experts and others as necessary to assist the commission with its work (see Nassau County Charter § 113 [2]). The commission must submit its plans and recommendations to the County Legislature "[n]o later than ten months before the general election" (Nassau County Charter § 113 [4]).
Finally, the County Legislature can adopt the advisory commission's proposedplan or any other redistricting plan that comports with constitutional and statutory requirements (see Nassau County Charter § 114). "The county legislature, shall, no later than eight months before such general election . . . prepare and adopt by local law a final plan for the redistricting of the county legislature" (Nassau County Charter § 114).
On May 24, 2011, the County Legislature adopted Local Law No. 3 of 2011, reapportioning the 19 legislative districts based on the results of the 2010 federal census, and specified new metes and bounds descriptions for each of the legislative districts. Petitioners assert that roughly 44% of the County's population would be moved into new legislative districts as a consequence of the amendment. Respondents maintain that population shifts over the past decade have resulted in substantial deviations among the existing districts that mandate adjustment.
Plaintiffs/petitioners commenced this hybrid declaratory judgment action/article 78 proceeding on May 10, 2011, seeking a declaration that the implementation of Local Law No. 3-2011 in relation to the November 8, 2011 general election is null and void for lack of compliance with the Nassau County Charter. Supreme Court concluded that petitioners were entitled to partial relief because there was "no basis in the Nassau County Charter itself, the legislative intent, the legislative history, or the established past practice of the Legislature" for adjusting the district lines prior to the 2011 general election. The court determined that sections 112-114 of the County Charter required that a three-step redistricting process be implemented before new lines are adopted for the 2013 general election. The court declared that adoption of Local Law No. 3-2011 was in accord with County Charter § 112, but that its implementation for use in the 2011 general election was ineffective for lack of compliance with County Charter §§ 113 and 114. The court further declared that new district lines based on the 2010 census data would not go into effect until the 2013 general election and therefore the 2011 general election would be held based on the district lines designated in Local Law No. 2-2003.
The Appellate Division reversed insofar as appealed from, declaring that the legislative...
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