House Bill 495 Summary

• Establishes mandatory criteria for redistricting of U.S. Congressional, North Carolina Senate, and North Carolina House districts following the 2020 decennial census.

• Requires baseline criteria prioritized as: equal population (0-1 person deviation for Congress; 10% total and 5% individual deviation for state legislature), contiguity, county groupings, minimal split precincts/municipalities, communities of interest, and compactness.

• Prohibits efforts to create districts favorable to any candidate or political party, and limits partisan advantage to 1 district (Congress), 2 districts (State Senate), or 3 districts (State House) based on outlier analysis comparing proposed plans to 20,000 alternative plans.

• Restricts election data use to ensemble analysis only, excluding composite indices, and limits data sources to Council of State offices, Presidential, and U.S. Senate elections from 2016 onward.

• Requires third-party consultant to conduct outlier analysis using specific metrics (declination and gerrymandering index) and mandates disclosure within 24 hours of all external consultants, communications, received plans, and dissolution of attorney-client privilege upon enactment of any redistricting plan.