§ 28-2-2 - Apportionment and qualifications for the Senate
O.C.G.A. 28-2-2 (2010)
28-2-2. Apportionment and qualifications for the Senate
(a) (1) There shall be 56 members of the Senate. Each Senate district shall be composed of a portion of a county, or a county, or counties, or a combination thereof, and shall be represented by one Senator. The General Assembly recognizes that the apportionment of the senatorial districts for the 2004 elections was governed by the interim reapportionment plan entered by order of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia in the case of Larios v. Cox, 314 F. Supp. 2d 1357(N.D.Ga. 2004).
(2) Except as otherwise provided in this paragraph, the districts for Senate Districts 1 through 56 shall continue to be those districts as provided in the order of the United States District Court in the case of Larios v. Cox. On and after January 1, 2007, Senate Districts 46, 47, and 49 shall be as described in this paragraph and further identified as "Plan Name: SFCamd47p2 Plan Type: Senate User: Blake Administrator: S047", which report is attached to the 2006 Act amending this Code section and is made a part of that Act and this paragraph.
(3) The first members of the Senate from Senate Districts 46, 47, and 49 elected pursuant to paragraph (2) of this subsection shall be those who are elected to take office on the convening date of the regular session of the General Assembly in 2007. Until that time the members of the Senate elected from Senate Districts 46, 47, and 49 under the interim court order in the case of Larios v. Cox shall continue to serve and shall represent the districts from which elected; and until that time the composition of the districts from which such members were elected shall remain the same. The provisions of paragraph (2) of this subsection shall be effective, however, for the primary and general elections of 2006 for the purpose of electing members of the Senate from Senate Districts 46, 47, and 49 in 2006 who are to take office in 2007. Successors to those members shall likewise be elected under the provisions of this Code section.
(b) A member of the Senate must be a resident of the district which such member represents and at the time of such member's election must have been a resident of the territory embraced within such district for at least one year preceding such time. Each Senator shall be elected only by the voters of such Senator's senatorial district.
(c) Reserved.
(d) For the purposes of this Code section:
(1) The terms "Tract" and "BG" (Block Group) shall mean and describe the same geographical boundaries as provided in the report of the Bureau of the Census for the United States decennial census of 2000 for the State of Georgia. The separate numeric designations in a Tract description which are underneath a "BG" heading shall mean and describe individual Blocks within a Block Group as provided in the report of the Bureau of the Census for the United States decennial census of 2000 for the State of Georgia.
(2) Except as otherwise provided in the description of any senatorial district, whenever the description of any senatorial district refers to a named city, it shall mean the geographical boundaries of that city as shown on the census maps for the United States decennial census of 2000 for the State of Georgia.
(e) Any part of the State of Georgia which is not included in any senatorial district described in this Code section shall be included within that district contiguous to such part which contains the least population according to the United States decennial census of 2000 for the State of Georgia.
(f) Any part of the State of Georgia which is described in this Code section as being included in a particular senatorial district shall nevertheless not be included within such senatorial district if such part is not contiguous to such senatorial district. Such noncontiguous part shall instead be included within that senatorial district contiguous to such part which contains the least population according to the United States decennial census of 2000 for the State of Georgia.