ARTICLE IX. REPRESENTATION – Constitution of Alabama 2022
SEC. 197 RATIO OF SENATORS TO REPRESENTATIVES.
The whole number of senators shall be not less than one-fourth or more than one-third of the whole number of representatives.
SEC. 198 MAXIMUM NUMBER OF MEMBERS OF HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES; APPORTIONMENT OF HOUSE BASED ON DECENNIAL CENSUS OF UNITED STATES.
The house of representatives shall consist of not more than one hundred and five members, unless new counties shall be created, in which event each new county shall be entitled to one representative. The members of the house of representatives shall be apportioned by the legislature among the several counties of the state, according to the number of inhabitants in them, respectively, as ascertained by the decennial census of the United States, which apportionment, when made, shall not be subject to alteration until the next session of the legislature after the next decennial census of the United States shall have been taken.
SEC. 199 DUTY OF LEGISLATURE TO FIX NUMBER OF REPRESENTATIVES AND APPORTION THEM AMONG COUNTIES FOLLOWING EACH DECENNIAL CENSUS; EACH COUNTY ENTITLED TO AT LEAST ONE REPRESENTATIVE.
It shall be the duty of the legislature at its first session after the taking of the decennial census of the United States in the year nineteen hundred and ten, and after each subsequent decennial census, to fix by law the number of representatives and apportion them among the several counties of the state, according to the number of inhabitants in them, respectively; provided, that each county shall be entitled to at least one representative.
SEC. 200 DUTY OF LEGISLATURE TO FIX NUMBER OF SENATORS AND DIVIDE STATE INTO SENATORIAL DISTRICTS; EQUALITY OF SENATORIAL DISTRICTS; SENATORIAL DISTRICTS NOT TO BE CHANGED UNTIL NEXT APPORTIONING SESSION; DIVISION OF COUNTIES BETWEEN SENATORIAL DISTRICTS PROHIBITED; COUNTIES WITHIN SENATORIAL DISTRICTS TO BE CONTIGUOUS.
It shall be the duty of the legislature at its first session after taking of the decennial census of the United States in the year nineteen hundred and ten, and after each subsequent decennial census, to fix by law the number of senators, and to divide the state into as many senatorial districts as there are senators, which districts shall be as nearly equal to each other in the number of inhabitants as may be, and each shall be entitled to one senator, and no more; and such districts, when formed, shall not be changed until the next apportioning session of the legislature, after the next decennial census of the United States shall have been taken; provided, that counties created after the next preceding apportioning session of the legislature may be attached to senatorial districts. No county shall be divided between two districts, and no district shall be made up of two or more counties not contiguous to each other.
SEC. 201 STATE MAY PROVIDE FOR ENUMERATION OF INHABITANTS FOR PURPOSE OF APPORTIONMENT OF REPRESENTATIVES AND SENATORS.
Should any decennial census of the United States not be taken, or if when taken, the same, as to this state, be not full and satisfactory, the legislature shall have the power at its first session after the time shall have elapsed for the taking of said census, to provide for an enumeration of all the inhabitants of this state, upon which it shall be the duty of the legislature to make the apportionment of representatives and senators as provided for in this article.