Oral arguments are set for Jan. 4 before the state Supreme Court in a pair of cases challenging new political districts drawn up by the state Reapportionment Commission.
Each side will have a half-hour to present its case before the justices.
The two-page order filed Friday does not specify the scope of what the court plans to examine in the cases.
Lawsuits contend the nine-member commission included too many nonresident military members and their dependents, along with excess nonresident students in the permanent resident population base used for setting new political boundaries.
Their inclusion, the plaintiffs argue, increases Oahu’s population and negates population gains on Hawaii island, which would otherwise gain a fourth seat in the state Senate. Oahu, in turn, would lose a Senate seat. Excluding more military members, most of whom live on Oahu, also would shift state House district lines.
Members of the Reapportionment Commission said they did the best they could to exclude nonpermanent residents — those who live in Hawaii but claim legal residence elsewhere — with the limited information that was available. Changes in privacy laws prohibited the commission from using previous methods of extracting nonresidents from the population base.
One lawsuit was filed by state Sen. Malama Solomon and members of the Hawaii County Committee of the state Democratic Party. The other was filed by Kona attorney Michael Matsukawa.
Hilo attorney Stanley Roehrig, representing the Solomon challenge, called the high court’s action encouraging.
"Usually that means the court has been thinking about it," he said. "It seems to me that it’s a positive sign that the court wants to make something happen."
Attorney General David Louie’s office has stated that Gov. Neil Abercrombie believes the commission should be compelled to redraw the lines to reflect a more accurate permanent resident population base.
If the court agrees, it could order that maps be redrawn, or it could appoint a special master to draw the lines.
Reapportionment Commission Chairwoman Victoria Marks, a retired circuit judge, had asked that staff members prepare an alternate set of maps to assist the court if it rules against the current plan.
The commission identified up to 78,000 nonpermanent residents that could have been excluded, but voted to extract only 16,000 based on the ability to accurately locate where they lived and the certainty of their residency status.
