§ 5. The members of the assembly shall be chosen by single districts\nand shall be apportioned pursuant to this section and sections four and\nfive-b of this article at each regular session at which the senate\ndistricts are readjusted or altered, and by the same law, among the\nseveral counties of the state, as nearly as may be according to the\nnumber of their respective inhabitants, excluding aliens. Every county\nheretofore established and separately organized, except the county of\nHamilton, shall always be entitled to one member of assembly, and no\ncounty shall hereafter be erected unless its population shall entitle it\nto a member. The county of Hamilton shall elect with the county of\nFulton, until the population of the county of Hamilton shall, according\nto the ratio, entitle
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§ 5. The members of the assembly shall be chosen by single districts\nand shall be apportioned pursuant to this section and sections four and\nfive-b of this article at each regular session at which the senate\ndistricts are readjusted or altered, and by the same law, among the\nseveral counties of the state, as nearly as may be according to the\nnumber of their respective inhabitants, excluding aliens. Every county\nheretofore established and separately organized, except the county of\nHamilton, shall always be entitled to one member of assembly, and no\ncounty shall hereafter be erected unless its population shall entitle it\nto a member. The county of Hamilton shall elect with the county of\nFulton, until the population of the county of Hamilton shall, according\nto the ratio, entitle it to a member. But the legislature may abolish\nthe said county of Hamilton and annex the territory thereof to some\nother county or counties.\n The quotient obtained by dividing the whole number of inhabitants of\nthe state, excluding aliens, by the number of members of assembly, shall\nbe the ratio for apportionment, which shall be made as follows: One\nmember of assembly shall be apportioned to every county, including\nFulton and Hamilton as one county, containing less than the ratio and\none-half over. Two members shall be apportioned to every other county.\nThe remaining members of assembly shall be apportioned to the counties\nhaving more than two ratios according to the number of inhabitants,\nexcluding aliens. Members apportioned on remainders shall be apportioned\nto the counties having the highest remainders in the order thereof\nrespectively. No county shall have more members of assembly than a\ncounty having a greater number of inhabitants, excluding aliens.\n The assembly districts, including the present ones, as existing\nimmediately before the enactment of a law making an apportionment of\nmembers of assembly among the counties, shall continue to be the\nassembly districts of the state until the expiration of the terms of\nmembers then in office, except for the purpose of an election of members\nof assembly for full terms beginning at such expirations.\n In any county entitled to more than one member, the board of\nsupervisors, and in any city embracing an entire county and having no\nboard of supervisors, the common council, or if there be none, the body\nexercising the powers of a common council, shall assemble at such times\nas the legislature making an apportionment shall prescribe, and divide\nsuch counties into assembly districts as nearly equal in number of\ninhabitants, excluding aliens, as may be, of convenient and contiguous\nterritory in as compact form as practicable, each of which shall be\nwholly within a senate district formed under the same apportionment,\nequal to the number of members of assembly to which such county shall be\nentitled, and shall cause to be filed in the office of the secretary of\nstate and of the clerk of such county, a description of such districts,\nspecifying the number of each district and of the inhabitants thereof,\nexcluding aliens, according to the census or enumeration used as the\npopulation basis for the formation of such districts; and such\napportionment and districts shall remain unaltered until after the next\nreapportionment of members of assembly, except that the board of\nsupervisors of any county containing a town having more than a ratio of\napportionment and one-half over may alter the assembly districts in a\nsenate district containing such town at any time on or before March\nfirst, nineteen hundred forty-six. In counties having more than one\nsenate district, the same number of assembly districts shall be put in\neach senate district, unless the assembly districts cannot be evenly\ndivided among the senate districts of any county, in which case one more\nassembly district shall be put in the senate district in such county\nhaving the largest, or one less assembly district shall be put in the\nsenate district in such county having the smallest number of\ninhabitants, excluding aliens, as the case may require. Nothing in this\nsection shall prevent the division, at any time, of counties and towns\nand the erection of new towns by the legislature.\n An apportionment by the legislature, or other body, shall be subject\nto review by the supreme court, at the suit of any citizen, under such\nreasonable regulations as the legislature may prescribe; and any court\nbefore which a cause may be pending involving an apportionment, shall\ngive precedence thereto over all other causes and proceedings, and if\nsaid court be not in session it shall convene promptly for the\ndisposition of the same. The court shall render its decision within\nsixty days after a petition is filed. In any judicial proceeding\nrelating to redistricting of congressional or state legislative\ndistricts, any law establishing congressional or state legislative\ndistricts found to violate the provisions of this article shall be\ninvalid in whole or in part. In the event that a court finds such a\nviolation, the legislature shall have a full and reasonable opportunity\nto correct the law's legal infirmities.\n