How do we define contiguous?

Election Code §§ 21500(c)1, 21601 (c)(1) and 21621(c)(1) define ‘contiguous’ for California election purposes.

There is nothing in the Federal Voting Rights Act, US Constitution, or the California Constitution that requires apportionment of local government districts to result in contiguous districts. An example of districts that are not contiguous, are the towns of Cohasset and Brookline in Norfolk County Massachusetts where the member district, Cohasset, is separated from the rest of Norfolk County by Plymouth County’s member districts of Hingham and Hull Massachusetts. Likewise, the town of Brookline District is separated from the bulk of Norfolk by the Town of Newton, which is a Middlesex County District, and part of Boston which is Suffolk County. Election codes §§21500(c)(1) 21601(c)(1) and 21621(c)(1) state:?

To the extent practicable, [county in § 21500] city [§ 21610 and § 21621] council districts shall be geographically contiguous. Areas that meet only at the points of adjoining districts are not contiguous. Areas that are separated by water and not connected by a bridge, tunnel, or regular ferry service are not contiguous.” To the extent an area of a city is isolated completely from the rest of a city or connected only at a corner to the rest of the city and it has a large enough population to be a district, the fact of its isolation cannot be remedied through reapportionment only to annex intermediate areas, so successfully adhering to this rule may be impracticable in such cases.