twenty days after the commission has convened, any member of the public and any member of the commission may submit written comments to nonpartisan staff on the creation of the preliminary plans and on communities of interest that require representation in one or more specific areas of the state. Nonpartisan staff shall consider such comments in creating the preliminary plans, and such comments shall be part of the record of the commission's activities and proceedings. At the first public hearing at which the preliminary plans are presented, nonpartisan staff shall explain how the plans were created, how the plans address the categories of public comments received, and how the plans comply with the criteria prescribed in section 48.1 of this article V.
(2) By July 21 of the redistricting year, the commission shall complete public hearings on the preliminary senate plan and the preliminary house plan in several places throughout the state in accordance with section 48 of this article V.
(3) Subsequent to hearings on the preliminary senate plan and the preliminary house plan, nonpartisan staff shall prepare, publish online, and present to the commission no fewer than three plans for the state senate and three plans for the state house of representatives, except as provided in subsection (5) of this section. These plans will be known as the "staff plans" and must be named and numbered sequentially for purposes of subsection (6) of this section. Staff plans must be prepared, published online, and presented in accordance with a timetable established by the commission; except that each staff plan must be presented to the commission no fewer than ten days after the presentation of any previous staff plan, and no fewer than twenty-four hours after it has been published online. If the commission fails to establish a timetable for the presentation of staff plans within ten days after the completion of hearings on the preliminary plan, nonpartisan staff shall establish such timetable. Nonpartisan staff shall keep each plan confidential until it is published online or by a comparable means of communicating with the public using generally available technologies. The commission may provide direction, if approved by at least eight commissioners including at least one commissioner unaffiliated with any political party, for the development of staff plans through the adoption of standards, guidelines, or methodologies to which nonpartisan staff shall adhere, including standards, guidelines, or methodologies to be used to evaluate a plan's competitiveness, consistent with subsection (3)(d) of section 48.1 of this article V. In preparing all staff plans, nonpartisan staff shall also consider public testimony and public comments received by the commission that are consistent with the criteria specified in section 48.1 of this article V.
(4) Any commissioner or group of commissioners may request nonpartisan staff to prepare additional plans or amendments to plans. Any such request must be made in a public hearing of the commission but does not require commission approval. Plans or amendments developed in response to such requests are separate from staff plans, for purposes of subsection (6) of this section.
(5) (a) The commission may adopt a final senate or house plan at any time after presentation of the first staff plans, in which case nonpartisan staff does not need to prepare or present additional staff plans for the house for which a map has been adopted.
(b) No later than September 15 of the redistricting year, the commission shall adopt final senate and house plans, which must then be submitted to the supreme court for its review and determination in accordance with section 48.3 of this article V.
(c) The commission may adjust the deadlines specified in this section if conditions
