A little more than a year ago, California voters narrowly approved Proposition 11, also known as the Voters FIRST Act, which changes the way the state’s legislative and Board of Equalization districts are drawn.
Up until now, the state’s Senate and Assembly members have been responsible for drawing their own districts—a fact many people frowned upon because of the possibility of gerrymandering.
According to the language of Proposition 11, “Politicians draw districts that serve their interests, not those of our communities. For example, cities such as Long Beach, San Jose, and Fresno are divided into multiple oddly shaped districts to protect incumbent legislators. Voters in many communities have no political voice because they have been split into as many as four different districts to protect incumbent legislators.
“We need reform to keep our communities together so everyone has representation. In the current process, politicians are choosing their voters instead of voters having a real choice,” the bill said. “This reform will put the voters back in charge.”
Since Proposition 11 passed, California voters can apply, starting Dec. 15, to serve on the state’s first-ever Citizens Redistricting Commission, which will draw boundaries for the state Senate, Assembly, and Board of Equalization districts. The final deadline to apply is Feb. 12. 2010.
“Hopefully we’ll get thousands and thousands of applications,” said Margarita Fernández, chief of public affairs for the California State Auditor, the agency responsible for organizing the commission. “There are commissions in other states, but they’re usually filled by elected officials or appointees. Ours is being put together by an independent nonpartisan entity.”
According to information on wedrawthelines.ca.gov, the State Auditor’s Proposition 11 website, the 14-member redistricting commission will have to adhere to strict, nonpartisan rules designed to create relatively equally populated districts that provide fair representation for all Californians.
These rules, Fernández said, will also come into play during the application process.
Members of the commission must have the ability to remain impartial during the evaluation process, regardless of their political affiliation, and they must have an appreciation for California’s diverse demographics and geography.
There are also a handful of qualifications to combat potential conflicts of interest: Commission members can’t be appointed to state or federal office, for instance, and can’t have a bona fide relationship—i.e. immediate relation—with the governor or member of the Legislature, Congress, or the State Board of Equalization. A complete list of qualifications and regulations is available online at wedrawthelines.ca.gov.
Fernández said it’s also important that applicants have strong “analytical skills because they’re going to be looking at maps and assessing census data.”
A committee of three randomly selected state auditors will go about the process of narrowing down the initial pool of applicants to the 120 most qualified individuals. Of those 120, the committee will select 20 Democrats, 20 Republicans, and 20 people of another party affiliation.
“It could be Green, it could be ‘decline to state,’” Fernández said.
This process is expected to be completed by October 2010. Then the pool of 60 will be forwarded to the Legislature. At that point the leadership—the Senate and Assembly majority and minority leaders—will each have the right to strike up to two names from all three political categories.
From the remaining names, the auditor committee will randomly select three Democrats, three Republicans, and two other people to be commissioners. Then those individuals will select the remaining commissioners, making the final count five Democrats, five Republicans, and four alternative party members.
It might seem like a lot of work for picking one committee, but Fernández said it’s more than worth it.
“The decisions they make are going to be affecting [California voters] for 10 years,” she said.
Contact News Editor Amy Asman at aasman@santamariasun.com
This article appears in Dec 3-10, 2009.
