The historically significant citizens committee tasked with redrawing political districts across the state has voted to move its final draft to the public review stage before it’s expected to finalize the maps later this month.
On July 29, the independent California Citizens Redistricting Commission voted 13-1 to release the final preliminary draft of new state Senate, state Assembly, and Board of Equalization districts. The committee voted 12-2 to release the U.S. congressional districts draft.
In order for the final draft to pass, at least nine of the 14 commissioners must approve the new districts. Three approving votes must come from each of the three groups: the Republican, Democrat, and unaffiliated members of the commission.
State political districts are redrawn once every 10 years after the release of federal census data. The creation of the commission—the result of the 2008 Voters FIRST Act—is historic in and of itself, in that the process now takes redistricting out of the hands of legislators and goes to a bipartisan panel of volunteers.
The commission is comprised of five Democrats, five Republicans, and four independent members. According to a commission press release, it’s intended to “restore integrity to California’s constitutional mandate to redistrict to ensure fair representation.”
Accusations of gerrymandering were widespread when lines were drawn by legislators, but the new process has been nearly as contentious, with a number of communities and special interest groups objecting to the proposed lines.
In the wake of various groups threatening to sue over what they see as unfair and misrepresented districts, the commission voted July 22 to retain San Francisco-based law firms Morrison & Forrester and Gibson, Dunn, & Crutcher to handle any “post map litigation,” according to a July 24 release.
According to a July 29 commission press release, the new process has been open and transparent, with public participation at every level, including chances for people to give the commission their two cents. The commission said more than 2,700 members of the public spoke at 34 hearings around the state, and the commission received close to 20,000 written comments.
The drafts are now available for public review before the commission holds a final vote on the maps on Aug. 15. If approved, the new maps will go before the secretary of state for the final sign-off. The final preliminary maps are available for viewing at wedrawthelines.ca.gov.
This article appears in Aug 4-11, 2011.
