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Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Ind. Law - Republican bill proposes four citizens plus Chief Justice draw legislative district boundaries

"GOP plan: New body should draw maps: Some legislators cool to proposal giving bipartisan commission redistricting authority" is the headline to a story in the Indianapolis Star today by Mary Beth Schneider. Some quotes:

The drawing of legislative districts would be taken away from lawmakers and handed to a bipartisan commission in a bid for more competitive races, under a proposal unveiled Monday by House Republicans. * * *

Currently, the party that wins control of the House or Senate in a census year also wins the once-in-a-decade right to draw the maps. In Indiana, both parties have been upfront about using the maps to try to maximize their political advantage.

They have protected incumbent lawmakers, ensuring that no two were drawn into the same district, and carefully studied voting patterns in order to come up with districts that were predictably Republican or Democratic. The result has been legislative and congressional maps with boundaries that twist and turn like snakes.

Rep. Gerald R. Torr, R-Carmel, said all that would be a thing of the past if the legislature passes his bill. Instead, he said, the commission, which would be led by Indiana's chief justice, would be required to draw districts that are compact, with the Senate and House maps overlapping so that every Senate district contains only two House districts. * * *

Jim McDowell, a political science professor at Indiana State University who follows redistricting issues, said the fact that those elected officials will have to approve this plan may doom it. Legislators, he predicted, may not be willing to hand over to an unpredictable commission a process that affects their own elections. * * *

The commission would be required to hold public hearings on the maps and to issue a recommendation by Oct. 1 of a redistricting year. The legislature would then convene in a special session, Torr said, to accept or reject the maps. Only technical amendments would be allowed, not major changes.

Left unanswered is what would happen if the legislature voted no. Torr said he hopes there would be so much public pressure on lawmakers to accept the plan that they would not vote against it.

HB 1009 is not available as of this writing, so I can't see whether failure of the plan in the General Assembly would leave the old map, and the safe seats, in place.

My first reaction to this bill is having the Chief Justice on the map-drawing commission would "take out" the Chief Justice, should an issue resulting from the law go the Supreme Court, leaving only four justices to decide. That is -- if it gets that far, as the law would face separation of powers questions from the git-go.

Lesley Stedman Weidenbener of the Louisville Courier Journal also writes on the proposal today. Her story reflects a more sketchy outline of the as-of-now unavailable bill than the Star story. Some quotes:

A bipartisan commission would draw the boundaries for state legislative and congressional districts under a proposal that will be pushed this year by House Republicans.

The five-member commission would have two Republican and two Democratic members -- none of them legislators -- with a chairman appointed by Indiana Chief Justice Randall Shepard.

It still must be decided whether lawmakers could tinker with the district lines drawn by the commission or even whether they would have to give final approval to the plan. * * *

Indiana already uses a commission to draw congressional district lines when the House and Senate can't agree. That happened in 2001, when the House, then controlled by Democrats, and the GOP-majority Senate passed differing plans and lawmakers adjourned without a compromise.

However, the House and Senate each drew the lines for their own districts.

That's exactly the way it should be, said House Minority Whip Dennie Oxley, D-English.

"We're the voice of the people who vote," Oxley said. "As it stands right now, each district's elected representative has a voice in this process."

But Bosma said the process is too political.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 12 states give authority for legislative redistricting to a group other than the legislature.

The GOP proposal would require the five-member Indiana commission to base district lines on three criteria: population, contiguous territories and compactness. Also, the proposal calls for the commission to try to protect the boundaries of cities, towns and townships.

It also requires the commission to have public hearings and directs the General Assembly to convene before Oct. 1 of a redistricting year -- typically the year after a federal general census -- to consider the commission's recommendation.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 10, 2006 08:59 AM
Posted to Indiana Government | Indiana Law