(June 16, 2011) The California Chamber of Commerce is encouraging businesses to get involved in the public review process of the recently released first draft redistricting maps.
The Citizens Redistricting Commission (CRC) released first draft political maps of the Assembly, Senate, Congressional and Board of Equalization districts on June 10.
The CalChamber has enhanced the commission maps to include political and voting history data for each district. The first draft maps can be viewed on the CalChamber website at www.calchamber.com/redistricting.
The CalChamber maps include:
Redistricting Commission
The commission was established when voters approved Proposition 11, the Voters First Act redistricting reform initiative in November 2008. The CalChamber-supported measure allows the citizens of California—rather than the legislators—to draw legislative districts, thereby eliminating the conflict of interest in the current system. This process makes California a national leader in redistricting reform.
The 2012 elections will be the first to reflect the redrawing of districts that will be in place through 2020.
In addition, due to CalChamber-supported and voter-approved Proposition 14, the top two open primary system starts in June 2012 and will create more competitive general elections to help elect more pro-jobs legislators.
Public Hearings
The commission will hold a series of public input hearings around the state to receive feedback on the first draft of the maps. The second draft will be released on July 7 with the final drafts on July 28 after receiving public testimony.
- The commission will also be accepting public comments by e-mail at votersfirstact@crc.ca.gov,
- By fax (916) 651-5711, and
- By mail to: Citizens Redistricting Commission, 901 P Street, Suite 154-A, Sacramento, CA 95814.
Please visit the commission’s website for the locations and dates of the hearings, www.wedrawthelines.ca.gov.
The CalChamber offers Tips for Preparing Testimony.
The commission has a released a two-minute video featuring all 14 commission members talking about the redistricting process for legislative and congressional districts and asking the public for help. The video is online at www.wedrawthelines.ca.gov.
Critera
Commissioners must consider several state and federal constitutional criteria when drafting district boundaries. Most important among the criteria are that districts must be approximately equal in population. Based on 2010 Census data released this year, this means each of the:
- 53 seats in Congress must have 702,904 persons;
- 40 Senate districts should have 931,349 persons;
- 80 Assembly districts should have 465,674 persons; and
- four Board of Equalization districts should have 9,313,489 persons.
At the federal level, the equal population requirement is quite strict. Congressional districts are unlikely to vary by more than 1 percent, plus or minus, in each district. At other levels, the standard is slightly more relaxed and variances up to 3 percent to 5 percent usually are acceptable, as long as the variance was not manipulated to favor one group over another.
Other criteria appear on the CalChamber’s Key Facts on Redistricting page.
The commission must vote on the maps no later than August 15. By law the proposed maps must be available for public review for on July 28, 14 days before the final vote.
Staff Conact: Rob Lapsley