(August 19, 2011) On August 15, the Citizens Redistricting Commission adopted and presented to the secretary of state new political maps for congressional, Senate, Assembly and Board of Equalization districts.
The adoption of the maps ends the commission’s work until 2021 and culminates the long-held belief of the California Chamber of Commerce that fair redistricting is the key to meaningful political reform.
CalChamber co-chaired the campaign in support of Proposition 11 and Proposition 20, which allowed the citizens of California—rather than the legislators—to draw legislative and congressional districts, thereby eliminating the inherent conflict of interest in the current system.
CalChamber Comment
“Although there is room for improvement, Proposition 11 created a result better than if the legislators had drawn their own lines,” said CalChamber President and CEO Allan Zaremberg. “Now we look forward to working with stakeholders and commissioners to improve this process for the future. The lessons we have learned will clearly help future commissions do better, such as nesting two Assembly districts into one Senate district and releasing more than one version of statewide draft maps for public comment.”
The 2012 elections will be the first to use the redrawn districts that will be in place through 2020. The new maps coupled with the top two open primary system, which starts in June 2012, will create more competitive general elections to help elect more pro-jobs legislators.
Referendum Challenge
The day after the maps were adopted, a coalition supported by the California Republican Party and Senate Republican Caucus filed referendum papers to give voters an opportunity to approve/disapprove the Senate district maps. The major Latino advocacy groups—the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) and National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO)—also are looking at challenges to the maps.
In a press release, the California. Supreme Court said a challenge to any or all of the maps must be filed within 45 days of their being certified (by September 29).
Given the limited time the court will have to review any petition challenging the map or maps, the court said the challenge and any response must be uploaded first in an electronic format to a specially dedicated judicial branch web page, followed by a hard copy within 24 hours.
A litigant may be excused from the electronic submission requirement by demonstrating that compliance would pose a substantial hardship, the court said, “for example, by filing a declaration under penalty of perjury that the litigant has no access to a computer or Internet services, etc.”
Staff Contact: Rob Lapsley