The Legislative Reapportionment Circus Is In Town!

by: mooncat

Thu May 10, 2012 at 06:52:03 AM CDT

Sen. Gerald Dial (R, SD13) and Rep. Jim McClendon (R, HD50), co-chairmen of the Permanent Legislative Committee on Reapportionment, unveiled their proposed new district lines for the State House and Senate yesterday.  Here are the highlights:

• Rep. Demetrius Newton (D, HD53) now lives in Rep. Patricia Todd's (D, HD54) district.  Newton's district was moved to Huntsville.
  
  
• Rep. Joe Hubbard (D, HD73) now lives in Rep. John Knight's (D, HD77) district.  Hubbard's district was moved to Shelby county and "is expected to become a Republican district."
  
  
• There will be one more majority-minority House district, for a total of 28 out of 105.
  
  
• The maps passed out at the meeting were small, "So, viewing the details of the districts is difficult."  They are now available for download online.  It's still very hard to make out the districts, but you can at least zoom in to see more detail.
  
  
• The committee voted overwhelmingly (it is overwhelmingly Republican) to approve the Dial/McClendon maps.
  
  
• The meeting lasted less than 20 minutes.

Stay tuned, this was just the first act of the reapportionment circus.  Next week the Governor will call a special session (yes, in the middle of the regular session) so the Legislature can turn it's full attention to approving these new district lines.  Given the Republican supermajorities in both houses and the way yesterday's meetng was conducted, that should take about an hour.

Then it will be on to the courts.