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Redistricting commissioners

Published (3/25/2010)
By Kris Berggren
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With the 2010 U.S. Census in gear, the possibility of redistricting is on elected officials’ minds, from Congress to local school boards.

In Minneapolis, the school board was recently restructured by voter referendum, from an all at-large board to one composed of six members representing specific zones and three at-large members. Now it seeks permission to appoint two members to that city’s redistricting commission, in lieu of current commission members appointed by the majority and minority caucuses of the city council.

Rep. Jim Davnie (DFL-Mpls) sponsors HF2360 that would allow the board to appoint two members to serve on the commission to help redistrict school board districts, but not city council wards. The reverse would hold true for the city council-appointed members, who would be excluded from helping to redistrict the school board districts.

The House passed the bill 129-0 March 23. It now goes to the Senate, where Sen. Patricia Torres Ray (DFL-Mpls) is the sponsor.

Under the bill the new districts would, to the extent possible, hold equivalent distribution of population; retain concentration of racial or language minority populations; consist of “contiguous compact territory;” and, when possible, feature boundaries that run mostly east to west or north to south.

Rep. Laura Brod (R-New Prague) said Sen. Larry Pogemiller (DFL-Mpls) sponsors a bill with the same provisions for legislative districts, and she offered an amendment that reflects “bipartisan agreement that the redistricting process is broken.” She hoped that “thinking ahead” about a statewide redistricting process would help to avoid engaging courts in future decisions.

The amendment was ruled out of order after Davnie pointed out it would have amended a statute not included in the bill, “dramatically expanded” the bill’s scope, and required a change in the bill’s title.

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