LEGISLATURE'S NEXT BATTLE DRAWING LINES ON THE MAP

Dan Walters
The Fresno Bee
September 1, 2000

As California legislators scrambled to wind up their 2000 session Thursday night and escape from the Capitol, some were thinking ahead to what will be their preoccupation in 2001: redrawing their own districts.

While redistricting may be an arcane mystery to the public, the once-a-decade process consumes political professionals because lines can dictate which party, and often which politician, will hold the 120 legislative and as many as 55 congressional seats.

As soon as the Census Bureau announces its tract-by-tract numbers early next year and the state learns how many new congressional seats it will receive -- two or three, most likely -- the Legislature and its consultants can begin working on the new maps.

There will be a veneer of public involvement. But the real work will be done in secret by key legislators and members of Congress. And much to the chagrin of Republicans, they will be largely at the mercy of Democrats, who control both houses of the Legislature and the governorship.

The Legislature's new districts will be important, certainly, but they are likely to merely cement the status quo of solid Democratic control of both houses. What happens on congressional districts in California, however, could determine partisan control of Congress, which Republicans now hold by a handful of seats.

California's Republican congressmen were so concerned about a Democratic gerrymander that they bankrolled an initiative for the November ballot that, if enacted, would have removed the process from the Legislature and given it to a judicial commission. But the state Supreme Court struck it down, saying it violated the rule against having multiple subjects in a ballot measure.

Proof that Capitol politicians are already thinking about redistricting is found in a bill that slipped through the Legislature in the final days of the session.

Outwardly, the measure deals with minor changes in state election law. But one obscure passage gives the Legislature until Sept. 27, 2001, to deliver new district maps to local election officials.

That's the same day candidates can begin taking out papers for the March 2002 primary.

It's likely, in fact, that the redistricting bills won't be passed until the final day of the 2001 legislative session, Sept. 14. And Gov. Davis would then have until Sept. 26 to sign the measures, with the maps being unveiled the next day as filing opens.

It's a squeeze, aimed at keeping Republicans and the larger public in the dark about the new districts until the last possible moment and concurrently making it more difficult for Republicans or anyone else to challenge the new districts either in court or through a referendum.

There will be, in fact, a direct conflict between the late production of the redistricting bills and the 90-day waiting period that would give opponents a chance to challenge the plans with referendum petitions. The state Constitution says that any law challenged by a referendum is to be suspended until the voters decide. But if Democrats' districts are challenged, what districts would then be used for the 2002 elections?

Democrats say the Supreme Court would allow their redistricting plans to be used for the 2002 elections regardless of a pending referendum, because a similar ruling was made by the court in 1982, when a Republican referendum challenged a Democratic redistricting plan. But the court then was dominated by liberals appointed by Democratic governors, while today's court is dominated by GOP appointees and is considerably more conservative.

The legislation sitting on Davis' desk makes the squeeze, and therefore the political and judicial confrontation over redistricting, more likely.