Villines offers remap proposal

Paper: Sacramento Bee, The (CA)

Title: Villines offers remap proposal
The Assembly GOP leader's constitutional amendment joins a crowded field.

Date: June 5, 2007

Touting it as the only plan for "truly independent" redistricting, Assembly Republican leader Mike Villines unveiled new legislation Monday to alter how California draws political districts.

Villines' proposed Assembly Constitutional Amendment 4 joins a crowded field.

Three other legislative measures and one proposed ballot initiative are seeking changes in redistricting, the state's once-per-decade process of drawing maps for political seats.

"We believe this is a fundamental issue of fairness, to give people a voice back in the districts and the electoral process," Villines said. "I believe they're feeling more alienated every day."

Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez chided Villines for not releasing his plan sooner.

"Six months after the Legislature has convened, we're pleased that the Republican leader has finally put forward his ideas, flawed as they are," he said in a written statement.

Leaders of Voices of Reform, a bipartisan group that has pushed several years for redistricting reform, applauded Villines for introducing ACA 4 but said they have not endorsed any specific proposal.

State legislators currently draw district boundaries for legislative, congressional and Board of Equalization seats.

Villines' proposal would strip the map-drawing authority from lawmakers and give it to an 11-member citizens commission whose members would be selected randomly from voter rolls.

All four other redistricting proposals call for an independent commission to draw the lines, but only Villines' Assembly Constitutional Amendment 4 would give legislative leaders no input whatsoever in the selection of panel members.

"We are doing what I think is the first truly independent redistricting proposal this year," Villines said Monday.

If California can trust ordinary citizens to make life-and-death decisions on criminal juries, it can allow them to draw boundary lines for political districts, he said.

"I really do believe that people should pick their representatives, not vice versa," said Villines, R-Clovis.

Key elements of Villines' ACA 4 would:

Create a citizens commission consisting of four Democrats, four Republicans and three independent or third-party members.

Appoint the panel through random drawings of registered voters by county registrars and by the secretary of state.

Require that final maps be approved by eight members of the panel, including a majority of Democrats, Republicans and minor-party members.

Include congressional boundaries in the maps to be drawn by the citizens commission, an issue that has sparked substantial controversy.

Under ACA 4, each state Senate district would consist of two Assembly districts, and seats would be drawn to maximize political competition. "I want people to compete," Villines said.

Few of California's political seats currently are competitive.

Many analysts say communities tend to tilt so strongly left or right that it would be nearly impossible to draw valid lines that would make a majority of districts competitive.

Democratic and GOP legislative leaders struck a deal in 2001 to create districts that protected incumbents of both parties, thus safeguarding GOP congressional seats while ensuring Democratic domination of the Legislature throughout the decade.

Only one of 53 congressional seats and none of 120 legislative seats has changed party hands in the past two elections.

Voices of Reform voiced several concerns about Villines' ACA 4, including whether the selection process would skew rural representation, whether it places too much authority in a partisan secretary of state, and whether some of the criteria for drawing maps should be changed.

But GOP political analyst Dan Schnur, a leader of the group, called introduction of ACA 4 a "major step in the right direction."

"From our standpoint, the most important thing is that every major player has a proposal on the table," he said.

Schnur said the desire of many legislators to alter term limits provides leverage for securing redistricting changes as well.

Schnur said members of Voices of Reform are prepared to oppose any term limits measure on the Feb. 5 ballot unless a legitimate redistricting proposal is placed there as well.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger also has said he will not support altering term limits unless redistricting is tackled.

Of the four other proposals, one would have lines drawn by the Little Hoover Commission, a state watchdog agency; one would combine redistricting with other political reforms; and two would create an independent, 11-member citizens commission but give legislative leaders limited powers to appoint or veto members from a list of candidates.

The Assembly has scheduled a June 12 hearing by the Elections and Redistricting Committee to consider Nunez's proposal to have boundaries drawn by the Little Hoover Commission.

Villines asked Monday that his proposal be debated at the June 12 meeting as well.

A decision on the committee agenda is pending.

The Bee's Jim Sanders can be reached at (916) 326-5538 or jsanders@sacbee.com.

Author: Jim SandersBee Capitol Bureau

Section: MAIN NEWS

Page: A3