Local politician on state panel to redraw U.S. House districts - Committee must cope with Ohio's loss of two congressional seats.

Chelsey Levingston
Pulse-Journal
March 18, 2011

A local state politician is on the committee that will work to redraw the districts for the two seats lost in Ohio on the U.S. House of Representatives.

The U.S. Census Bureau last week released the 2010 census data to Ohio leaders. Ohio's population went from 11,353,140 people in 2000 to 11,536,504 in 2010, according to Census figures. Ohio will now have only 16 of 435 seats, said state Rep. Courtney Combs, R-Hamilton.

Now, state leaders will begin the process that happens every 10 years of redrawing congressional and statehouse district lines. The Ohio General Assembly will decide how the U.S. House district lines will be redrawn in the state, according to Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted's office.

Combs is vice chairman of the redistricting committee in the Ohio House of Representatives, which he said will make recommendations to the Ohio Apportionment Board for redistricting state lines.

But the census data isn't ready yet for the redistricting process and the apportionment board isn't required by law to meet until Aug. 1, according to a spokeswoman in Husted's office.

The redistribution of the population by census tract will be factors for any redistricting changes, said Steve Kelley, Ohio Department of Development senior economist. Tracts are small statistical boundaries within a county of about 4,000 people, according to the census. Butler County has 80 total tracts.

Districts are comprised of populations as equal as possible, Kelley said.

Combs said it's early, but the basic philosophy for redrawing the federal districts will be to cut one predominantly Republican and one predominantly Democrat district; and one from the north of the state and one from the south. Currently, Butler County is represented by House Speaker John Boehner, R-West Chester Twp., in the 8th District and Steve Chabot, R-Westwood, in the 1st District.

On the state level, Combs doesn't foresee changes in his district, House District 54. The possible local changes might be between the districts of Ohio Reps. Bill Coley, R-Liberty Twp., District 55, and Tim Derickson, R-Hanover Twp., District 53. Based on conversations with local leaders, Combs said there's been talk of making Middletown one district, which also may affect Peter Beck, R-Mason, District 67.

"The numbers have changed in Butler County, but they haven't changed dramatically," Combs said. "There could be some small changes in Bill Coley's district and Tim Derickson's district and Peter Beck's district," Combs said.