Commission to Decide Criteria for Drawing Legislative Districts
An independent commission tasked with drawing the political boundaries that determine representation in the state Legislature will meet next week in Helena to decide what criteria to consider as it maps those boundaries.
The Districting and Apportionment Commission will meet at 10 a.m. Friday, May 28, in Room 137 of the State Capitol. The public is welcome to attend. The meeting also will be broadcast over the legislative Web site at www.leg.mt.gov and over the state public-access television network TVMT. To find a TVMT channel, visit www.leg.mt.gov/tvmt .
The Districting Commission is responsible for mapping new legislative district boundaries to reflect population changes identified by the 2010 census. At the May 28 meeting, it will focus on selecting the criteria it will use to redraw those boundaries. The commission held a series of meetings around the state in April to get suggestions from the public on what those criteria should be.
The commission is required to use a set of mandatory districting criteria established in the U.S. and Montana constitutions, as well as case law established through court rulings. Under these mandatory criteria, legislative districts must be, among other things, compact and contiguous and as close to equal in population as is practicable.
But the commission has the discretion to choose other criteria to guide it in making the inevitable choices that come with drawing political boundaries. These could include:
following the lines of existing political units, such as cities, counties, and voting districts;
following geographic boundaries, such as rivers and mountain ranges;
keeping intact communities of interest, such as Indian reservations or urban neighborhoods;
considering political fairness, including impact on incumbent legislators;
considering existing legislative districts; and
considering interests of rural and urban areas.
The new boundaries mapped by the commission will take effect beginning with the 2014 elections.
Members of the Districting Commission are chairman Jim Regnier, Lakeside; Jon Bennion, Clancy; Joe Lamson, Helena; Pat Smith, Missoula; and Linda Vaughey, Helena.
