by Assemblymember John Laird (D-Santa Cruz)

The legislature’s recent failure to send the voters a ballot measure to reform the legislative redistricting process was an embarrassment. I opposed the Governor’s more partisan redistricting measure last fall in order to give the legislature the opportunity to approve a less partisan measure in this year. I was ready to vote for it—and am disappointed I didn’t get the chance.

The Central Coast is a textbook case as to why reform is needed. Our historic State Senate district—which once included Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito Counties in a single district—was blown apart in 2001 by decisions made by legislators.

My Assembly district overlaps Senate districts represented by Senators from Santa Barbara County, Merced County, and Palo Alto in Santa Clara County. For the first time in decades, I am the only state legislator representing the contiguous Monterey Bay coastline. Except for a brief time in the 1970s, this is the first time in more than a half century that there is no State Senator from Santa Cruz County.

Voters have a right to be cynical. Many of those representatives who hold seats in these redrawn districts publicly criticize them—but voted for the redrawn districts in 2001.

I testified against the splitting of our Senate district at a hearing in 2001, but this year’s attempt at redistricting reform was my first opportunity to step to the plate with a legislative vote—and I voted to put the measure on the November ballot. But due to parliamentary maneuvering, I didn’t get the chance to vote for the actual reform legislation.

This year we had a chance to approve a system where the voters pick their representatives, not where the elected officials pick their voters. Putting redistricting in the hands of a diverse group of commissioners might not be the most accountable or best system—but it’s certainly a better system.

We need to get around the legislative drama and finger-pointing and take action.This failure might give us the time to fine-tune the proposal, it is no substitute for having an on-time vote to put this on the ballot.

Redistricting is just one piece of the reform needed at the state level. We also need “clean money” public financing of elections; term limits reform; and an end to the two-thirds budget vote requirement. For everyone who wants government to actually work, missing an opportunity to move closer to a responsive, participatory and competitive political system should be considered a tragedy.