SACRAMENTO - Assemblymember Curren Price, Chair of the Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee, held an informational hearing with expert panelists yesterday to discuss redistricting commissions in other states.  According to Chairman Price, “It is essential that we learn from other states' experiences so that we can create a commission that will be able to draw district lines that are fair. We need to create a commission that has the tools to draw districts that comply with the state and federal constitutions, so that it is the commission, and not the courts, that draw the district lines.”

This year there are six proposals, four measures pending before the Legislature and two initiatives still in the signature- gathering process, to turn California’s redistricting over to a commission. California is currently one of thirty- eight states in which the Legislature has exclusive or primary responsibility for redistricting, while there are twelve states in which a commission has primary redistricting responsibility.

“We must remain focused on crafting a redistricting proposal that can win the support of Californians. Since 1982, California voters have considered, and rejected, four different initiatives to turn redistricting over to a commission convened specifically for that purpose. While we do need a commission that restores voter confidence and reduces the pervasive voter apathy that is routinely suppressing people from voting, we also must reject any measure that would create a redistricting commission that has no accountability, or that is not likely to represent the diversity of the state,” said Assemblymember Price.

Assemblymember Price and Assembly Speaker Núñez have proposed ACA 1 (Price/Núñez), a plan that calls for comprehensive redistricting reform in California. If passed, ACA 1 would eliminate the Legislature’s involvement in redrawing the district lines for the Senate, Assembly, Congress, and Board of Equalization by placing the responsibility in the hands of the bipartisan Little Hoover Commission. This Commission would be responsible for making sure districts fairly and impartially represent California’s communities of interest while respecting city, county and geographic boundaries to the most practicable extent.  It would ensure the commission’s independence, and would further require it to comply with the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, the California Public Records Act, the U.S. Constitution, and the federal Voting Rights Act, including per-district populations that meet constitutional equality standards.

Panel members at the informational hearing included: Tim Storey, Senior Fellow, Legislative Management Program, National Conference of State Legislatures; Tim Hodson, Executive Director, Center for California Studies at the California State University, Sacramento; Pamela Karlan, Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Professor of Public Interest Law, Stanford University Law School; Steve Ochoa, Director of Voting Rights and Policy Research, William C. Velasquez Institute; Kathay Feng, Executive Director, California Common Cause; and Trudy Schafer, Program Director/Advocate, League of Women Voters of California.

Assemblymember Curren Price serves the 51st Assembly District, which includes Inglewood, Hawthorne, Gardena, Playa Vista, Westchester, Lawndale, West Athens, Lennox, Alondra Park, West Compton, Del Aire, and Willowbrook, as well as portions of the unincorporated area of Ladera. He was elected to the Assembly in November 7, 2006.