What's next for redistricting effort?
HARRISBURG  Redistricting reform supporters in Pennsylvania are having a moment of disappointing dj vu. In 2020, after advocates held rallies and won the public, bipartisan support of some lawmakers, the Republican-controlled legislature effectively killed their proposal to create an independent commission void of elected officials who could unfairly influence the process of drawing the states political maps. But they had a Plan B: the Legislative Congressional and Redistricting Act, which would put stricter guardrails on how lawmakers draw congressional and legislative districts and add transparency requirements to bring the process out from behind closed doors. This year, anti-gerrymandering groups, including Fair Districts PA, once again set out to garner support in Harrisburg. They demanded meetings with state legislators, convinced local county commissioners to sign resolutions supporting the measure, and filled local newspapers editorial pages with letters explaining why reform was a good idea. But last week, the General Assembly recessed for the summer without adopting Plan B. Lawmakers are set to return to Harrisburg in September, when the U.S. Census Bureau will finally deliver the population data needed to determine how the political districts are drawn. As they begin the process of drawing districts that will influence policy in Pennsylvania for the next 10 years, theyll do so without codified rules advocates say will help deter gerrymandering, when a maps district boundaries are manipulated to benefit one political party over another. Carol Kuniholm, chair of Fair Districts PA, said Monday it feels like the last time when the independent commission stalled, except now we really are at a dead end.  They have effectively made very, very clear that there will be no redistricting reform, she said. I would say that if they didnt do it by now, theyre not going to do it.  Without guarantees in state law, reform advocates are relying on the verbal promises from those in charge of the process, who say theyre going to hold public hearings, allow citizens to submit their own maps, and explain how and why the districts were drawn  all requirements that were included in the legislation. Pennsylvanias congressional districts, which are shrinking from 18 to 17 due to slow population growth, will be drawn by the GOP-controlled legislature and must be approved by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf. The state House and Senate maps are drawn by a Legislative Reapportionment Commission made up of party leaders in Harrisburg and an appointed chairperson. The chair for this redistricting cycle, Mark Nordenberg, said last week he wanted citizens to be able to submit suggestions through the redistricting website. He also said public hearings would be conducted in July and August before census data is available, and the commission would almost certainly hold hearings again after census data has been received and digested.  Good-government groups like the Committee of Seventy and Common Cause PA hailed the state Supreme Courts pick of Nordenberg  a former University of Pittsburgh chancellor  as a win, saying they expect him to keep his word and deliver fair maps. The commission has in the past held hearings to solicit input, but its a different story for the congressional map, which has traditionally been designed in secret and presented to the public at the last minute. Ten years ago, when Republicans controlled both the legislature and the governors office, the map was publicly introduced and adopted in the span of a week. The state Supreme Court later threw it out, saying Republicans unconstitutionally maximized the number of congressional seats for their party while disadvantaging Democrats. The new, court-ordered map resulted in Democrats gaining four congressional seats in 2018. Kuniholm said her group is relying on the political checks and balances already in place that could result in fairer maps, unlike in states where one party controls the entire redistricting process. Wolf, who has supported redistricting reform in the past, could veto any congressional map he doesnt like, and the Democratic-controlled state Supreme Court could throw out either the congressional map or the General Assembly maps and appoint a third party to produce new maps without lawmakers input. Kuniholm said thats something the party leaders in Harrisburg want to avoid at all costs, which means theres still a chance theyll come to a bipartisan agreement on maps that follow criteria Fair Districts PA has deemed unbiased: that districts be roughly equal in population, keep localities together, and reflect the needs of Pennsylvanians. To that end, Kuniholm said her groups members plan to come to the meetings in droves, present their own maps, and convince lawmakers to do it their way. Our goal is to say, We know what a good map looks like, and were going to be asking for a good map, she said. Although the reform Fair Districts PA supported didnt pass in the General Assembly, an altered version was approved by a Senate committee last week. An amendment, introduced by Sen. David Argall (R., Schuylkill), stripped out proposed limits on how the General Assemblys own districts are drawn. It instead prioritizes equal population distribution and avoiding municipality splits in the congressional map rather than considering all standards  including compactness and keeping communities of interest together  with equal weight. Its unclear what partisan effect that could have on the state. Democrats tend to cluster in urban areas, while Republicans are spread throughout the states rural counties. Take Pittsburgh, for instance. The city of roughly 300,000 people can fit into an entire congressional district  each of Pennsylvanias 17 districts will consist of around 752,443 people  and votes heavily Democrat, while outside of the urban area, the rest of Allegheny County tends to vote Republican. If Pittsburgh were to be split into three congressional districts, two of those would likely lean Democratic. But if the city were wholly contained in one strong Democratic district following Argalls criteria, the surrounding districts might have a greater chance of electing Republican candidates. Argall, whose committee will be among the first to vote on the new congressional map, promised transparency in the process, saying hell hold hearings this summer to get the publics input on what the districts should look like, although they have yet to be scheduled. Sen. Lisa Boscola, a Democrat from Northampton County who authored the 2021 guardrail legislation, said last week she wasnt surprised her bill was changed to omit reforms to state lawmakers own districts. Now, shes hoping the lawmakers keep their word on promises of transparency and public involvement. If they dont, I think youre going to see an uprising from the grassroots organizations, she said.