Commission states

California is the newest state to use a commission to draw its legislative map, and it’s a unique but untested system.

Generated by a voter initiative to change California’s constitution, it requires a supermajority of votes — 9 out of 14 — to approve a new map. Those nine have to include three from the Democratic group, three from the Republican group and three from the unaffiliated group.

In the case of a stalemate, the state Supreme Court appoints a so-called special master to draw a map based on the same criteria used by the legislature.

At least one state every decade has transitioned to using a commission rather than the legislative process to redraw their congressional or legislative maps, according to Tim Storey, senior fellow in legislative management with the National Conference of State Legislatures based in Denver.

In the 2011 cycle, 13 states will use redistricting commissions. Storey says while the assumption is that commissions take politics out of the process, there’s great diversity in the way those bodies are formed.

“Some of the commissions are in fact more partisan than even the legislative process,” Storey says.

Here are a few examples:

In Missouri, the governor appoints all the commissioners.

New Jersey legislative leaders make the appointments.

Arkansas uses only three commissioners: the governor, the secretary of state and the attorney general.

Illinois only uses a commission as a back-up if the legislature’s plan fails to receive the governor’s approval by June 30. It comprises four Democrats and four Republicans, including some legislators. If that commission fails to agree on a redistricting plan, then the secretary of state draws a name out of a hat to determine which political party holds a majority on the commission and, therefore, draws the new map.

Several proposals for change have been introduced in the Illinois legislature, including a constitutional amendment, House Joint Resolution 44. It would allow the House and Senate to draw their own legislative maps and require a three-fifths majority in each chamber, ensuring a bipartisan outcome. If that process failed, the state Supreme Court would appoint a special master to draw the map based on the same criteria.

That constitutional amendment advanced in the House in 2008 but stalled in the Senate under then-President Emil Jones Jr.

Bethany Jaeger

Illinois Issues, November 2009