From Fair Districts PA (http://www.fairdistrictspa.com):
The PA Senate State Government passed SB 22, the PA Senate’s redistricting bill, after a unanimous vote on an amendment to the bill proposed by Committee Chair Mike Folmer. That amendment is now available on the General Assembly website here. (For a reminder on how to read a bill, check here or our youtube explainer here.)
Fair Districts PA representatives, along with leaders of other advocate organizations, took part in extensive conversations regarding the Folmer amendment. We were shown a proposed draft, invited to offer response and together with legislative staff weighed options in an attempt to create a document that would be acceptable to everyone. The unanimous vote is a testament to that hard work.
While the amendment as passed is not exactly what we envisioned, it has strong safeguards for transparency, prohibitions against use of electoral data, constraints on splitting counties and municipalities, and mechanisms requiring broad buy-in among the commissioners and for the final map. Further safeguards in the selection process and mapping criteria will be added in implementing legislation, to be drafted in conversation with advocates and legislators from both parties.
When evaluated against processes in place across the country, we believe this bill, with appropriate implementing legislation, would create one of the fairest redistricting processes in the country.
Our statement on SB 22 as passed is available online here. For comparison, both National Council of State Legislatures and Ballotpedia offer summaries of redistricting commissions and their selection processes. If the bill is enacted as is, PA’s commission would be second only to California’s in level of independence from legislators. (It should be noted that California has an initiative/referendum process whereby legislation can be proposed and voted on without consent of their legislators. PA does not have such a process.)
SB 22 now moves to the Senate floor, where a vote will likely take place on June 4, when the Senate is back session. Majority Leader Jake Corman has expressed support for reform, as has Minority Leader Jay Costa. On Monday, May 21, President Pro Tem Joe Scarnati joined them.
What Now
We invite you to contact your state senator to ask for continued support of SB 22 as it moves to a vote on the Senate floor. For those senators who voted “yes” in committee, you could offer a thank-you email. Find contact information for your senator at http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/findyourlegislator/index.cfm#address.
Once the bill passes in the Senate, it will move to the House, where Speaker Mike Turzai will refer it to committee. Join us in asking Rep. Turzai to place SB 22 and any other redistricting reform bills in the Local Government Committee, rather than the State Government Committee.(1) More than 240 municipalities and 18 counties have passed resolutions of support for redistricting reform, demonstrating its extreme importance to local governments across our state.
Email Speaker Turzai Mturzai@pahousegop.com
Ask your local officials to contact him directly.
We have learned that the original House Bill 722 has been reintroduced as HB 2402, and Samuelson & Roe are collecting new co-sponsors. Contact your legislators if they were original HB 722 co-sponsors and ask them to co-sponsor HB 2402.
Please remember: The progress we’ve seen is the direct result of your own attention, persistence and creative advocacy. We are just a few weeks away from the deadline for passage of reform legislation in this session, and with your help we’ll get there.
Don’t stop now!
TAKE ACTION TODAY!
Please contact Rep. Mike Turzai today and tell him to refer reform bills elsewhere OR to remove Representative Metcalfe from the chairman position he so clearly abuses:
Phone: (412) 369-2230
Email: mturzai@pahousegop.com
(1) Speaker Mike Turzai will need to decide where to refer more than eighty reform bills that have been reintroduced by Minority Leader Frank Dermody. Among those are reintroductions of House Bill 722 and HB 563, both gutted by the House State Government Committee under the leadership of Representative Daryl Metcalfe. He may also need to refer a new redistricting reform bill to be introduced by Majority Leader Dave Reed.
Representative Metcalfe has made very clear he is not willing to give redistricting reform a fair hearing in his committee. We believe he is abusing his power as committee chair to block a reform that was cosponsored by 110 of his colleagues, more than any other bill in this session.
Please join us in requesting that Speaker Turzai to show leadership for reform and place new redistricting reform bills in a different committee rather than send them into the Metcalfe’s committee.
Over 260 local governments have expressed support for this reform, so the Local Government Committee might be a good choice.
Or precedent suggests he could refer them to the Rules Committee.
What won’t work is to refer them back to Representative Metcalfe.
Here’s a suggested script:
“I’m a Pennsylvania resident and voter. I’m calling to urge Speaker Turzai to show leadership for redistricting reform by NOT referring any redistricting reform bills to the House State Government Committee so long as Rep. Daryl Metcalfe is the chair. Mr. Metcalfe has abused his chairman position by blocking fair hearings for redistricting bills. For example HB 722 was cosponsored by 110 of his colleagues – more than any other bill in this session – and it had support from over 260 local governments in Pennsylvania. And yet HB 722 did not get a fair hearing in Mr. Metcalfe’s committee. Please either remove Mr. Metcalfe from his position as chair of the State Government Committee OR assign redistricting reform bills to another committee. Thank you.”
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