From Fair Districts PA (http://www.fairdistrictspa.com):
The House State Government Committee has posted dates and times for regional hearings about congressional districts. The first three (North West PA, Allegheny County, and South West PA, August 24 to 26) have also been assigned locations. Most importantly, the portals for all regions are open to request an opportunity to testify in person and to submit written testimony. Consider signing up or submitting written testimony about your own region and local districts. These meetings appear to be in person; we are not sure yet if there will be an option to participate remotely.
Hearing schedule and regional portals are here. When you sign up, unless you are a local Fair Districts PA coordinator, please do not note Fair Districts PA as your “organization”. Number of speakers from any one organization will be limited.
There is also a page providing an on-line mapping tool where you can define a local communities of interest or share comments about specific aspects of the current congressional map. Coming soon: an option to draw your own map.
The hearing schedule, registration, comment and mapping pages are all are housed on the PA Republican Caucus website (under the web name paredistricting.com). We have not yet found links to them on the committee’s General Assembly webpage.
The Senate State Government Committee held a regional hearing for Southeast PA about Congressional Maps on August 4. In a recent update, we suggested that the live-stream and the agenda would appear on the committee’s General Assembly webpage. We were wrong. The recording, agenda, and “additional” testimony are all housed here on Senator Argall’s own page on the PA Senate GOP website. Neither site ever provided information for how to submit testimony. Those who submitted testimony were either invited or had to call or write to ask how to submit.
Should this be a partisan process?
Since both House and Senate committees will need to work together, it’s troubling that they are not holding joint hearings, and that the House comment page makes no reference to the Senate role in the process. Even more troubling is the fact that both are housed on partisan caucus websites, both difficult, or impossible, to find from the General Assembly site. While we know this is always a partisan process, there is no reason to signal it so clearly by using caucus websites in this way. Consider contacting both Senator Argall (dargall@pase.gov) and Representative Grove (sgrove@pahousegop.com) to express concern and ask why there is not one easy-to-find joint, non-partisan site for agenda, sign-ups, and other information.
The Legislative Reapportionment Commission (LRC, responsible for PA house and senate maps) is housing information on a non-partisan website. That commission held three hearings this week, with testimony from organizations leaders (including me), mapping experts, and concerned citizens. You can participate by submitting written comment here. You can read testimony and watch hearings from August 3rd here and from August 4th here. My own testimony is the first half-hour of the 2 pm, August 3rd hearing.
Looking for guidance to prepare testimony? Check out the Testimony is Advocacy Power website post. This post includes mapping resources and the Testimony Worksheet Guide.
If you have questions about preparing testimony and/or if you’d like feedback, join us from 7-8 PM for our virtual Monday Evening Office Hour. LRC Chair Nordenberg said several times: local insight is invaluable. Even the best mappers don’t have inside knowledge of all PA geography, history and communities. Regional hearings and on-line testimony submissions are good ways to share what you know of your own local area.FDPA Office Hours, Mondays, 7:00-8:00 PM Eastern Time
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Meeting ID: 815 5080 2149
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We are moving into the final months of shaping maps for the next ten years. While there’s no guarantee our input will be considered, it creates a record of public concern and reminds all involved, we are watching.
Be heard!
P.S. Join us on Zoom for a Statewide Community Mapping Conversation on August 18th from 7 to 8:30 PM. We’ll announce top maps from our LACRA Values Mapping Competition, hear from some mapping experts about the challenge of balancing mapping criteria, and spend time in regional breakouts to begin offering feedback on winning maps. Register here.
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