From Fair Districts PA (http://www.fairdistrictspa.com):
We’re still waiting for a final Congressional map. On Monday, Feb. 7, Commonwealth Court Judge McCullough submitted her recommendations to the PA Supreme Court. She recommended adoption of HB 2146, the map proposed and amended by Representative Seth Grove, and vetoed by Governor Wolf. Her lengthy recommendation raises important legal questions. See some of those questions in our response to her recommendations here.
The PA Supreme Court will hold a hearing to consider the submitted maps and McCullough’s recommendations on February 18. The final map will be decided on then or soon after.
We are also waiting for news about the candidate petition timeline and possible date of the primary. By our count, there are now 25 PA House districts and 1 Senate district with no incumbents, which may be a first in number of open seats. Given the tight timeline, there will likely be a scramble for candidates to circulate petitions. Think about who you could encourage or help in that!
We just saw the last session day until late March. Thank you for speaking out against House Bill 38, the constitution amendment to create judicial districts. There was no action on that this week, which means it’s very unlikely it would pass both chambers in time to be on the primary ballot this spring. House Bill 2207, the amendment that would give our legislators even more control over their own district maps, was also passed over. We’ll continue to watch these but for now, no news is good news.
This is the first time in years that PA will have new maps at the same time as election of both governor and US senator. We’ll be doing all we can to help inform voters about new districts, to encourage new voices to run for office and to join other organizations in registering voters and strengthening civic engagement.
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