The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Feb. 21, 2023
Today’s Links
Articles & Resources:
CalMatters – Who draws the lines? A big push for independent local redistricting
PBS – California attorney general to investigate LA redistricting after councilmembers’ racist remarks
California General Assembly – AB 1248 Local redistricting: independent redistricting commissions
Report from Common Cause, et. al. – THE PROMISE OF FAIR MAPS – California’s 2020 Local
Redistricting Cycle: Lessons Learned and Future Reforms
Groups Taking Action:
Common Cause CA, ACLU of Northern & Southern CA, League of Women Voters CA, Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus
Today’s Script: (Variations occur with audio due to editing for time)
You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.
When we think redistricting, we generally think about our state’s Congressional, house and senate districts. But city and county districts are also reapportioned through redistricting – and also increasingly gerrymandered. Citizens in California are fighting back.
You’ll remember that last year Los Angeles City Council members were caught in an audio recording plotting to gerrymander safe districts for themselves, instead of mapping for proper representation to the communities they serve.
Independent news service CalMatters reports that some cities and counties have set up their own nonpartisan independent redistricting commissions to create fair maps for city councils, county commissions and school boards. Currently, municipalities must seek the approval of the legislature to set up such a commission. That may change with proposed state legislation that would require municipalities of 300,000 citizens or larger to set up a 14-member independent commission to draw nonpartisan maps.
A coalition of Democracy groups recently issued a report showing widespread local gerrymandering, but significantly less of it in counties and cities with independent commissions. The cities of Long Beach, Sacramento, and San Francisco, and the County of Los Angeles have already set up commissions. Three more counties were approved to do so in 2022, and bills allowing the City of Los Angeles and additional counties have been filed for 2023.
Once again, when partisan politicians can’t behave, it’s up to the citizens to fix it.
We have links to the article, legislation, and the California gerrymandering report AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. For the American Democracy Minute, I’m Brian Beihl.