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MALDEF-WCVI Senate Plan California Senate Redistricting Plan Submitted July 31, 2001 Sacramento, California Mexican American Legal Defense And Educational Fund & William C. Velasquez Institute TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary 2 The Redistricting Partnership for Community Education 4 Statewide Map of Senate Districts 6 Statewide Map 7 Statewide Map of Districts - Inset San Francisco/ Bay Area 8 Statewide Map of Districts - Inset of Central Coast/Valley Area 9 Statewide Map of Districts - Inset of Los Angeles Area 10 Statewide Map of Districts - Inset of Orange County Area 11 Statewide Map of Districts - Inset of Inland Empire Area 12 Statewide Map of Districts - Inset of Southern California 13 Statement of Use of Traditional Redistricting Criteria 14 District Narratives 16 Demographic Tables 26 City and County Division Explanations 36 Voter Deferral Report 40 Appendix A: Traditional Redistricting Criteria Appendix B: The Voting Rights Act and Redistricting Appendix C: Statement of Compliance with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act Appendix D: The Role of Cross-Over Districts in a Fair Redistricting: Lessons From the 1990s, Morgan Kousser, Ph.D Appendix E: MALDEF-WCVI Senate Plan Report: Latino Democrat Percentage of Total Democrat Registrants Latino Republican Percentage of Total Republican Registrants Appendix F: Summary of Methodological Approaches to Redistricting And Socioeconomic Considerations, Ali Modarres, Ph.D Appendix G: Socioeconomic Assessment of Districts Appendix H: MALDEF-WCVI Community of Interest Report EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The redistricting process is an essential element of our democracy. The statewide legislative redistricting process, which occurs after the decennial census, provides a valuable opportunity to examine questions of inclusiveness, fair representation, and equity in our democracy. Our democratic society functions best when all people are provided with equal opportunities to fully and meaningfully participate in the electoral process. This Senate redistricting plan, submitted on behalf of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) and the William C. Velasquez Institute (WCVI), provides a community- based vision of inclusive democracy and features extensive community outreach as its centerpiece. MALDEF and WCVI have visited with community members throughout California, from the Imperial Valley desert community of Calexico to the burgeoning, ethnically rich, and diverse communities in Oakland. During these meetings, we have met members of the community face to face, and we have incorporated into our Senate redistricting plan, their vision of an inclusive democracy. This Senate redistricting plan represents a reasonable, fair, and equitable picture of electoral districts that complies with all applicable Constitutional, federal and state law: · This redistricting plan contains a total overall deviation of 0.27% and an average deviation of 0.07% in compliance with the equal population requirement of the United States Constitution. · The plan fully complies with Section 2 and Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. · This plan does not elevate race above other traditional redistricting criteria. · This plan respects traditional redistricting criteria by utilizing communities of interest as its foundation. · This plan respects traditional redistricting criteria by creating districts that are contiguous. · This plan respects traditional redistricting criteria by incorporating and respecting communities of interest. · This plan respects political subdivisions by avoiding, to the extent possible, the splitting of counties or cities, except to comply with the rule of equal population and the Voting Rights Act. MALDEF - WCVI Senate Redistricting Plan July 31, 2001 - Sacramento, California 2 This plan creates districts that are based on MALDEF’s and WCVI’s extensive outreach to ensure that these districts truly capture communities which share representational interests. During the past year, MALDEF and WCVI have documented community concerns regarding what these communities believe would contribute to equitable and fair opportunities for representation. In addition, we have reviewed of community of interest testimony submitted to the Assembly and Senate Elections and Reapportionment Committees. This redistricting plan is in full compliance with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act because it does not dilute minority voting strength. The plan is in full compliance with Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act and does not retrogress the voting strength of minorities in California’s four covered jurisdictions - Yuba County, Merced County, Monterey County, and Kings County. MALDEF - WCVI Senate Redistricting Plan July 31, 2001 - Sacramento, California 3 THE REDISTRICTING PARTNERSHIP FOR COMMUNITY EDUCATION The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) and the William C. Velasquez Institute (WCVI) joined together in a redistricting partnership for community education. The central goal of that partnership was to provide resources to the Latino communities throughout the state in order to support the creation of fair districts. To that end, MALDEF and WCVI provided education seminars on the legal and technical aspects of redistricting. The 35 redistricting workshops, open to the general public and frequently covered by local media, were held throughout the state, in such diverse communities as San Diego County, San Bernardino, Santa Clara County, Fresno, and Los Angeles. In each meeting, we gathered information from a community regarding how best to represent their needs and interests. At each meeting, we distributed our respective publications: The Importance of Redistricting in Your Community (MALDEF/APALC/NAACP-LDF) and Fair Redistricting in the 2000’s, A Manual for Minority Groups (WCVI). After providing them with an overview of the legal and technical issues involving redistricting, the community members were asked to apply their local knowledge and experiences about their communities to the census tracks and population figures on the maps we provided. They also incorporated into the socio-economic maps the issues that unite and divide their community. If they needed access to mapping software, we provided free NetMeeting Mapping. As the map was being constructed, MALDEF and WCVI frequently consulted community members. Both groups continue to provide assistance with local redistricting efforts, providing the technical and legal assistance to create supervisorial or city council districts that reflect the needs of their community. Our redistricting effort is a statewide project aimed at giving community members a greater voice in the governance of California. To that end, in April 2001, MALDEF and WCVI convened community groups at the Latino Summit on Fair Redistricting in Sacramento. Over 150 community members from throughout the state attended the summit and shared their experiences in redistricting. The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) is a national nonprofit legal organization which promotes and protects the civil rights of the over 30 million Latinos residing in the United States. One of the most important goals for MALDEF is ensuring fair access to the political process for all Latinos. MALDEF performs its work through community education, public policy advocacy, and litigation. For over 30 years, MALDEF has been actively involved in redistricting efforts throughout the United States. As the Latino population continues to grow throughout the country, it is critical that Latinos’ level of political awareness, sophistication and participation in the electoral process are enhanced. MALDEF knows that political empowerment is vital to our strong democratic form of government. Our efforts have involved both enforcing Latino voting rights and protecting gains MALDEF - WCVI Senate Redistricting Plan July 31, 2001 - Sacramento, California 4 which already have been achieved. MALDEF played a key role in the advocacy and passage of the 1993 National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) or “Motor Voter Act”and we are monitoring national implementation through our litigation efforts in LULAC v. State of Illinois and Voting Rights Coalition v. Wilson. MALDEF also has actively participated in litigation arising from the 1993 Supreme Court decision in Shaw v. Reno, which allows parties to challenge as racial gerrymandering districts in which minorities constitute a majority of the population (majority-minority districts). In the aftermath of Shaw, there have been several legal challenges filed against majority-minority districts throughout the country; MALDEF has defended congressional and state legislative redistricting plans for the states of Illinois, Louisiana and Texas. For more information visit www.maldef.org The William C. Velasquez Institute (WCVI), formerly known, as the Southwest Voter Research Institute is a tax-exempt, non-profit, non-partisan organization chartered in 1985. The purpose of WCVI is to conduct research aimed at improving the level of political and economic participation in Latino and other underrepresented communities. WCVI holds a unique position among national Latino organizations. In its tradition of working with grassroots organizations, academic institutions and local elected officials, WCVI fills the gap between intellectual think tanks and community groups. WCVI conducts research in selected areas of concentration and follows up the implementation stages: WCVI translates ideas into research, research into policy and policy into action. WCVI was created:
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