D r a f t O n l y A p p r o v a l P e n d i n g SS UUMMMMAARRYY ooff PP RROOCCEEEEDDIINNGGSS J OINT CORPORATIONS, ELECTIONS & POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS COMMITTEE COMM ITTEE M EETING I NFORM ATIO N January 19, 2012 Room 302, Capitol Building Cheyenne, Wyoming COMM ITTEE M EM BERS PRESENT Senator Cale Case, Cochairman Representative Pete Illoway, Cochairman Senator John Hines Senator Wayne Johnson Senator Marty Martin Senator Charlie Scott Representative Gregg Blikre Representative Jim Byrd Representative Allen Jaggi Representative Kendell Kroeker Representative John Patton Representative Jim Roscoe Representative Tim Stubson Representative Dan Zwonitzer LEGISL ATIVE SERVICE OFFICE ST AF F Dan Pauli, Director Lynda Cook, Staff Attorney Matt Obrecht, Staff Attorney Matt Sackett, Senior Research Analyst The Committee Meeting Summary of Proceedings (meeting minutes) is prepared by the Legislative Service Office (LSO) and is the official record of the proceedings of a legislative committee meeting. This document does not represent a transcript of the meeting; it is a digest of the meeting and provides a record of official actions taken by the Committee. All meeting materials and handouts provided to the Committee by the Legislative Service Office, public officials, lobbyists, and the public are on file at the Legislative Service Office and are part of the official record of the meeting. An index of these materials is provided at the end of this document and these materials are on file at the Legislative Service Office. For more information or to review meeting materials, please contact the Legislative Service Office at (307) 777-7881 or by e-mail at [email protected]. The Summary of Proceedings for each legislative committee meeting can be found on the Wyoming Legislature’s website at http://legisweb.state.wy.us. PAGE 2 OF 7 OTHERS PRESENT AT M EETING Senator Jim Anderson Senator Eli Bebout Senator Leland Christensen Senator Hank Coe Senator Stan Cooper Senator Dan Dockstader Senator Ogden Driskill Representative Bernadine Craft Representative Hans Hunt Representative Tom Lockhart Representative Robert McKim Representative Lorraine Quarberg Please refer to Appendix 1 to review the Committee Sign-in Sheet for a list of other individuals who attended the meeting. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The committee met in Cheyenne to conclude its consideration of redistricting based on the 2010 census. CALL TO ORDER Co-Chairman Pete Illoway called the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m. The following sections summarize the Committee proceedings by topic. Please refer to Appendix 2 to review the Committee Meeting Agenda. APPROV AL OF MINUTES Minutes from the December, 2011 Committee meeting were approved. REDISTRICTING Matt Obrecht, LSO staff, presented a memo regarding holdover senators removed from their district by the redistricting process. (Appendix 3). Mr. Obrecht explained that the legislature has wide latitude to act in this area without offending the constitution as long as they ensure that every citizen has an identifiable senator following the 2012 election. Senator Hines reiterated that the Wyoming constitution declares that a senator is elected for four years and his belief that this constitutional provision should be considered when deciding the proper course of action involving a holdover senator removed from his district by the redistricting process. Mr. Obrecht explained the various provisions in the constitution that may conflict which each other when redistricting is considered. Mr. Obrecht noted that the bill is currently drafted to require an election in a district where the holdover senator was removed through the redistricting process. The election would be for the remainder of the removed senator's term. Senator Coe and Representative Quarberg discussed the Big Horn Basin. They put together a plan for House districts 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 and 50. (Appendix 4). Rep. Quarberg noted that the plan keeps the three voting districts in Meteetsee together. Mr. Sackett, LSO staff, noted that the plan is within the allowable deviation. Jerri Torczon, Park County Clerk and Dori Noyes, Big Horn County Clerk, testified JOINT CORPORATIONS, ELECTIONS, & POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS COMMITTEE Summary of Proceedings WYOMING LEGISLATIVE SERVICE OFFICE • 213 State Capitol • Cheyenne, Wyoming 82002 TELEPHONE (307) 777-7881 • FAX 307-777-5466 • E-MAIL [email protected] • WEB SITE http://legisweb.state.wy.us PAGE 3 OF 7 in support of the plan. Julie Freese, Fremont County Clerk, testified that the plan does not materially affect the Fremont County Plan. The committee adopted the plan into the committee bill. Representative Teeters brought an amendment that places Fort Laramie in HD 4 with Lingle and cleans up the boundaries around Torrington. Rep Teeters noted that the Goshen County Clerk is ill so she hasn’t reviewed the proposal and couldn’t be here to support the change. Becky Freeman, Niobrara County Clerk, asked how large the district will be. Rep. Teeters noted that the proposal does not increase the distance a representative would have to travel. Ms. Freeman also asked if the plan would cause problems with the precincts. Hans Odie, Hot Springs County Clerk, asked why the area that is moved in this amendment was in the other district in the original plan. He expressed concern that the change may affect current precincts and districts. The committee asked Rep. Teeters to contact the deputy Goshen County Clerk to ensure that she has an opportunity to weigh-in on the plan. Senator Martin testified that he was tasked with working together with other legislators and clerks from the western part of the state. The group met and put together a proposal that they brought to the public. The plan encompasses House districts 15, 47, 17, 39, 19, 49, 18, 21, 20, 22, 16 and 23. (Appendix 5). Representative Jaggi testified that his county clerk expressed concern about placing a portion of Evanston in house district 18. He also testified that it is probably the best they could do with the numbers the way they are, even though it places two sitting house members in the same district. Senator Dockstader testified that this plan was a compromise between all the communities of interest in the area. Rep. Roscoe reiterated that the plan is a compromise. He has a proposed change for the northern part of the amendment, but he testified that the southern part is good. Mary Langford, Sublette County Clerk, testified that they have worked very hard to come to this compromise. She testified that Sublette County is satisfied with the plan. Sherri Dagle, Teton County Clerk, agreed. She testified that the changes proposed by Roscoe would clean up some lines in Teton County and would address her concerns. Senator Christensen testified in support of the plan. Rep. Roscoe explained that his proposed changes are to HD 22, 16 and 23. He noted that the amendment fixes the problem of splitting the town of Wilson down the middle. Sherri Dagle explained that the amendment uses the Snake River as a dividing point. She noted that Rep. Petroff is happy with the changes. Ms. Dagle testified that while she is satisfied with the original plan, she is “ecstatic” with the amendment proposed by Rep. Roscoe. Senator Christensen testified in support of the amendment as well. The committee adopted the plan, with the Roscoe amendment, into the committee bill. (Zwonitzer No on the original plan, but yes on the Roscoe amendment). Tom Bruce, Weston County Commissioner, introduced the Weston County Clerk Mamie Krank. Ms. Krank testified that she has some issues with the current plan. She noted that the current plan splits a school district between two house districts and two senate districts (Appendix 6). She testified in opposition of nesting house districts 1 and 2 separately. She noted that Newcastle is very different from Goshen County. Rep. Stubson noted that the house district split of the school district has always been an issue. Ms. Krank noted that the real concern is the split in the Senate district. Matt Sackett noted that trying to follow the school district lines would result in an unallowable deviation in population. Senator Driskill testified that he realizes the current senate district is a big senate district, but it is a common community of interest. He does not support the nesting proposed in the committee plan. Rep. Hunt testified that he will bring an amendment during session that draws the lines according to his original plan. JOINT CORPORATIONS, ELECTIONS, & POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS COMMITTEE Summary of Proceedings WYOMING LEGISLATIVE SERVICE OFFICE • 213 State Capitol • Cheyenne, Wyoming 82002 TELEPHONE (307) 777-7881 • FAX 307-777-5466 • E-MAIL [email protected] • WEB SITE http://legisweb.state.wy.us PAGE 4 OF 7 Ms. Krank testified that when a district is so wide that people do not have the chance to know the people running then they are disenfranchised. Senator Hines disagreed. He suggested that people should vote based on philosophy, not on where the person lives. Senator Scott asked what the implications are if the committee changed the nesting of Senate District 1. Mr. Bruce argued that Weston and Niobrara counties together can support a house district. He again argued that Goshen County does not share a community of interest with the northern counties. Rep. Kroeker suggested that pointing out problems without offering solutions is not productive. The Weston County contingent did not have a specific proposal for the Committee which could be included in the committee plan while preserving the boundaries of surrounding districts and maintaining the proper population deviation. Chairman Illoway stated that interested parties from eastern Wyoming could work with LSO staff over the lunch break to develop a new plan for eastern Wyoming that would address the concerns of Weston County. Senator Case presided after the lunch break.