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 June 28, 2011 Rochelle Athletic Center, University of Wyoming Laramie, Wyoming 9:30 a.m. – 12 noon Laramie County Library Cheyenne, Wyoming 5:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. COMM ITTEE M EM BERS PRESENT Senator Cale Case, Cochairman Representative Pete Illoway, Cochairman Senator John Hines Senator Wayne Johnson Senator Marty Martin Representative Gregg Blikre Representative James Byrd Representative Allen Jaggi Representative Kendell Kroeker Representative John Patton Representative Tim Stubson COMM ITTEE M EM BERS NOT PRESENT Senator Charlie Scott Representative Jim Roscoe Representative Lisa Shepperson LEGISL ATIVE SERVICE OFFICE ST AF F Lynda Cook, Staff Attorney Matt Obrecht, Staff Attorney Matt Sackett, Senior Research Analyst Dan Pauli, Director (Cheyenne) 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 Mark Quiner, Assistant Director (Laramie) OTHERS PRESENT AT M EETING Senator Phil Nicholas (Laramie) Senator Stan Cooper (Cheyenne) Senator Fred Emerich (Cheyenne) Senator Floyd Esquibel (Cheyenne) Senator Tony Ross (Cheyenne) Representative Kermit Brown (Laramie) Representative Cathy Connolly (Laramie) Representative John Eckland (Cheyenne) Representative Matt Greene (Laramie) Representative Hans Hunt Representative Glenn Moniz (Laramie) Representative Jeb Steward (Laramie) Representative Dan Zwonitzer (Cheyenne) Representative Dave Zwonitzer (Cheyenne) Please refer to Appendix 1 to review the Subcommittee Sign-in Sheet for a list of other individuals who attended the meeting. 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 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The committee met in Laramie and Cheyenne to hear testimony regarding redistricting based on the 2010 census. CALL TO ORDER Co-Chairman Cale Case called the meeting to order at 9:30 a.m. in Laramie. Co-Chairman Pete Illoway called the meeting back to order at 5:00 p.m. in Cheyenne. The following sections summarize the Committee proceedings by topic. The same presentation was made by LSO staff at the beginning of both meetings. Public Comment is separated by meeting place. REDISTRICTING Matt Obrecht and Matt Sackett, LSO staff, provided a presentation on the principals of redistricting. The basic principle of redistricting is one person one vote. To achieve that goal, legislative districts should fall within a standard deviation of no more than 10%. Mr. Obrecht explained the concepts of communities of interest and the requirements of the Voting Rights Act. He noted that political gerrymandering is when one party draws districts that do not meet redistricting principals in order to keep that party in office. Mr. Obrecht explained the legal constructs of redistricting and the following dominant redistricting principals. Districts should be contiguous, compact and should follow recognized geographic boundaries. Census blocks are the smallest geographic entity and cannot be split in a redistricting plan. Voting districts are a collection of census blocks put together by the Census Bureau with the input of the county clerks. The Wyoming constitutional requirement that each county be a separate district has been held null and void in violation of the one man one vote concept. Nested districts are house districts which fall completely within one senate district. Multimember districts are districts where more than one legislator is elected at large in a particular area. While this is not per se unconstitutional, it is very suspect under previous court analysis. Explained the following principles guiding the process: 1. Election districts should be contiguous, compact and reflect a community of interest; 2. Population of election districts should be substantially equal, with the range of deviation not to exceed 10% ; 3. To the greatest extent possible, in establishing election districts: a. County boundaries should be followed; b. The majority of the population of each county should be in one district; c. Census blocks should be followed; 4. The plan should avoid diluting voting power of minorities in violation of the Voting Rights Act; 5. The house shall have 60 seats and the senate shall have 30 seats; 6. Consideration should be given to two contiguous house districts in each senate district; and 7. Significant geographical features should be considered in establishing districts. Mr. Sackett gave a presentation on how to navigate the link on the legislative website for private citizens to see the proposed plans and comment on them. PUBLIC COMMENT (LARAMIE) Representative Cathy Connolly and Albany County Clerk Jackie Gonzalez presented a plan for Albany County. (Appendix 2). Alan Frank, GIS coordinator for Albany County helped explain the maps. In this 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 plan, House District 13 was increased by taking population from HD45. Many of the new house district boundaries under the plan now follow city boundaries where they did not before. Bart Hillmer asked whether HD 47 would be taking more population from Albany County. The Albany county plan did not add any additional population to HD47. Senator Martin suggested that a plan they will propose tonight will increase HD47 with population from Sweetwater County. Rep. Byrd noted that the outlines of the plan are strange because of the boundaries of the city. Senator Martin presented a plan he has developed with Senator Cooper. (Appendix 3). This plan expands HD47 into Atlantic City and Jeffrey City and west into Farson and Eden. However, Senator Martin suggested that they could make it work without the Fremont county pieces if they took the Alcova block from Natrona County. Rep. Stubson noted that the current district in the Natrona Plan which contains Alcova is over in population so it could be done. Rep. Jaggi applauded the larger solutions presented in this plan. Representative Jeb Steward noted that the new House District 47 under the Martin plan is rather large, but it is the first time he has had a chance to see the plan. Philosophically speaking, he hoped to see the district expand further into Laramie and Natrona county rather than further west. Chairman Illoway expressed concern that one person can represent Farson and Encampment at the same time. Cindy Malter, League of Women Voters asked why the plan cannot be further discussed here in Laramie rather than tonight in Cheyenne. Senator Martin noted that Senator Cooper will be in Cheyenne tonight. Senator Nicholas noted that the Rock River people have always complained about being added in with Carbon County rather than Albany County. He also noted that Albany County has prided itself in that the county was equally represented by democrats and republicans. He asked that the committee remember that balance. Representative Jaggi noted that although the committee will not specifically consider protecting existing legislators, but they certainly will keep it in mind. Representative Hunt provided a proposal for the entire state. (Appendix 4). Six natural districts can be drawn on county lines. Albany County would make 4 house districts, Lincoln County would make 2 house districts, Niobrara with Westin would make one house district, Park County would make three house districts, Natrona County would make 8 house districts, and Sheridan County would make 3 house districts. Rep. Hunt's proposal would have Johnson County borrow 824 people from Sheridan, which would not upset its “natural” district status. Crook would borrow 2311 from Campbell County to make a house district. Campbell county (minus those given to Crook) plus Converse County makes 6 house districts. Laramie Goshen and Platte counties would have 11 house districts, one of which could be Platte County by itself. Sublette minus 853 people makes 1 house district. Uinta, Sweetwater and Carbon (plus the 853 from Sublette) make 9 districts. Big Horn and Washakie counties (minus 1416 people to be given to the final district) would make 2 house districts. Finally, Teton, Fremont and Hot Springs (with the 1416 from Washakie) can make 7 house districts. Under this scenario no district would need to deviate more than 3.4% from the ideal. 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 5 OF 7 Mark Homer, testified that he likes the big picture idea but expressed concern about Laramie, Goshen and Platte being put together.