Joint Corporations Minutes

D r a f t O n l y

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PP RROOCCEEEEDDIINNGGSS J OINT CORPORATIONS, ELECTIONS & POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS COMMITTEE

COMM ITTEE M EETING I NFORM ATIO N August 15, 2011

City Council Chambers Torrington, 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 Senator Charlie Scott Representative Gregg Blikre Representative James Byrd Representative Allen Jaggi Representative Kendell Kroeker Representative John Patton Representative Jim Roscoe Representative Tim Stubson

COMM ITTEE M EM BERS NOT PRESENT 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

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 6

OTHERS PRESENT AT M EETING Senator Jim Anderson Senator Stan Cooper Senator Ogden Driskill Representative Ed Buchanan Representative Hans Hunt Representative Frank Peasley Representative Matt Teeters

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 6

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The committee met in Torrington to hear testimony regarding redistricting based on the 2010 census.

CALL TO ORDER Co-Chairman Cale Case called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. in Torrington. The following sections summarize the Committee proceedings by topic.

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

Paul Miner, Platte County Republican Party, testified that he understands the challenges of putting counties together in order to get proper populations numbers. (Appendix 2). He offered support for the County Clerk’s plan and Hans Hunt’s plan. He asked that the committee consider keeping Platte County with other counties with more rural populations.

JOINT CORPORATIONS, ELECTIONS, & POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS COMMITTEE Summary of Proceedings

Jackie Bredthaver, Niobrara County, testified in support of Rep. Hunt’s plan. Niobrara would prefer to be linked with Weston County.

Ted Urban, Weston County, testified in support of Hunt’s plan as well.

Tom Dunlap, Niobrara County, expressed concern over the vastness of Senate District 1. He suggested that county lines in Sweetwater and Carbon counties need to be absorbed.

Rep. Matt Teeters asked to see the Hunt plan on the plan viewer. LSO staff explained that the plan is not available on the plan viewer because it a conceptual plan that does not specify deviations. The conceptual plan was brought up on the computer for all to see. Rep. Hunt explained his plan. He noted that the concept applies across the state and the details could be worked out at the local level.

Former Speaker Doug Chamberlain expressed concern that the Hunt plan is not presented on the web page in the same manner as other plans. He suggested the committee look back 20 years ago, suggesting that the one-person/one-vote plan had political underpinnings. He noted that he was allowed to participate in the legal proceedings over that plan on behalf of Goshen County. He noted that at that time period Goshen County had grown and it was the one carved up. He noted also that the plan at that time was politically motivated even though it was presented as not being so. His challenge is to avoid the gerrymandering that went on at that time.

Senator Driskill testified that the Hunt plan gives a broad picture and allows each region to come up with the details.

Rep. Peasley testified in support of Hunt’s plan as a foundational plan. He noted the problem is waiting to fill in the details until it is too late.

Chris O’Donnell, Platte County, testified that the Hunt plan maximizes regional representation.

There was further discussion of nested house districts and at large house districts.

Rep. Teeters raised concerns that Northern Goshen County is disenfranchised. He also expressed concern that Platte County is without a seated representative. It was also noted that the people in the southwest corner of Converse County feel disenfranchised also.

Thea O’Donnell, Platte County, noted that Wheatland is divided in half currently and that should be remedied. She expressed a desire to hear the County Clerk’s plan.

Rep. Hunt noted that the Clerk’s plan was a laudable effort, but he does not endorse it at this time.

The committee discussed concerns over how far down into Laramie county one must go to pick up enough for Platte county to remain whole. It was also noted that eastern Laramie County is rural and more of a community of interest with Goshen county.

Tracy Hunt testified that there are certain counties that are driving the growth in the state. In doing that they are diluting the other counties representation as counties in themselves. He suggested sharing the population growth out of Campbell County and putting it with Converse. He suggested that the single most important community of interest in Wyoming is what county you live in. He also expressed concern that people do not have the ability to look at other people’s comments on the web site.

JOINT CORPORATIONS, ELECTIONS, & POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS COMMITTEE Summary of Proceedings

There was a great deal of discussion about whether the comments made should be made public. Senate President Anderson and House Speaker Buchanan promised to consider how the process occurs.

Julie Freese, Fremont County Clerk, stated that the Clerk’s will present their plan at the committee meeting Tuesday, August 16th. She noted that Hunt’s plan provides a nice foundation but the devil is in the details. The clerk’s used certain principals in addition to the committee’s established principals. They tried to keep each county as intact as possible. She noted that 19 of the 23 counties were represented at the meeting and not everyone went away happy. The plan is also a work in progress as there are certain areas where the details need to fleshed out.

An audience member testified in support of Hunt’s plan in principal. He suggested that each county should get one senator and two representatives, and each legislator’s vote should be weighted to correspond with county population. Former Speaker Chamberlain noted that weighted voting was considered 20 years ago. Rep. Kroeker noted that such a proposal would put the weight of power in the hands of five people from the most populous counties. Rep. Patton provided a historical perspective going back to the creation of the United States and the case law that brings us to where we are.

Rep. Blikre noted that the people of Campbell County are people just like everyone else, looking for the same representation locally as everyone else.

MEETING ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, Co-Chairman Cale Case adjourned the meeting at 7:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Cale Case, Co-Chairman Pete Illoway, Co-Chairman

JOINT CORPORATIONS, ELECTIONS, & POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS COMMITTEE Summary of Proceedings

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Appendix Appendix Item Appendix Description Appendix Provider

1 Committee Sign-In Sheet Lists meeting attendees Legislative Service Office

2 Redistricting Written testimony Paul Miner

JOINT CORPORATIONS, ELECTIONS, & POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS COMMITTEE Summary of Proceedings