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 14, 2011 Game & Fish Offices Casper, Wyoming 9:30 a.m. – 12 noon Wright Library Wright, Wyoming 5:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. COMM ITTEE M EM BERS PRESENT Senator Cale Case, Cochairman Representative Pete Illoway, Cochairman (Casper) Senator John Hines Senator Wayne Johnson Senator Charlie Scott (Casper) Representative Gregg Blikre Representative Jim Byrd Representative Kendell Kroeker Representative John Patton Representative Lisa Shepperson (Casper) Representative Tim Stubson (Casper) COMM ITTEE M EM BERS NOT PRESENT Senator Marty Martin Representative Allen Jaggi Representative Jim Roscoe LEGISL ATIVE SERVICE OFFICE ST AF F 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 6 OTHERS PRESENT AT M EETING Senator Eli Bebout (Casper) Senator Bill Landen (Casper) Senator Michael Von Flatern (Wright) Representative Richard Cannady (Casper) Representative Rita Campbell (Casper) Representative Gerald Gay (Casper) Representative Hans Hunt (Wright) Representative Norine Kasperik (Wright) Representative Tom Lockhart (Casper) Representative Bunky Loucks (Casper) Representative Mark Semlek (Wright) 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 Casper and Wright to hear testimony regarding redistricting based on the 2010 census. CALL TO ORDER Co-Chairman Pete Illoway called the meeting to order at 9:30 a.m. in Casper. Co-Chairman Cale Case called the meeting back to order at 5:00 p.m. in Wright. 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. (Appendix 2). 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 (CASPER) Representative Tim Stubson presented the Natrona County plan. The county legislative delegation got together and looked at the needs of the county clerks' office. Natrona County has grown at the same rate 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 6 as the state. The county continues to have enough people for 4 senate districts and 8 house districts. However growth has moved outside of the city limits and therefore lines need to be adjusted within the county. The plan (Appendix 3) took into account communities of interest and more logical, squared off boundaries. One advantage is having Mills represented by a single district rather than split up as in the previous districts. Renae Vitto, Natrona County Clerk, testified that she is very pleased with the proposed Natrona County Plan. Terri Henderson, Converse county resident, testified that small rural areas without a town are not adequately represented. She specifically noted the portions of Goshen and Platte County that are part of Senate District 1. Ms. Henderson suggested that house districts should be substantially equal, but Senate districts should not. (Appendix 4). She quoted portions of the Federalist Papers to support that concept. Senator Hines explained some preliminary work that has been done on a plan for the northeast portion of the state. He testified that they are proposing a plan for three senate districts that cover Campbell, Crook and Weston County. He noted that he will provide more details in Wright. Becky Freeman, Niobrara County Clerk, testified that she wants to see Niobrara County kept whole. Representative Gay testified regarding house district 36 He noted that the changes in the proposed Natrona plan are very sensible and helpful. He did note that the extreme north east of his district is oddly shaped but it follows the lines of the town of Evansville. Representative Campbell expressed pleasure with the Natrona County plan not encroaching on Fremont County. Rep. Lockhart expressed gratitude to LSO staff. Senator Scott noted that the proposed Natrona County plan shows the virtue of getting products from the local representatives. He also noted that Laramie County should do a plan similar to Natrona because they are fairly self-contained. He noted that Fremont County needs to figure out where they can give up people working with surrounding counties and come up with a local plan. PUBLIC COMMENT (WRIGHT) The committee discussed where the growth has occurred in Campbell County. House districts in the city of Gillette did not grow as quickly as outside the city because of lack of space to grow. Senator Hines presented a proposal to redistrict senate districts in the area. He stated that he worked with Senator Driskill and Representative Semlek. His proposal is to make Senate district 1 cover Crook, portions of Campbell and Weston County. Jim Bunch, Newcastle City Council, expressed concern that Senator Hines' proposal splits the population of Weston County. The town of Newcastle would be included in Senate District 1, so the rural area of southern Westin County would be included in a different district. Tom Murphy, Gillette Mayor, noted that the current growth rate is going to require separate senate districts in Wright and Gillette ten years from now. 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 6 Representative Hunt testified that the portions of Converse and Goshen counties currently in House district 2 would fit better with more rural local communities. Joe Baron, Crook County Attorney, offered a proposal. (Appendix 5). He asked that Crook, Weston and Niobrara Counties be in one senate district with Rozet School, Camplex Energy district and Mark Haight district from Campbell County. Most important is keeping the rural communities of interest intact. Senator Scott noted that the only way to make this plan work would be to then bring southern portions of Campbell County into the Converse county district.