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 May 25, 2011 City Council Chambers Rock Springs, Wyoming 9:30 a.m. – 12 noon Sublette County Library Pinedale, 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 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 COMM ITTEE M EM BERS NOT PRESENT Senator Wayne Johnson Representative Lisa Shepperson LEGISL ATIVE SERVICE OFFICE ST AF F Dan Pauli, Director Mark Quiner, Assistant Director Lynda Cook, Staff Attorney 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 Matt Obrecht, Staff Attorney Matt Sackett, Research Manager OTHERS PRESENT AT M EETING Senator Paul Barnard (Rock Springs) Senator Bruce Burns (Pinedale) Senator Leland Christensen Senator Stan Cooper Senator Dan Dockstader Senator Floyd Esquibel (Pinedale) Senator Michael Von Flatern Representative Joe Barbuto (Rock Springs) Representative Kathy Davison Representative John Freeman (Rock Springs) Representative Keith Gingery Representative Robert McKim Representative Owen Peterson (Rock Springs) Representative Ruth Ann Petroff (Pinedale) 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 Rock Springs and Pinedale 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 Rock Springs. Co-Chairman Pete Illoway called the meeting back to order at 5:00 p.m. in Pinedale. 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. 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 PUBLIC COMMENT (ROCK SPRINGS) Clark Stith, Republican Party – West Rock Springs does not have a representative that lives in Rock Springs. He suggested that the boundaries of House Districts 17 or 48 should be adjusted. David Kathka – Districts that stretch across several counties do not reflect communities of interest. He asked the committee to remember that they are dealing with human beings not just numbers. Rep. Patton discussed the undefined nature of communities of interest. He noted that single member districts add to these problems. Representative Byrd noted that everyone is represented. Leighton Wessel - Suggested that they should increase the number of representatives. Senator Scott noted that both parties are having trouble recruiting people to run even with the current numbers. Island Richards – North Rock Springs is split into two districts and he would like to see one district representing the community. Hank Phibbs, Teton County Commissioner presented the Teton County proposed plan (Appendix 3). He noted that in their area there are changes in population and that House District 22 boundaries are not logical. Their suggestion is to put House District 20 mostly in Sublette County so they would have their own representation. Mr. Phibbs noted that this proposal was put together by Teton County people and they deferred to Uinta and Sweetwater counties for the best representation in their counties. Rep. Jaggi asked if voting districts were followed. There was discussion of whether Yellowstone residents could be moved into the Park County districts. There is also concern about moving Dubois into Fremont county area. Rep. Gingery commented on the Teton county plan. He noted that Yellowstone is unique in that there is population there during primaries but not during general elections. He suggested that Wilson needs to be on both sides of the river and that Pinedale has less commonality with Jackson than with the rest of Sublette County. The Teton plan made Jackson a single district. He noted that Dubois is difficult because the committee does not want to impact the Wind River Reservation district. He asked if there was some way people could manipulate data on the website to create a plan. Rep. Roscoe noted that general shifts in the state have been from the south to the north. He suggested that they may need to eliminate a district in one part of the state and create a new one elsewhere rather than just stretching or adjusting current boundaries. Rep. Peterson testified that Lincoln, Uinta and Sweetwater should have been involved in development of the Teton plan. Sen. Cooper also noted that the southwest needed to be included in the plan. Sen. Christensen noted that this process needs to include the people affected. Sherry Daigle, Teton County Clerk, clarified that current precinct boundaries are not set in stone and will change based on how redistricting occurs. It is important to make it as easy on the voters as possible. 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 Rep. Peterson discussed House District 19 in Uinta County. He stated that current district is short by 1900 people. He proposed moving Fort Bridger into HD 19. Rep. Jaggi noted that looking at senate districts first would make the most sense. Rep. Martin noted that Carbon County is going to be difficult in that the district encompassing that county is going to need to add additional territory. He suggested that the committee should tell local counties what numbers need to be given up and let the local people tell them where it should come from. Rep. Barbuto noted that South Pass City and Atlantic City should be with the Fremont county districts rather than part of his district.