This week the Senate will take up and likely pass a proposal for the chamber’s new district lines. But the membership is fractured and the process could get ugly.
Friday afternoon the Senate’s redistricting committee approved draft borders. The map—identical to one of the six staff-drawn base maps—includes a randomized numbering system and passed the committee on a party line vote. But some supporters like Brandon Republican Tom Lee aren’t completely satisfied with the proposal. Lee worries the courts will again reject the Legislature’s work.
“Any map that doesn’t these tier two infirmities that are identified in this alleged complaint is going to result in another black eye for this Legislature,” Lee says.
“It’s defiant, it is unnecessary, it is recalcitrant,” he goes on, “and I hope that our colleagues at the other end of the hall will recognize the fatal flaw that was placed on the record when our lawyers said they ignored those allegations.”
Tier two considerations have to do with how compactly a district is drawn. Senate lawyers argue the methodologies staff drafters followed are legally sound, but critics say the maps might fail because they don’t adequately address tier two concerns brought up in court.
