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From the News Gazette:
MoreUsing their supermajority, Senate Democrats pushed their own legislative redistricting plan to victory in the Senate on Wednesday.
But the proposal may have more trouble in the House.
The Democrats needed the vote of virtually every one of their 37 members to approve the constitutional amendment in the Senate.
No CommentsFrom the AP:
MorePennsylvania has added about 324,000 people since the 2000 census, ranking it a very average 21st among states, according to preliminary figures. The 2.6 percent growth rate, however, is among the weakest in the nation.
The commonwealth’s newcomers are concentrated in the Pocono mountains region that straddles Interstate 80 near New Jersey; the suburbs of Philadelphia, particularly booming Chester County; and the south-central Pennsylvania region along the Mason-Dixon Line that runs through Gettysburg, York and Lancaster.
According to the census estimates, Philadelphia has grown by about 2 percent, while Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh, has shrunk by nearly 5 percent. Population decline is concentrated in the western counties.
Intriguingly, about half of Pennsylvania’s total estimated growth over the past decade, or some 176,000 people, consists of people who have moved to the state from foreign countries. In terms of state-to-state migration, Pennsylvania has had a net loss of about 40,000 people.
Redistricting goes on in two tracks — one for Congress, the other for the state Legislature.
No CommentsFrom Illinois State House News via Fox 55:
MoreThe state is scheduled to redraw its legislative districts in 2011. The process – known as redistricting – occurs every ten years and relies on data collected through the federal census the year before.
But the current redistricting procedure has been encumbered by drawn-out partisan battles, legal challenges, and arbitrary draws from a hat.
This session, Democratic and Republican lawmakers have introduced five proposed Constitutional Amendments that would change the redistricting process.
Proposals from both parties share a number of planned changes, such as the de-coupling of Senate and House districts and the establishment of public hearings on redistricting.
But lawmakers are locked in a partisan conflict over who ultimately decides how the state’s legislative map is drawn.
No CommentsFrom the Macon County New:
MoreThe 2010 Census count is important for another reason: politics. After the 2010 Census data is collected, Washington will send the data back to the states, who will then use the information to redraw political lines — and determine how you get represented.
At the federal level, Census data will be used for reapportionment: deciding which states gain, and which states lose, Congressional seats and Electoral College votes for president.
Right now, Southern states are projected to pick up six Congressional seats: three in Texas, and one each in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.
That’s the biggest gain of any region in the country: Western states are likely to pick up four Congressional seats. The Northeast is projected to lose four, and the Midwest five — part of a decades-long shift of political power to the South and West.
At the state level, the 2010 Census count will be used for redistricting: the drawing of new political lines that determine how you will be represented.
No CommentsVia Wall Street Journal:
MoreThe Republican party’s main campaign group focusing on statehouses, the Republican State Leadership Committee, is aiming to raise $40 million this year, an effort led by Edward Gillespie, the former party chairman and adviser to President George W. Bush. The Democrats’ main group has announced a $20 million campaign. Together, those groups and the governors’ associations are planning to spend more than $170 million on the elections this year. That is about 70 percent more than they spent in 2006, the last time a similarly large number of governors’ races were on the ballot.
Separately, labor unions say they will devote an increasing amount of resources to state-level races, partly because governors are making hard layoff decisions that concern unionized state workers. But redistricting is another reason for labor’s focus on the states.
“That’s where all the marbles are,” said Larry Scanlon, the political director for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. The union has donated $2.3 million to the Democratic Governors Association, becoming the largest contributor to the group in the current election cycle.
No Comments