New York Legislators Propose a Revised Redistricting Plan

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/13/nyregion/new-york-legislators-propose-a-revised-redistricting-plan.html?hp

State legislators, rushing to stave off further court intervention into New York’s redistricting process, proposed a revised set of political districts for the Senate and Assembly minutes before midnight on Sunday.

They also proposed an amendment to the State Constitution that they said would improve the redistricting process, by creating a bipartisan redistricting panel, but it would become law after two votes by the Legislature and one by the general public, and it would not take effect for a decade, after the 2020 census.

Legislative leaders could not come to an agreement on how to reduce the state’s Congressional delegation to 27 seats from 29, as is required as a result of the 2010 Census, making it increasingly likely that a federal court will decide how to redraw the state’s Congressional map this year. The court must work fast: the state’s Congressional primary is scheduled to take place June 26, and potential candidates are supposed to be able to start petitioning for spots on the ballot March 20.

The Legislature’s redistricting plan remains largely indecipherable to the general public, because lawmakers have not yet released maps of the revised proposed Senate and Assembly districts. Instead, the leaders of the legislative redistricting task force introduced a 253-page bill providing a written description of the boundaries of the districts.