DENVER—Backers of a bill asking Coloradans to change the way the state redraws congressional and legislative districts said Thursday they will take their plan directly to the voters next year after a House committee killed their initial proposal, which allowed lawmakers to weigh in.
Backers wanted a bipartisan committee to redraw the lines, and they wanted the committee in place before the next go-round after the 2010 federal census. But the House State Veterans and Military Affairs committee said there is not enough time to debate the issue.
Lawmakers plan to adjourn next week.
Republican Rep. Mike May of Parker said he wanted to give the job to a bipartisan panel to avoid the political fight that tied up the state’s last attempt for years. Instead, he said, politics again got in the way.
“Past history has demonstrated that the redistricting process can become a highly partisan dogfight. That is why I brought this proposal to take the partisanship out of the process. Unfortunately, politics as usual won over common sense today,” May said.
May said he now plans to back an initiative to put his proposal on the ballot next year.
Rep. Jeanne Labuda, D-Denver, said lawmakers need more time to study the plan, and there is enough time next year for the Legislature to put a referred measure on the ballot. A referred measure requires a two-thirds vote in the House and Senate.
Under current law, an 11-member commission—appointed by the governor, the chief justice of the state Supreme Court and legislative leaders—draws the boundaries for legislative districts, and the Legislature draws the boundaries for congressional districts. The process occurs every 10 years, using census data to make sure the districts have equal population.
Under May’s plan, a single, nine-member committee would do both. Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate would each select a committee member. The governor would choose two more, and those members would pick three other members.
Former state Sen. Ken Gordon told lawmakers they had a chance to avoid the chaos that erupted in 2001 when the Republican-controlled House and Democratic-dominated Senate failed to agree on Colorado’s new congressional district.
In 2002, a Denver District Court judge drew his own congressional map, saying lawmakers failed to do their jobs.
The next year, Republicans gained control of the Senate and rejected the judge’s map. They drew their own, saying the state constitution gave the responsibility to the Legislature.
Republicans contended the new 7th District should be located where most of the population growth had occurred, in Republican-rich Douglas County, instead of the district drawn by the judge that moved it north of Denver, where Democrats had a chance to win.
Then-Attorney General Ken Salazar, a Democrat, asked the state Supreme Court to decide whether lawmakers had the authority to redraw congressional districts. The high court upheld the district judge’s plan.
A divided U.S. Supreme Court refused to consider an appeal, and the judge’s plan is still in place.
The process worked no better for redrawing state legislative districts.
In 2002, the state Supreme Court rejected legislative districts drawn by the Reapportionment Commission after Republicans challenged the plan as unfair.
The court ordered the maps redrawn, ruling the commission failed to comply with a state law that prohibits districts from dividing counties and cities.
