Utah House adopts fourth substitute of HB 3,001, approving new state House boundaries after extended debate

The Utah House adopted the fourth substitute of House Bill 3,001 on Oct. 3, 2011, approving a statewide plan for House district boundaries after floor debate and presentations from redistricting committee members. The measure passed 74 yes to 1 no and will be transmitted to the Senate for further consideration.

Sponsor Representative Sumption, presenting the substitute, said the changes are largely technical adjustments to the House base map approved by the redistricting committee, intended to correct instances where census block lines cut through homes and to reduce precinct violations. “This fourth substitute has several changes in it,” he said, and he yielded to members from affected areas to describe local corrections.

Members described adjustments across the state. Representative Neubel said the Salt Lake County changes removed a split that affected about 94 people and returned those residents to District 31 to avoid cutting through a home: “we've removed that, put it back into District 31,” he said. Representative Barris said the substitute reassembled about 1,000 Syracuse residents who had been orphaned into another district so the city will now be represented in two districts rather than three. Representative Ipsen described corrections in several northeastern districts (including Districts 74 and 75 near Ivins/Ivan City), saying aerial maps showed census blocks that split homes and the boundaries were adjusted to place complete homes in single districts.

House members repeatedly framed the map as the product of extensive public engagement and bipartisan work. Representative Gibson raised the difficulty of defining a “community of interest” and urged colleagues to appreciate the procedural constraints; others thanked staff and committee members for long hours of map drawing and revisions. Representative Dougal pointed to added statutory language clarifying that, in case of inconsistency, “the house block assignment file is controlled,” intended to avoid disputes about the controlling document after passage.

On implementation questions, members noted that minor boundary uncertainties discovered after passage cannot be fixed unilaterally; Representative Barris asked whether staff could make small technical changes and was told by the sponsor that changes after passage are not permitted but an affected resident may petition the lieutenant governor to resolve contested residence determinations.

The House took the fourth substitute as a single package rather than as separate pieces for each county. Supporters said the map minimizes population deviation across 75 seats (target population reported as about 36,852) and keeps many municipalities and neighborhoods intact while acknowledging tradeoffs in several regions. The vote to adopt the fourth substitute was 74 yes, 1 no. The measure will now go to the Senate for its consideration.

The House also announced it will reconvene at 9 a.m. the next day to address the congressional map.