Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Redistricting topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Senate unanimously adopts redistricting principles to guide special session maps
Summary
The Utah Senate adopted a set of redistricting principles unanimously during a December 2006 special session, directing use of single‑member districts, a four‑district congressional plan, near‑equal population (±0.5%) and other criteria before maps are debated.
The Utah State Senate on Dec. 1, 2006, voted unanimously to adopt a set of redistricting principles that will guide any congressional maps considered during the fifth special session.
The motion, offered by Senator Bramble, lists five guiding rules: districts should be as nearly equal in population as practicable with a deviation not greater than plus or minus 0.5 percent; districts must be single‑member; the plan should create four congressional districts; the official population enumeration of the February census will be used; and districts must be contiguous and reasonably compact. The Senate placed the principles before debate and approved them without recorded opposition.
Senator Aaron questioned whether the committee’s principles provided a sufficiently robust set of standards, saying they were "some of the weakest standards we have in the nation" and said his understanding was that legal counsel recommended fewer criteria to reduce potential challenges to a map. Senator Bramble and other supporters responded that adopting a concise set of principles at the outset is appropriate and that the Senate — not the committee — is the body that can approve binding standards.
Senator Hearn said the body should consider more extensive standards in future sessions, including explicit provisions to respect communities of interest and political and geographic boundaries. Senator (transcript: Waddups) noted his prior experience on redistricting panels and with the National Conference of State Legislatures and argued the proposed principles have helped avoid prolonged litigation in Utah.
Adopting the principles was framed as a foundational step to guide mapmakers and to provide a clear baseline for debate; the President placed the question and declared the motion passed unanimously. The adoption followed a proclamation read earlier in the session calling the Legislature into special session to consider redistricting and certain fee amendments.
The Senate then moved to introduce bills related to the session’s purposes and recessed for caucus work on the proposed legislation.
