Rep. Lademan seeks 'minimal-change' congressional map that splits one additional county

Representative Lademan presented House Bill 1960 and a fact sheet detailing district moves and population breakdowns. Lademan said his objective was to make as few changes to the current congressional map as possible while bringing district deviations below 1%.

He said the plan moves Marion and Newton counties into the 1st District, moves Pope County into the 4th and shifts parts of Jefferson County into the 4th. Lademan told the committee the map’s district deviations were approximately 0.75% (District 1), 0.96% (District 2), 0.34% (District 3) and −0.54% (District 4). He said the new map splits three counties overall (White, Crawford and Sebastian), but only White County is a newly split county under his plan.

Committee members pressed whether the map should anticipate future population growth in high-growth areas. Lademan said he had not projected 10 years of growth when drafting the map but agreed the committee should consider growth trends and that staff would provide historical population-change data. Members also urged sponsors not to re-split cities or counties that had previously been divided.

Rebecca DeWitt, a Lincoln County resident, testified in support of keeping Lincoln County in the 1st District. Lademan said he would make a drafting correction that moves all of Searcy County into District 1 and would continue working with colleagues to refine deviations and county placement.

No votes were taken; Lademan and colleagues said they would rework maps and provide detailed spreadsheets and maps to staff and members.