HARRISBURG, PA − June 6, 2018 − For the past several months, the Senate has been working with constituents and advocacy organizations to improve the fairness of Pennsylvania’s redistricting process. That work took the shape of Senate Bill 22, sponsored by a majority of the Senate.
Three weeks ago, Senate Bill 22 was amended, and many organizations and individuals have reached out with concerns about the latest version of the bill.
We are working with the chairs of the State Government Committee, Senators Williams and Folmer, to address some of those concerns through additional amendments on the following issues:
- Diversity: The Commission should reflect the geographic, racial, ethnic and gender diversity of the Commonwealth
- Eligibility for the Commission: Prohibiting registered lobbyists, and the staff and families of elected officials from serving on the commission
- Party registration: Commissioners should be continuously registered with the same party or unaffiliated, without changing that affiliation for at least three years; and the three non-Democratic or Republican members of the commission should not all be registered with the same ‘third party’
- Compensation: Commission members should be compensated prior to the passage of their preliminary redistricting plans
- Map timeline: Remove the 30-day period to file an appeal of the Commission drawn plan to the Supreme Court; add December 31st of the year ending in 1 as the deadline for the General Assembly to approve a plan
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