A look at Iowa's second special session

DES MOINES --- Iowa state lawmakers will convene Thursday at the Iowa Capitol for a second special session of the Iowa Legislature. Lawmakers will consider a second round of proposed maps for the state’s decennial redistricting process.

Here is a look at what to expect from this second special session.

WHEN AND WHERE IS IT?

The Iowa Legislature will convene this Thursday, Oct. 28, at the Iowa Capitol. Lawmakers are scheduled to begin their work day at 10 a.m. Committee meetings are scheduled for 10:30 a.m. in the House and 11 a.m. in the Senate.

WHAT ARE THEY DOING?

State lawmakers must consider and vote on the second set of proposed new maps for Iowa’s political boundaries. This is a part of the state’s decennial redistricting process. Every 10 years, states across the country redraw their political maps to reflect changes in their populations.

Iowa state lawmakers — specifically, Iowa Senate Republicans — rejected the first set of proposed maps in the first special session, held Oct. 5. That moved the process to the second step: a second set of proposed maps. Senate Republicans said they rejected the first maps because some districts were too oddly shaped and some districts’ populations strayed too far from the average.

WHAT IS REDISTRICTING?

Iowa’s redistricting process is widely hailed — both from within the state’s borders and beyond — for its nonpartisan nature. In other states, lawmakers create the new maps and then vote on them. That creates the ability for lawmakers to draw new political boundaries that serve their own political interests, rather than creating maps that are politically and demographically fair.

In Iowa, the maps are drawn and proposed by the Legislative Services Agency, a state department of nonpartisan legal and fiscal analysts. State law requires the maps to be drawn using population and demographic data and without any consideration for potential political impacts. Once LSA draws the maps, lawmakers vote on whether to accept them.

The entire process has three stages, if needed. A first set of maps is proposed, and lawmakers vote the entire set of maps — for Statehouse and congressional districts — up or down. If they approve that first set of maps, those boundaries go into effect for the next 10 years, starting with the next year’s statewide elections. (In this case, next November’s midterm elections.)

If lawmakers reject the first maps, the process resets and LSA proposes another set of maps. Lawmakers again vote on those maps. That is what Thursday’s second special session is for.

If lawmakers also reject the second maps, the process goes to a third stage. Lawmakers must accept those final maps, but they also have the ability to make their own amendments to the boundaries. This is where Iowa’s process could, theoretically, become partisan — especially if one political party pulls all the levers of state government, as Republicans currently do.

WHY A SPECIAL SESSION?

Normally the redistricting process takes place during a normal legislative session, which in Iowa runs from January through roughly April or May. But this year’s process was delayed across the country because federal census results were delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Iowa lawmakers had to get special clearance from the Iowa Supreme Court to continue with the usual redistricting process because the delay in census data pushed the process past a deadline established in the Iowa Constitution.

HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE?

The first special session did not last long: Legislators began at 10 a.m., and the vote was cast just after 12:30 p.m. If legislators are content to focus just on redistricting, the second special session should not last long, either, regardless of whether they approve or reject this second set of maps. What could make the day longer is if majority Republicans decide to also introduce, debate and vote on other legislation not relating to redistricting. For example, some Statehouse Republicans want to pass legislation that would limit COVID-19 vaccine requirements. If Republicans decide to run such a bill, the special session could run much longer.