Iowa poised to be first state to complete redistricting process

DES MOINES – With lawmakers giving overwhelming approval to a plan redrawing congressional and legislative district boundaries April 14, Iowa is poised to be the first state to complete its decennial redistricting.

Arkansas' congressional redistricting plan was signed into law Thursday, New Jersey's legislative plan has been adopted and legislative and congressional lines are pending the governor's approval in Louisiana, according to Tim Storey, a legislative analyst for the National Council of State Legislatures who follows redistricting.

The Iowa House voted 91-7 and the Senate followed with a 48-1 vote to send House File 682 to Gov. Terry Branstad.

“Iowa may be the first state to complete both legislative and congressional redistricting depending on when Gov. Branstad signs the bill,” Storey said Thursday.

Branstad hasn't said when - or if – he'll sign the redistricting plan that creates 41 legislative districts and two congressional districts with more than one incumbent.

“The governor will continue to study the map and gather all the information he needs prior to making a final decision,” spokesman Tim Albrecht said shortly after lawmakers voted. “The governor has spoken with all of Iowa's congressmen as a part of this information-gathering process, and is nearing a final decision.”

House Speaker Kraig Paulsen, R-Hiawatha, who said the governor should get the bill early next week, recently spoke to the governor about the plan.

“What I walked away with was that he was no reason to veto it,” Paulsen said.

The lack of the governor's signature on HF 682 didn't stop lawmakers from making plans based on the first redistricting plan created by the non-partisan Legislative Services Agency.

U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack, a Mount Vernon Democrat, announced he'll move to Johnson County and run for re-election in the new 2

^nd

District, which has no incumbent congressman. It includes 14 of the 15 counties he currently represents.

GOP Rep. Tom Latham has been mum on rumors he will move to the new 3

^rd

District to challenge Democrat Rep. Leonard Boswell. Like Loebsack, Latham would be in familiar territory as he represents some counties in the new 3

^rd

.

In the Legislature, the new map creates seven Senate districts and 14 House districts with no incumbent.

Sen. Pat Ward, R-West Des Moines, announced plans to run in an open district that includes parts of West Des Moines, Clive, Windsor Heights and the city of Waukee rather than face Sen. Matt McCoy, D-Des Moines.

House Majority Leader Linda Upmeyer, R-Garner, who was mapped into a district with GOP Reps. Stewart Iverson of Clarion and Henry Rayhons of Garner, is considering a move to Clear Lake to run in an open House district. Iverson is rumored to be considering a campaign in an open Senate district.

Rep. Mary Mascher, D-Iowa City, plans a similar move into an open Iowa City district created by the plan rather than square off with Rep. Dave Jacoby, D-Coralville.

In other cases, lawmakers aren't willing to pull up stakes to continue their political careers. Republican Reps. Annette Sweeney of Alden and Pat Grassley of New Hartford will be in the same district if Branstad signs the plan. Neither plans to move, setting up a GOP primary.

Overall, lawmakers had praise for the plan and the process used to draw the map. Every 10 years, states draw new maps that reflect the most recent census. U.S. House seats are apportioned to states based on the census. Although Iowa's population grew to 3,046,355, it lost one congressional seat to a state that grew more.

“This is an historic day,” said Senate President Jack Kibbie, D-Emmetsburg. “This plan is really amazing” because it carves up Iowa into four congressional districts with a population variance of only 84 people per district.

House State Government Committee Chairman Peter Cownie, R-Des Moines, praised the process, noting that he and Rep. Vicki Lensing, D-Iowa City, recently discussed the process with North Carolina legislators who have drafted a plan based on the Iowa redistricting model.

“The integrity of our process is important,” he said. “I believe there is no better system.”

Lensing called it the Iowa model “a system of honesty, fairness and integrity.”

In approving the plan, lawmakers adopted a corrective amendment that dealt with a misspelling, a township not included in the legal description, a street referred to as an avenue and an incorrect reference to the Iowa City corporate line.

If the governor rejects the plan, it is dead and the LSA has 35 days to draw a new map that.