Redistricting on hold until Iowa gets detailed Census Bureau data

DES MOINES — When Iowa lawmakers wrapped up their 20201 session just before midnight May 19, they adjourned sine die — that is, without setting a date to return.

They expect to be back in August, but at this time that’s more of a guess than a definite timetable. That’s because they are waiting on the U.S. Census Bureau to provide the granular data needed to complete redistricting — the redrawing of congressional and legislative district boundaries based on the decennial census.

“I mean, the plan is sometime in August, to have a special session,” Iowa House Speaker Pat Grassley, R-New Hartford, said after the adjournment.

However, Iowa Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver, R-Ankeny, described redistricting as a “moving target” because the coronavirus pandemic delayed the census process by several months.

“Redistricting, in general, has been a very difficult issue to address this year, … with the census delaying that data (and) not knowing when that data is going to come in,” he said.

Ed Cook, legal counsel for the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency that will draw the election maps, seconded that. The Census Bureau told the state it will get what he calls “legacy” data by Aug. 16.

Sooner would be better because “delivery of the data is crucial to allowing Iowa’s nonpartisan redistricting process to proceed,” according to U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who has called and written the Census Bureau to plead the state’s case.

The nonpartisan legislative agency will turn that data into maps as quickly as possible, Cook said, “but it’s just impossible to know” how long it will take and whether it will be in time for legislators to meet their constitutional deadline. The Iowa Constitution requires that a plan be adopt by lawmakers by Sept. 1 and enacted, or signed by the governor, by Sept. 15.

Before the Legislature can act, a bipartisan redistricting advisory commission must hold public hearings and make a recommendation on a redistricting plan. If the Legislature approves the plan, it goes to the governor for her signature. If not, the agency draws a new set of maps for the legislators to either accept or reject. If a third plan is needed, lawmakers can amend it. That causes some concern, especially among Democrats, that Republicans will “gerrymander” the map for their electoral advantage.

From the perspective of the legislative agency, the process should be the same as always. “It’s just that instead of having this issue in February and March, we're going to have it late in the fall,” Cook said.

If the Legislature can’t meet the deadline, redistricting becomes the responsibility of the Iowa Supreme Court.

“So it's all going to depend on when we get the data and what process the Supreme Court chooses to use,” said Senate Minority Leader Zach Wahls, D-Coralville.

In early April, the court issued a statement saying it “tentatively plans to meet its constitutional responsibility by implementing a process which permits, to the extent possible, the redistricting framework presently set forth in Iowa Code chapter 42 to proceed after Sept. 15.”

As vague as some lawmakers found that statement, Whitver thought the court’s guidance was “fairly clear that they plan to kick that back to the Legislature to follow our normal redistricting process.”

That’s consistent with speculation that rather than handle redistricting directly, the state Supreme Court might tell the legislative agency to proceed with drawing a plan and then give the Legislature a deadline for approving the map.

In Oregon and California, the state courts have taken that approach, extending deadlines for lawmakers or redistricting commissions. In Texas and other states, lawmakers have extended the deadline and will push back 2022 primary election dates if necessary.

At this point, the delay in redistricting is felt by officeholders, candidates and political parties. Until district boundaries are known, it’s harder to make campaign plans, recruit candidates and raise funds.

But the uncertainty is not limited to politicians, Speaker Grassley said.

“It's for Iowans, knowing who their representatives are going to be,” he said. “That’s what I see to be the priority, obviously.”

To that end, legislators are resigned to the fact they will have to wait to know what their districts will look like and how the new lines will affect their political futures.

“My last point on redistricting would be that we need good data to get fair maps,” Wahls said. “That's the thing that's the most important.”

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