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Saturday, January 29, 2011

Ind. Gov't. - "Indiana Senate leader promises redistricting hearings across state"

Lesley Stedman Weidenbener reported in the Louisville Courier Journal on Friday:

INDIANAPOLIS — Senate President Pro Tem David Long, R-Fort Wayne, said he plans to schedule hearings in communities throughout Indiana to gather public input on legislative redistricting.

Lawmakers expect to receive population data from the U.S. Census Bureau in the second week of February that they’ll use to draw new maps for state House and Senate districts as well as for the state’s nine U.S. House districts.

“Sometime in the beginning of March we can begin the real work of hunkering down and begin to prepare our plans,” Long said. * * *

Republican leaders that control the House and Senate have said they intend to create districts that are fair and keep so-called communities of interest together. But Long said lawmakers also want to hear what Hoosiers think about the districts.

“We want to try to have three plus meetings around the regions — and more than that, hopefully — where we can sit down with the public and have input from them on these issues,” he said.

But the House and Senate can’t officially get started on the maps until the data arrives. Long said Indiana will be among the first states to receive its Census information.

See also this ILB entry from Dec. 19, 2010, where Speaker Bosma expressed concern that "members of the public might confuse the hearings held by the citizen panel with those held by legislative committees."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 29, 2011 05:36 PM
Posted to Indiana Government