Republicans Defeat Bipartisan Redistricting on Party-Line Vote

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 15, 2008

After 33-5 Passage in Senate, Deeds' SB 38 Killed with Three Votes in House Elections Subcommittee

RICHMOND--Senator R. Creigh Deeds' redistricting reform proposal was defeated early this morning in the House Elections Subcommittee on a 3-2 party-line vote. While the proposal was supported by a bipartisan coalition of four Virginia Governors, the sitting Lt. Governor, and a litany of legislative, community and business leaders, it took just three Republican Delegates to effectively kill a bill that had passed the Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support.

"A bipartisan redistricting process isn't good for legislators; it's good for Virginians," said Deeds following the vote. "I'm disappointed that my Republican colleagues in the House didn't recognize the groundswell of support for a bill that would make it so that voters chose their elected officials-not the other way around."

Senate Bill 38 was supported by Governor Tim Kaine and former Governors Mark Warner, George Allen and Linwood Holton; Lt. Governor Bill Bolling; the Leagues of Conservation and Women Voters, among others; and, a large contingent of business leaders throughout the Commonwealth. As chairman of the Senate Constitutional Amendments, Reapportionment and Referenda Subcommittee, Deeds merged the work of Senators Ken Cuccinelli (R-Fairfax), Janet Howell (D-Fairfax) and Ken Stolle (R-Virginia Beach) to report out a consensus proposal that won the unanimous support of the Privileges and Elections Committee as well as an overwhelming bipartisan majority of the full Senate.

This is the sixth year that Senator Deeds has carried a proposal to reform the partisan process where legislative districts are drawn to protect incumbents and maximize the strength of the ruling party. SB 38 would create a commission with an equal number of members appointed by leaders in both political parties. A seventh independent member would be chosen by a majority vote of the six appointees. The commission would be bound by criteria for drawing legislative districts that excludes the use of previous voting results, demographic data, or the addresses of incumbents. [See: SB 38, 2008]

For the last six years, Deeds has proposed the creation of a redistricting commission-chaired by a non-partisan member-that would remove partisanship and incumbent protection from the drawing of legislative and congressional districts. Last year's proposal, Senate Joint Resolution 352, made history when for the first time a bi-partisan redistricting proposal passed a chamber of the General Assembly. SJR 352 passed the Senate with the support of seven Republicans but was defeated in the House of Delegates Elections subcommittee. [See: SJR 352, 2007]