Board seeks input for 2011 redistricting

It’s enshrined in the U.S. Constitution and has been carried out every decade since 1790. But the process of redistricting legislative seats every ten years based on the population shifts recorded in each new Census is still invariably messy and contentious.

To help ensure that next year’s redistricting process for the County’s Board of Supervisors is conducted in a timely, orderly and open fashion, Supervisors Gloria Molina and Zev Yaroslavsky have submitted a motion directing county officials to report back within 60 days with information on the past two county redistricting efforts and relevant legal history. The officials will also submit recommended policies and procedures to carry out the current redistricting process for the five supervisorial districts as effectively as possible.

Redistricting has a controversial history in Los Angeles County. In 1988, President Reagan’s Justice Department, joined by other plaintiffs, sued the county, alleging that county supervisors violated federal civil rights laws by deliberately adopting district lines to prevent election of a Latino county supervisor and effectively disenfranchising the county’s sizeable Latino population. The federal courts ultimately agreed, and after exhausting appeals that reached all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, the county was finally ordered to redraw district lines that with minor population adjustments remain in place today.

Key to next year’s redistricting process will be a robust public participation plan to create opportunities for members of the public to receive information, attend hearings and offer written or oral testimony about aspects of the redistricting process of particular interest or concern to the county’s numerous and diverse communities.

Posted 8/5/10