The redistricting battle in Virginia is on the verge of heating up. And for the fourth year in a row, the state Senate passed legislation aimed at removing — or at least tempering — partisanship in the often-ugly process.
Gov. Bob McDonnell’s bipartisan redistricting commission held its first meeting Monday, but the General Assembly has the power to take or leave its recommendations on redrawing state legislative and congressional district lines based on data from the 2010 U.S. Census.
The legislation approved by the Senate Tuesday, meanwhile, goes much futher, giving an independent commission the authority to actually redraw the lines.
“This is not legislation to create an advisory commission,” said the resolution’s patron, Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath. “This legislation establishes a mandate to act.”
Appointments to the 13-member commission would be made by the president pro tempore of the Senate, the speaker of the House of Delegates, Senate and House minority leaders, the chairmen of the state Democratic and Republican parties, and other commission members.
Similar legislation has previously died in the Republican-controlled House of Delegates.
Should the House kill it again, the public can look forward to watching a divided legislature trying to redraw district lines in a year when all 140 seats in the General Assembly are up for re-election.
