Redistricting team visits Flathead

Montana’s Districting and Apportionment Commission came to Kalispell on March 14 for the fourth of 14 public hearings being held around the state this spring.

The five-member commission took public input for the task of redrawing Montana’s 100 House and 50 Senate districts for the next 10 years based on the 2010 census. Flathead County was one of the fastest growing areas in the state over the past decade, while 20 counties in Eastern Montana lost population.

The last time the commission redrew the state’s legislative districts, Columbia Falls and Whitefish were joined by two senate districts — SD2, which combined the urban areas, and SD3, which combined the rural areas. The cities had separate senate districts prior to 2003.

Following a city council meeting last October, Columbia Falls city manager Susan Nicosia expressed her preference for a new house district based on the Columbia Falls rural fire district. She said that was preferable to the “pie-shaped” segmenting found in urban areas.

Lakeside resident Jim Regnier, a retired Montana Supreme Court justice, was appointed the commission’s presiding officer by the Montana Supreme Court after the other commission members — two appointed by Republicans and two appointed by Democrats — could not agree on a presiding officer.

Based on the recent census data, the ideal Montana House district will have 9,894 people. Mandatory criteria for the commission to follow include:

• Deviation from ideal population may not exceed 3 percent, and any deviation must come with an explanation. That’s a smaller deviation than the 5 percent allowed in the past.

• Each district must consist of a compact and contiguous territory.

• No district may afford members of a racial or language minority less opportunity to participate in the political process and elect representatives of their choice.

Discretionary criteria include geographic boundaries and the boundaries of counties, cities, towns, school districts and other political units. Other factors include urban, suburban and rural interests, neighborhoods, trade areas, communication and transportation networks, media markets, social, cultural and economic interests, and occupations and lifestyles.

The nonpartisan Montana Legislative Services Division has drawn up four draft district maps.

• An “urban-rural” map emphasizing differences between urban population centers and rural areas.

• An “existing district” map that tries to bring existing House and Senate district boundaries into compliance with population changes.

• A “deviation” map that tries to reduce the population differences between districts to the smallest amounts possible.

• A “subdivision” map that tries to keep related political subdivisions in the same districts as much as possible.

Commissioners Joe Lamson and Pat Smith, both appointed by Democrats, have created a fifth draft map they call the “communities map,” which tries to integrate the best aspects of all four plans.

Lamson sat on the 2000 commission that drew the current map. Republicans controlled the state legislature under the districts drawn by the 1990 commission, but Democrats won control over the Senate in 2004, after the new districts went into effect.

Montana Republican Party Chairman Will Deschamps has criticized Lamson and Smith’s draft map as an attempt at gerrymandering. The commission’s two Republican appointees, Jon Bennion and Linda Vaughey, have not created a draft map.

After holding public hearings in cities across Montana through May, the commission will discuss, review and adopt a final plan. Proposed districts must be submitted to the 2013 Legislature by the 10th legislative day, giving the Legislature some time to review the plan and make suggestions the commission can either accept or reject.

Draft maps and public comments can be sent to the commission by e-mail to districting@mt.gov; by fax at 406-444-3036; and by mail to Montana Districting and Apportionment Commission, P.O. Box 201706, Helena MT 59620-1706. For more information, visit online at www.leg.mt.gov/redistricting.