Indiana House to have third and final reading of redistricting bill Friday
INDIANAPOLIS, IN- Here’s a look at all the states that are currently considering or have adopted new congressional maps.
Florida is the latest state to start up redistricting talks, as its House held the first meeting of its select committee on congressional redistricting today.
In Indiana, House Bill 1032, the redistricting bill, continues to make its way through the House. The bill will have its third reading for full house consideration on Friday, 12/5.
On Thursday, there were 21 amendments from house democrats, though not all were brought down. See those here.
Democratic Representative for South Bend, Maureen Bauer, spoke with ABC57’s Jordan Tolbert shortly after the House adjourned on Thursday. She says all amendments offered were defeated, and explains some of those amendments that were proposed today.
“Some of those proposals by the House Democrats were to send this forward as an independent redistricting commission, just like states like Iowa have, that was voted down. Another amendment was that this bill could not go into effect until we met three requirements in the state of Indiana. One of those was that our utility rates had to be among the lowest 25% in the country, which we used to be years ago, decades ago. And the other was that everyone had in the state of Indiana had to have access to a high quality health care plan. And there were some statistics that we would track to make sure that was happening. Or the third qualification for this bill to go into effect was that we had to get rid of the wait list for child care for On My Way pre-K. FSSA recently announced that there will be no new vouchers for pre-K or child care until 2027, which is a real concern for families,” said Bauer. “There was an amendment that would have outlawed partisan gerrymandering. That was a really interesting vote to watch. That many people think that this is simply okay, that we don't need to have representative congressional districts, that we don't need to take into consideration communities of interest, that they are okay with urban Indianapolis and Ohio River Valley communities being represented by the same congressional person. And then, of course, there was an amendment to give money to counties to be able to implement these new maps in such a short time period. Filing deadlines begin just next month, and we've heard from some clerks that it'll be a rush to get these new districts in to ensure that we are cooperative with these new maps, should they pass and become law.”
Some amendments were also aimed at considering the impact new congressional maps might have on minority voters in Indiana.
“The first congressional district in the seventh both have the largest minority population, and those will now be divided, so when you add in more rural communities into the urban population, you're diluting that minority voting power and that minority voice. And so I think there would be real opportunity for legal challenges because of that dilution of the minority communities and their voting power."
The bill’s author, Representative Ben Smaltz (R-Auburn), said in response to multiple amendments that the bill was crafted specifically for political performance and did not want to add or change the language. Smaltz also said the bill is consistent with rules and laws.
“This bill was very carefully crafted for partisan performance only,” said Smaltz.
Smaltz also said the bill was created with the help of the National Republican Redistricting Trust, LSA, and staff members.
Rep. Bauer says that the wording used to describe the bill as purely for political purposes is strategic because of a 2019 Supreme Court case, Rucho v. Common Cause.
“The court ruled that you could partisan gerrymander. You can’t racially gerrymander. However, there was no consideration taken for racial communities or populations. And so even if they're just attempting to gerrymander for political purposes. They are dividing Marion County into four different districts, and there is no way to avoid racial gerrymandering, so I suspect there will be legal action to come forward should this bill pass and be signed into law,” said Bauer.
The Indiana Senate is set to reconvene on Monday, December 8th, to take up redistricting. Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray says they will make a final decision that week on any redistricting proposal sent by the House.
ABC57’s Jordan Tolbert reached out again today to all representatives from our area for comment and did not hear back from most of them.