In the 2019-2020 session, as in the session before it, bills to amend the Pa. Constitution to create an independent redistricting commission received more co-sponsorships than any other bills. At the same time, over 100,000 Pennsylvanians signed petitions in support of such a commission while 260 townships and 24 counties passed resolutions of support, mailing copies to PA legislators.
Statewide surveys and thousands of meetings with legislators made clear: PA voters don’t like gerrymandering. 72% of survey respondents believe the current system of drawing legislative districts allows party leaders to put party interests above voter interests. 70% believe the system creates polarization and gridlock. 65% believe it allows elected officials to choose their voters.
Despite strong bipartisan support and high levels of public attention, the bills supported by Fair Districts PA to change the system never received a final vote in either chamber across multiple sessions.
Meanwhile, another very different constitutional amendment flew through our legislature without any visible evidence of public interest or approval. House Bill 196 would create judicial regions for Pa.’s highest courts in a way that would give legislators control over those regional maps and, by extension, over the courts themselves. That bill, despite outcry from Pa. law associations and good government groups in Pennsylvania and across the country, passed in both the Pa. House and Senate in the 2019-20 session. If the same bill passes again in early 2021, the constitutional amendment will go to public referendum as early as May 2021.
What is the motivation for the bill?
What experts support it? What voters requested such a change? How would it impact the independence of the court?
If you’re hoping for answers from the Pennsylvania legislature, you have not yet understood how badly broken the legislative process is.
The transcript for the initial House Judiciary Committee meeting is not to be found on the General Assembly website. So much for transparency! The voting meeting in the Senate State Government Committee reflects just nine minutes spent on sketchy explanation, a few unanswered questions, some unaddressed concerns, then a swift party-line vote.
Opponents raised objections before votes on both the House and Senate floor, but those objections went unanswered. A party-line vote, with a few brave Republicans abstaining or voting no, and our legislature apparently felt it had completed due diligence on a constitutional amendment.
Most other states have been moving away from partisan election of judges. Bills to do just that have been regularly introduced in the Pa. legislature across the past decade. All have had much more discussion and far more public support than House Bill 196, but none have ever come to a vote.
Just nine states continue with partisan election of appellate judges. Only two use districts for those elections. And in those two, Illinois and Louisiana, the districts are set in law, not changed after each census at whim by legislators hoping to influence judicial decisions. Pa. is heading into uncharted waters: judicial gerrymandering not yet seen in any other state.
When our legislature defies constitutional requirements in drawing distorted legislative districts, among the worst in the nation, our ability to hold legislators accountable is damaged.
When our legislature passes bills without public support, without the chance of expert testimony or real deliberation, the institution itself is diminished and our Commonwealth is pushed farther back from the real solutions we so badly need.
When the Legislature speeds toward an unprecedented power grab that would smash foundational principles embedded in our constitution, we need to say, as loudly as we can, they’ve finally gone too far.
Russ Diamond’s judicial district amendment is not just another very bad bill. We see many fly through Harrisburg without deliberation or review. This bill is in a class of its own: a hasty, sloppy, cynical attempt to undermine our constitutional rights and protections.
The bill does not deserve a vote in committee, unless committee chairs choose to do their jobs and invite public comment and expert testimony, the norm in any functional state legislature. If our legislative leaders do drive the bill forward, every Pa. legislator, no matter their party, should vote no. A vote for that bill is a vote against the people of Pennsylvania and an assault on representation, judicial independence and the state’s Constitution.
Join Fair Districts PA for Say NO to Judicial Gerrymandering, a virtual town hall on judicial districts, Jan. 6 at 4 p.m.
PA voters want LESS gerrymandering, not more. Help make sure our legislators hear us.
Carol Kuniholm is the chairwoman for Fair Districts PA
"Opinion" - Google News
January 02, 2021 at 01:00AM
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Judicial gerrymandering: Just say no | Opinion - pennlive.com
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