A Pennsylvania lawmaker is proposing legislation to set new rules for mapping the state’s congressional and legislative districts. Under House Bill 1344, Pennsylvania citizens – not politicians – would be responsible for drawing the boundaries that equally divide the state’s population during the apportionment that follows each 10-year census.
Rep. Ted Harhai (D-Westmoreland), the bill’s sponsor, said Pennsylvanians on the redistricting commission would be randomly selected from a pool of qualified applicants, a duplicate of California’s redistricting commission.
Harhai’s plan also would use as an outline Iowa’s law that district boundaries be as compact and square as possible, with no county, city, borough or township divided unless absolutely necessary.
Full Article: Pa. bill calls for redistricting reform.