The California Citizens Redistricting Commission (CCRC) on Wednesday issued preliminary maps for Congressional, state Legislature, and local jurisdictions in the November 2022 elections.
The maps won’t be final until Dec. 27, the deadline set by the California Supreme Court, though commissioners had sought to extend it until the second week in January, Fredy Ceja, communications director for the California Citizens Redistricting Commission, said in an email response to the Northern California Record.
There are four maps: one with 52 congressional districts, 40 state Senate, 80 Assembly, and another with four Board of Equalization districts, which oversee county assessment policies.
Nearly 14,000 comments were received in the preliminary assessment stage, Ceja said.
And with the drafts now released, concerns have been raised by at least one law firm that grouping Fresno and Bakersfield into one state Senate District would adversely affect the communities, the Sacramento Bee reported.
The proposed district bisects the City of Fresno, and could mean that Fresno won’t have a locally elected state senator.
All 14 CCRC commissioners – five Democrats, five Republicans, and four who are registered as No Party Preference – vote to approve each statewide map. At least nine of the 14 commissioners must approve a map before it can be finalized.
“They keep negotiating until they have the appropriate votes,” Ceja said.
Public comment can be sent through a designated form, and there are six upcoming virtual meetings scheduled:
- Nov. 17 — Congressional district feedback
- Nov. 18 — Assembly district feedback
- Nov. 19 — Senate district feedback
- Nov. 20 — Board of Equalization & any district feedback
- Nov. 22 — Any district feedback
- Nov. 23 — Any district feedback
“These draft maps are not final,” Ceja said. “People still have an opportunity to weigh in up until the day we submit final maps.”
Final maps must be submitted to the Secretary of State by Dec. 27.
With California’s population decline, the state will lose a Congressional seat this year, but from which region has not yet been decided.
“We have not determined this yet,” Ceja said. “Still working on it.”
Los Angeles County is one possibility, but no matter which region it is, each one of California’s Congressional districts is required to include roughly 760,000 residents.