Montgomery Advertiser: Legislative district changes could be late coming

The state Legislature may not take up reapportionment until close to the end of the 2012 regular session, Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh said Friday.

The Legislature will have to address redistricting in the next regular session, set to be­gin Feb. 7, in a special session or in the 2013 regular session in order for legislative districts to be set for the 2014 legisla­tive elections.

Marsh, R-Anniston, said Fri­day the leadership could wait until May to bring the potenti­ally contentious issue before the Legislature.

"We do not anticipate taking it up early in the session," he said. "We've made it clear the No. 1 issue is job-creation mea­sures."

In 2011, the Legislature ap­proved changes to the state's congressional and Board of Ed­ucation districts. A panel of 22 lawmakers is currently work­ing to draw lines for the state's 35 Senate districts and 105 House districts, numbers set under the state constitution. A state Senate district represents about 137,000 people; a House district includes about 40,000.

Sen. Cam Ward, R-Alabaster, a member of the redistricting panel, said the panel would not have a map ready before March.

"There's no need for us to rush into this right away," he said. "The proposed district lines have not been completed yet."

But House Minority Leader Craig Ford, D-Gadsden, said "the sooner the better."

"Lawmakers have to find out the needs of the areas they're going to represent in 2014," he said. "If districts are going to change dramatically, you need to know your constituency."

Last year's congressional re­districting split Montgomery County between the 2nd, 3rd and 7th congressional districts, a plan that led to fierce, biparti­san opposition in the county's delegation. Other geographic shifts around the state aroused opposition from lawmakers in those regions.

"Redistricting is one of those issues where it's seldom Re­publicans v. Democrats," Ward said. "Often it's geographic re­gions."

Ford said he had spoken with House Speaker Mike Hub­bard, R-Auburn, about redis­tricting, but said the Demo­crats would be unlikely to be able to stop a plan that had full GOP support.

Ending filibusters on redis­tricting requires a majority vote. The GOP has a 65 to 40 majority in the House; in the Senate, there are 23 Republi­cans, 11 Democrats and an in­dependent. Ford did leave open the possibility of a court chal­lenge if the party was particu­larly unsatisfied with the map created.

"We're going to try to hold them accountable to do what's right and fair, and I hope we don't have to go that route," Ford said. "If we have to, we would, but I'm hoping we wouldn't."

Marsh also said a special session to deal with redistrict­ing could be called in the mid­dle of the regular session to deal with the issue. He said taking it up in 2013 was a possi­bility, but one he hoped to avoid.

"We think we definitely need take it up in this session, be­cause dealing with Senate and House districts could be a bit more difficult," he said.