Stay Informed!

Josephs to governor: Reform is important and we need to work together if we are to be successful

HARRISBURG, June 16 – State Rep. Babette Josephs, D-Phila., has replied to the governor on his request for her to move redistricting legislation out of the House State Government Committee.

In a letter she sent Friday, Josephs said that she, too, wishes to reform the redistricting process, and that's why she held a public hearing on the issue and initially scheduled a vote on the bill. However, an analysis of H.B. 2420 revealed serious problems, and it was necessary to remove the bill from the committee's voting agenda.

"This bill, as currently drafted, would give full and complete authority to an unelected bureaucrat to make several hundred critical decisions that will create new districts, eliminate existing districts and significantly alter many more. This bureaucrat, admittedly unqualified for the task and reluctant to take on such authority, would be accountable only to the General Assembly itself," she wrote.

"House Bill 2420…proposes potentially settling disagreements between dueling redistricting plans by casting lots to determine the final plan, essentially deciding critically important public policy by a coin toss."

The State Government Committee chairwoman also said that she has found serious flaws in other legislation that has been referred to her committee.

"While I appreciate your support for changing the current redistricting process, I also know that it must not be done hastily with unintended consequences that set back reform," Josephs wrote.

"There is still time for my committee to consider redistricting legislation; however we must work in tandem if it is to be successfully done."

Josephs offered to meet with the governor to discuss the issue in person. She said that although the governor has no formal role in reforming the redistricting process, she would like him to exert his influence across the legislature to bring everyone together so this reform can be addressed adequately without serious flaws.

###agh/2008/mjh
l:'print'releases'redistrictgovltr.182