Offering frequent news and analysis from the majestic Evergreen State and beyond, The Cascadia Advocate is the Northwest Progressive Institute's unconventional perspective on world, national, and local politics.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Washington State in line for tenth congressional seat after the 2010 census

Great news for Washington State. New census projections show 13% population growth in Washington in the last decade, and if the numbers hold for the 2010 census, the state could add a tenth Congressional district.
The analysis, reflecting fresh population estimates from the Census Bureau on Wednesday, says if the numbers hold up in the 2010 Census, as expected, Washington will take the 435th of 435 House seats as a net gain.

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So bottom line, it’s not official and could change in the final Census numbers next year, but for now, it looks like Washington will pick up a new congressional district. We got the new 8th District after the 1980 Census and the new 9th District after the 1990 Census.
If the census numbers hold up, things will get really interesting when the Redistricting Commission gets together to draw the new district lines. But, the additional representation in the other Washington will bring benefits to our state.

The Redistricting Commission is appointed by the Legislature and composed of four voting members and a non-voting chair.

Here is how the process will work in 2011-2012:
The four Republican and Democratic legislative caucus leaders each appoint one member to the commission, and these four elect a non-voting chair. The State Supreme Court appoints members if the leaders fail to do so, or if the four voting members cannot agree on a chair.

The Commission holds public hearings across the state and draws district boundaries for legislative and congressional districts, obeying an extensive set of criteria. It reports this plan to the Legislature, which can only amend the plan by a two-thirds vote of each house, and changing no more than two percent of any district’s population. The Governor cannot veto the plan. The Legislature cannot conduct redistricting on its own outside of the Commission process.
Current elected officials, current and former lobbyists (within one year of appointment for the latter), and current elected state, district or county party officials or those who have held those positions for two years prior to the appointment to the commission are ineligible to serve as commissioners.

In addition, commissioners cannot run for office (until two years after the redistricting plan is implemented), or actively campaign or support candidates for state or federal office. For more on the redistricting process please visit Secretary of State Sam Reed's website.

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