By Paul Tuthill
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wamc/local-wamc-990384.mp3
Boston, MA – A committee on Beacon Hill has released a proposed new map of legislative districts for Massachusetts House and Senate seats. The redistricting, which is required by law every ten years, takes into account the huge growth in the state's minority populations as recorded in the 2010 census. WAMC's Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill reports..
The proposal from the Massachusetts Legislature's Joint Committee on Redistricting would double the number of house districts where minority groups make up a majority of the population, and would , for the first time, create a majority-minority State Senate district in the Springfield area.
State Representative Michael Moran of Boston, the committee co-chair, said the proposed house map increases from ten to 20 the number of majority-minority districts. It includes four districts with a majority Latino population and three where blacks are in the majority.
According to the 2010 census the black population in Massachusetts increased by 26 percent in the last ten years, while the Latino and Asian populations both exploded by 46 percent.
State Senator Stanley Rosenberg of Amherst, the committee's other co-chair, said the proposed senate map would retain two majority-minority districts in Boston and add one for the first time in Hampden County.
Rosenberg said the proposed legislative redistricting adheres to both the spirit and the law of the federal Voting Rights Act,that outlaws discriminatory election practices.
Rosenberg and Moran both acknowledged the input of the public and voter advocacy groups. The redistricting committee held 13 public hearings through out the state, and received thousands of comments through its website. The public can weigh on the redistricting plan before the committee takes a final vote next week.
Moran says even with the unprecedented public participation there will be people who are un-happy with the outcome.
The legislature was successfully sued by minority groups following the 2001 redistricting. The suit alleged the primary objective of that largely behind closed doors redistricting process was to protect incumbents at the expensive of minority voting rights. The litigation led to former Massachusetts House Speaker Thomas Finneran pleading guilty to perjury.
The legislature's redistricting committee is still working on a new Congressional map, that must reduce the state's seats in the US House from 10 to nine. That eagerly anticipated map is expected to be unveiled in November.