Simon Aims To De-Politicize Redistricting Process

With 2010 Census numbers coming out last week, Hopkins Rep. Steve Simon (DFL-District 44A), of St. Louis Park, wants to renew a push for a bill that he thinks could help de-politicize the redistricting process.

Simon’s proposal calls for a panel of five retired judges to draw the boundaries of legislative and congressional districts every 10 years. Each party would get a hand in selecting the commission—the majority leader of the Senate, the minority
leader of the Senate, the speaker of the House and the minority leader of the House would each appoint one member. The four judges would then select the fifth.

The representative said this commission would be able to settle redistricting disputes in a fair, non-partisan matter, keeping the issue away from the political gridlock of the legislature.

“A lot of people say, ‘Hey, for the last four decades, this has ended up in the courts anyway,’” Simon said, noting what happens if the legislature can’t reach an agreement.

But the representative’s bill would need to move quickly to address this year’s redistricting, and to date, Redistricting Committee Chairwoman Sarah Anderson (R-District 43A) has not granted a hearing for the proposal. Simon said he wants to get a hearing and get the bill passed this session, but he’s tempering expectations.

“To be honest, I’m not optimistic it will (go through),” Simon said. “We’ll see what happens.”

If a new commission is not established this year, it will be up to the legislature and governor to agree to a redistricting plan.  With Republicans controlling both the House and Senate, the Democrat Simon said there is always some concern that lines will be drawn to favor the majority party.

“Yes, absolutely, that’s a distinct possibility,” the representative said.

Per state law, Minnesota’s 134 House districts and 67 Senate districts need to be roughly equal in size. That means the ideal House district would have 39,582 residents, and an ideal Senate district would have 79,163 residents. Simon’s District 44A, which includes part of St. Louis Park and all of Hopkins, and Senate District 44 are both right near their marks.

However, Minneapolis and St. Paul each lost population between 2000 and 2010. And with the outer-ring suburbs growing, some shift will have to take place to keep districts balanced. Simon said he sees two distinct possibilities—having urban districts take on some suburban voters, or simply losing at least one district in the metro.

Simon said he favors the latter approach, as he wants to see districts on both the House and Senate side stay as geographically compact as possible, and not spread across multiple cities. He said he thinks this is especially important in larger Senate districts.

“To the extent possible, I want to see cities stay together in Senate districts,” Simon said.

That is something that the legislature and Gov. Mark Dayton will have to grapple with this spring.

“This is all one big jigsaw,” Simon said. “That’s what it is every 10 years.”