PRELIMINARY FINAL MAP FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The independent California Citizens Redistricting Commission voted on Friday to move its preliminary final maps to the public review stage and will vote on adoption of the maps on Aug. 15.
The votes brought the commission a giant step closer to issuing final maps for U.S. Congressional, State Senate, State Assembly and Board of Equalization districts.
The process is required to take place the year after the US Census, and reportedly won't be complete until 2013.
The new maps could bring big changes to Lake County, especially how it's represented in Congress, as it is proposed to be split between two congressional districts.
The Lake County Board of Supervisors had objected earlier this month to having Lake County grouped with Sacramento Valley counties in the congressional districts, and sent a letter to the commission stating those concerns.
Supervisor Denise Rushing and County Administrative Officer Kelly Cox also had testified to the commission about those concerns, as Lake County News has reported.
California's First Congressional District – which previously included Lake County, stretching from Napa, over into part of Sonoma and up to the Oregon border – will change dramatically.
The preliminary final maps shows that the southern half of Lake County will be grouped with Napa's congressional district and part of Sonoma County, under the continued leadership of Congressman Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena), and the northern half – including the Northshore – will be grouped with Colusa, Glenn, Yuba and other Sacramento Valley counties.
In the Assembly districting, Lake will be grouped with Napa, half of Colusa, most of Yolo and part of Solano counties, whereas before it had been grouped with Mendocino, part of Sonoma, and Humboldt, Trinity and Del Norte counties.
Lake County will continue to be grouped with Mendocino County in state Senate districting. The new Senate district also will include most of Sonoma County, part of Marin, as well as Trinity, Humboldt and Del Norte counties.
In state Board of Equalization districting, California will remain grouped with many coastal counties.
This is the first time in the history of California that an independent citizens commission drew district boundaries.
Thompson has not offered comment when approached by Lake County News about the changes.
However, on Friday First District Assemblyman Wes Chesbro (D-Arcata) – who represents Lake County in the state Assembly – applauded the commission for keeping the North Coast in one district. However, that would not include Lake County.
“I am grateful the Citizens Redistricting Commission recognized the importance of keeping the North Coast whole in one Assembly district,” Chesbro said. “The credit for this goes to community groups, local governments and individuals up and down the North Coast who wrote letters to the commission and went to meetings to communicate the importance of our coastal counties being kept together.”
More than 2,700 members of the public spoke at 34 commission hearings around the state and close to 20,000 comments were received in writing.
The public is invited to send comments to
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PRELIMINARY FINAL MAP FOR ASSEMBLY DISTRICT.
PRELIMINARY FINAL MAP FOR SENATE DISTRICT.
PRELIMINARY FINAL MAP FOR STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION.
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