Tagged: redistricitng

Gov. Steve Beshear said a special session of the Kentucky General Assembly to redraw legislative districts for the House and Senate is likely to happen this fall. He said details are still being worked out.

“I’m talking with legislative leaders in the House and Senate right now and I think everybody, if we can work it out, would probably like to do it in the fall,” Beshear said. “And let everybody have the summer while kids are out of school and they have some vacation time, and then wait until we get back in school before we have the special session.”

Kentucky House lawmakers are moving forward with redistricting, despite hesitation from the Senate and pleas from the governor to focus on other issues.

House Speaker Greg Stumbo says the regional caucuses are still working on drawing new maps of their districts. And the main holdup is in Eastern Kentucky, where the 2010 Census showed large drops in population. Despite those issues, Stumbo says he wants to finish redistricting this session.

"Our caucus voted to move forward on redistricting and I didn't look at every hand but it looked like it was a pretty unanimous vote so Democrats in the House want to move on this issue," he said.

Kentucky legislative leaders say they haven't responded yet to Gov. Steve Beshear’s request to delay General Assembly redistricting in the 2013 session.

Senate President Robert Stivers says his leadership team has not yet decided on a response and that many in his chamber are conflicted on when to address redistricting.

Kentucky lawmakers are at odds on whether to postpone redistricting for a year to avoid gumming up an upcoming legislative session that's already chock-full of hefty issues. Incoming Republican Senate President Robert Stivers says there’s no rushed to redraw legislative boundaries because the next round of elections isn't until 2014. Democratic House Speaker Greg Stumbo wants the process over as quickly as possible after the session convenes Jan. 8.

Democrats in Illinois literally mapped out their victories in the state's hotly contested congressional races. The party won most of the big prizes in districts that had been redrawn to squeeze Republicans out of their districts or throw them into Democrat-friendly territory.