It’s day one of what Kentucky lawmakers hope will be a quick special legislative session devoted to creating new redistricting maps. Both Republicans and Democrats have unveiled proposed maps, and lawmakers from parties have said they believe an agreement can be reached by Friday. The latest redistricting effort has dragged on over a year, with one set of maps being thrown out by the state supreme court in 2012. That’s leading some to wonder if Kentucky should consider creating an independent committee that would be in charge of creating new legislative maps every ten years. Daviess County Democratic Representative Tommy Thompson said it’s an idea he’d consider.
“Now, I certainly wouldn’t be opposed to looking at the possibility of having an independent commission actually do the redistricting itself and I wouldn’t be surprised if we didn’t have some bills that came up when we go back into session in January when we proposed that," said Thompson.
Edmonson County Republican Representative Michael Meredith has said he would also consider the creation of an independent redistricting commission. But he says he would want lawmakers to ultimately have an up-or-down vote on any maps such a commission produced.