MINUTES OF THE

REDISTRICTING COMMITTEE

Monday, August 22, 2011 – 9:00 a.m. – Utah State Capitol Complex, Senate Building room 210

Members Present:

Rep. Kenneth W. Sumsion, House Chair

Sen. Ralph Okerlund, Senate Chair

Sen. Gene Davis

Sen. Benjamin M. McAdams

Sen. Stuart C. Reid

Sen. Kevin T. Van Tassell

President Michael G. Waddoups

Rep. Roger E. Barrus

Rep. Melvin R. Brown

Rep. Gage Froerer

Rep. Francis D. Gibson

Rep. Neal B. Hendrickson

Rep. Don L. Ipson

Rep. Brian S. King

Rep. Todd E. Kiser

Speaker Rebecca D. Lockhart

Rep. Merlynn T. Newbold

Rep. Christine F. Watkins

Rep. R. Curt Webb

Staff Present:

Mr. John Q. Cannon, Managing Policy Analyst

Mr. Leif G. Elder, Policy Analyst

Mr. Joseph T. Wade, Policy Analyst

Ms. Allison M. Nicholson, Policy Analyst

Mr. John L. Fellows, General Counsel

Ms. Kimberly A. Heiner, Legislative Secretary

Note: A list of others present, a copy of related materials, and an audio recording of the meeting can be found at www.le.utah.gov.

1.   Committee Business                                                                                          

Chair Okerlund called the meeting to order at 9:20 a.m.

2.   Redistricting Plans - Committee Discussion and Action

Chair Sumsion presented a school board plan entitled "State School Board - Sumsion 1" and explained the rationale of the plan. He said that he had tried to respect existing school boundaries as much as possible.

President Waddoups presented "State School Board - Waddoups 1" and explained the rationale of the plan. He said that he kept Tooele County whole in his plan.

Mr. Dave Thomas, State School Board, presented "Dave Thomas 5" and responded to questions from the Committee. He also distributed a memorandum and letter from the Utah State Board of Education to the Redistricting Committee giving their recommendation that the Legislature adopt the "Dave Thomas 5" plan.

Chair Sumsion gave an overview of "State School Board - Horning" submitted by Robert Horning on RedistrictUtah.com.

Mr. Chris Sloan, Tooele County Republican Party, said he did not support the "Dave Thomas 5" map because it splits Tooele County into three school districts. He also said that he was concerned because the map puts Cache Valley in the same district as Wendover, which he said geographically does not make sense because of the Great Salt Lake dividing the two areas. He said that he would be posting an updated map on ReditrictUtah.com called "Thomas Gumbrecht 1" that will include Wendover in Tooele County.

Rep. Doug Sagers, House District 21, said he thinks President Waddoup's "State School Board - Waddoups 1" map is the best map presented and said he appreciates Presidents Waddoups efforts to keep Tooele County whole.

Ms. Sue Connor, Represent Me Utah, said she supports the "Dave Thomas 5" map because the State Board of Education recommended the plan. Chair Sumsion and Speaker Lockhart asked her how she saw supporting a map drawn by the State Board, which allowed the State Board of Education to choose their own constituents, was different than having the Legislature draw maps that allowed them to choose their own constituents, something that Ms. Connor had complained about in the past. Ms. Connor said that she sees the State Board of Education as providing public input and that she still supported the "Dave Thomas 5" map.

MOTION: Sen. Reid made a motion to adopt the "Dave Thomas 5" State School Board plan as a Committee recommendation to the full legislature pending the readjustment of Tooele County. He also authorized staff to make minor technical changes to the plan.

Speaker Lockhart said that she would like more time to look over the additional presented plans before making a Committee decision on which plan to support.

Mr. Fellows said that the goal of the Committee is to have a Committee report to submit to the legislature in advance of the prospective session. He said that in previous redistricting years, this report has had one recommended map for each of the congress, senate, house, and school board districts.

Rep. Newbold said that there were features of several proposed school board maps that she would like to incorporate into one map.

Sen. Davis suggested the Committee adopt a base map, with amendments made to it, with a final map adopted at a later time.

SUBSTITUTE MOTION: Sen. Davis moved to use "Dave Thomas 5" as the base school board map with later changes made from recommendations by the Committee.

Chair Sumsion spoke against both motions because the Dave Thomas 5 split up counties too many times.

President Waddoups said he did not support the Dave Thomas 5 Map because it split up several school districts multiple times. He said he would be more comfortable using Mr. Robert Horning's school map as base map.

MOTION: Speaker Lockhart moved to recess for 30 minutes. The motion passed unanimously with Rep. King absent for the vote.

Chair Okerlund dismissed the committee members at 10:18 and reconvened the meeting at 10:48 a.m.

Mr. Joel Coleman, State Board of Education, said that the school board was not strongly behind the "Dave Thomas 5" map and even considered not putting forward any school board map.

The Committee voted on Sen. Davis's substitute motion to use the "Dave Thomas 5" state school board map as the base map. The substitute motion failed with Sen. Davis and Sen. McAdams voting in favor.

SUBSTITUTE MOTION: Rep. Ipson moved to adopt the Robert Horning school board map with the Committee authorizing staff to make minor technical changes. The substitute motion passed unanimously.

MOTION: Chair Sumsion moved to recess for 45 min. to make adjustments to the Robert Horning Map. The motion passed unanimously.

Chair Okerlund appointed a working group of Chair Sumsion, Chair Okerlund, Sen. Davis, Rep. Newbold and Rep. Watkins to work on this plan.

Chair Okerlund recessed the meeting at 11:00 a.m. and reconvened at 12:20 p.m.

MOTION: Chair Sumsion moved for the Committee to adopt the "State School Board - Modified Horning Base Plan" for the basis of the School Board Map.

Chair Sumsion explained "State School Board - Modified Horning Base Plan." He said that the Committee moved precincts to have less school boundaries divided.

The Committee voted on Chair Sumsion's motion and it passed unanimously.

MOTION: Rep. Ipson moved to recess for lunch.

Chair Okerlund recessed for lunch at 12:32 p.m. and resumed the meeting at 1:32 p.m.

Chair Okerlund read from and distributed a letter from Sandy City Mayor Tom Dolan and Sandy City Council Chairman Steve Fairbanks. The letter said that Sandy City currently has seven House representatives and that they preferred to have more representatives rather than fewer.

Chair Okerlund discussed scheduling of future Redistricting meetings and said the potential dates are September 7 to finalize the school board maps and begin senate maps, September 12 to finalize senate maps and start house maps, and September 26-28 to finalize the house and congressional maps.

Rep. Barrus and Rep. Froerer discussed the changes they made to the "State School Board -- Modified Horning Base Plan" to Davis and Weber County.

MOTION: Rep. Barrus moved that the changes to Davis and Weber County be used in the "State School Board - Modified Horning Base Plan" with the opportunity for further refinement. The motion passed unanimously.

Chair Sumsion asked the Committee if they were comfortable with authorizing Redistricting staff to make minor changes to lines to follow major nearby roads or city boundaries. Speaker Lockhart and Sen. Davis said that they did not want blanket changes made because sometimes the major road divides the city. The Committee agreed to have staff make minor technical changes.

President Waddoups suggested a boundary between districts 10 and 11 in Taylorsville that could be moved to a major road to be more logical and even out the population numbers.

3.   Adjourn

MOTION: Sen. Davis moved to adjourn. The motion passed unanimously.

Chair Okerlund adjourned the meeting at 2:08 p.m.