SB15 Passes Senate Judiciary on Unanimous Vote

The Senate Judiciary Committee passed Senate Bill 15-Redistricting Act on a unanimous vote, spending nine minutes on the legislation (including public comments).
 
Several recommendations and concerns offered by the public addressed aspects of the original legislation (SB199) that didn’t make it into the current compromise version, SB15. 
 
Dick Mason, Action Chair of the League of Women Voters of New Mexico, said, "We are grateful to the Senate Judiciary Committee for passing SB15, as well as for hearing our concerns about transparency and accountability. These issues will be important during the Fall Special Session when the Legislature will consider the redistricting maps recommended by the Citizen Redistricting Committee. We are hopeful our concerns will be addressed as SB15 moves forward."
 
Some of the key items that need to be addressed in the bill, recommended by the statewide New Mexico Redistricting Task Force, include:

• Assurances on Native American participation, and consideration of their past concerns about district lines dividing tribal lands
• Legislature transparency during the special session that reviews the maps, as noted in Mason’s quote above
• Legislature accountability by providing the written evaluations of final maps, as is required of the citizen commission
• Prohibitions of consideration of incumbency and partisan data when drawing voting boundaries

 
The legislation’s next stop is for consideration by the full New Mexico Senate, hopefully over the next few days.