Minnesota House of Representatives
Republican Caucus

ST. PAUL -- The Minnesota House of Representatives today passed a new congressional and legislative redistricting plan that reflects the population shifts that have occurred in Minnesota over the past decade. The process of re-drawing congressional and legislative maps -- redistricting -- occurs as a result of the new population figures the U.S. Census Bureau collects every ten years.

"Minnesota's population has shifted dramatically over the last ten years," said State Representative Erik Paulsen (R-Eden Prairie), the chairman of the House Redistricting Committee. "In constructing these maps, we worked to reflect those population shifts, while at the same time taking into account the testimony of citizens and groups that the House Redistricting Committee heard in 16 hearings in the last four months, three of which were held in Greater Minnesota."

Two weeks ago, the Minnesota House of Representatives passed a resolution that laid out the principles to guide the process of re-drawing Minnesota's congressional and legislative maps. The plan authored by State Representative Erik Paulsen and passed today by the Minnesota House of Representatives strictly adheres to those principles.

"We worked to create plans that represent the principle of 'one person, one vote' as much as possible," said Representative Paulsen. "The legislative districts in our map have population variances -- deviations -- of plus or minus .75 percent to ensure the people of Minnesota are equally represented in the Minnesota Legislature. We also created districts that are contiguous and compact, respect the Voting Rights Act of 1964, retain communities of interest as much as possible and do not unduly favor any political party."

House and Senate DFLers argued that unequal sized districts and a higher population deviation were necessary to prevent neighborhoods, cities, townships and communities of interest from being split. "Even with a lower deviation of .75 percent, we split four fewer counties and 40 fewer cities than the DFL plan and two fewer counties and nine fewer cities than the 1991 court-ordered plan," Paulsen said.

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The idea of communities of interest generated a great deal of discussion on the House floor when it came to the proposed congressional map. The map combines St. Paul and Minneapolis together as one urban congressional district, creates a new suburban congressional district, and redesigns the two northern congressional districts in east-west configurations.

"This is the best congressional map that has been proposed this legislative session preserving communities of interest. It combines Minnesota's most urban areas, creating a minority- influence district where a person of color has a much greater opportunity to be elected to Congress," said Paulsen. "The congressional plan also creates a district along the I-94 corridor that includes many regional centers in Greater Minnesota. The northernmost part of the state, composes another congressional district which stretches along the Canadian border and includes the Iron Range. This district combines Minnesota's Indian reservations in an effort to enhance Native American influence."

Paulsen noted that a few geographic areas in Greater Minnesota will lose legislative seats as a result of declining populations, while suburban areas of the state will gain legislative seats

because they are areas of high population growth. Under the House plan, southwestern Minnesota will lose two legislative seats, while Minneapolis, St. Paul, western Minnesota, and the Iron Range will all lose one legislative seat. Areas in fast-growing Washington, Anoka, Dakota and Sherburne counties will gain legislative seats.

The Minnesota Senate Redistricting Committee, chaired by DFL Senator Larry Pogemiller passed their legislative and congressional plans earlier this week. The Senate plan has come under a great deal of criticism for the city, county and township splits even with its higher deviation at two percent.

Paulsen commented that he hopes to come to agreement with the Senate on a plan before the legislative session ends on Monday. "Cities, counties and school districts face a strict time line when it comes to redistricting that they must follow after the Legislature enacts a plan. The House intends to get our work done by the end of the legislative session so local units of government have enough time to draw new ward, precinct and county commissioner boundaries."

Copies of all proposed plans are available on the Legislature's Geographic Information System (GIS) website at http://www.commissions.leg.state.mn.us/gis/html/newplans.html.

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