Brochin proposals would alter future redistricting process in Maryland

State senator wants 'people who are a little more apolitical'

By Jon Meoli, jmeoli@tribune.com

January 19, 2012 | 6:37 p.m.

State Sen. Jim Brochin introduced legislation in Annapolis on Thursday that he says would reform Maryland's legislative and Congressional redistricting processes by making them less partisan and more objective.

"Politicians shouldn't be making legislative redistricting maps," said Brochin, a Democrat from Towson who represents the 42nd District. "They just shouldn't."

Brochin said the state's redistricting process, conducted every 10 years to reflect changes in the U.S. Census, has, "become such a grotesquely partisan exercise that it just would make more sense if people who make maps for a living, and people who are a little more apolitical, did this."

Senate Bill 160, one of three bills in the package introduced Jan. 19, calls for creation of a new eight-member redistricting commission, which would be directed by the executive director of the non-partisan Department of Legislative Services.

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