Senate approves redistricting panel to draw new boundaries

PROVIDENCE – The Senate has approved creating a reapportionment commission, taking the first step toward constitutionally required redistricting of House, Senate and congressional districts in Rhode Island.
The bill, sponsored by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Michael J. McCaffrey, D-Warwick, creates an 18-member reapportionment commission that would use the results of the 2010 federal census to redraw district lines to better reflect population shifts.
“The census showed that Rhode Island’s population centers have shifted since the last time we redistricted after the 2000 census, and the result is that districts now vary dramatically in terms of their total population,” McCaffrey said.
New district lines could mean a few new faces at the Statehouse and it could also mean some legislators will find represent geographically larger or smaller areas than they did previously.
The commission must make its recommendation to the General Assembly by Jan. 15, 2012, so that the elections later that year reflect the new district boundaries.
The legislation now moves to the House. •