County redistricting near done, but state, federal changes loom
EL CENTRO – The county moved a step closer to having new boundaries for its Board of Supervisors districts on Tuesday when that panel unanimously approved the second reading of the proposed changes.
The only remaining step is final approval by Dec. 15. The boundaries for the five seats will not significantly change, officials have said.
Redistricting is necessary due to population changes from the 2020 Census.
However, Rebecca Terrazas-Baxter, county intergovernmental relations director, told the board during the Tuesday meeting that larger changes may be looming with the redrawing of the districts for state Assembly and Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives.
While the county will not be broken up for any of the state or federal districts, Terrazas- Baxter added, “We will be grouped with North County (San Diego), which will lead to some competing interests. We’re going to have to compete for the attention of our representatives.”
The official draft maps will be out Nov. 15 and can be viewed at wedrawthelines.org, she added. There will be public comments.
“We still have portions of the border in San Diego, just stops shortly before hitting Imperial Beach and encompasses more of the North County than the current district,” Terrazas-Baxter explained in an email after the meeting. “Let’s keep in mind, these are ‘visualizations.’ I don’t know if the draft maps that are expected to be released next week will look the same since changes were discussed during the California Redistricting Commissions meeting last week.”
In a written report to the board, Terrazas-Baxter explained, “Last week, the California Redistricting Commission held three meetings where they released, reviewed and discussed what they have termed as ‘visualizations,’ or unofficial draft maps, of the state’s congressional, senate, and assembly districts.”
She added, “According to the visualizations and comparing it to current boundaries, the federal and state lines have significant changes now including different sections of San Diego and Riverside counties and even portions of San Bernardino County grouped with Imperial County in the various districts.
“It is assumed that the substantial changes are due to a combination of the reduction of congressional districts from 53 to 52, an increase in (state) population (6.1%), and the poor census response in some of our neighboring counties, but this will likely impact our federal and state representation, having to compete for the attention of our representatives dealing with more issues.”