Lawmakers ready to begin reviewing redistricting data

Proposed maps presented to agencies

Arkansas legislators are preparing to meet later this month to discuss redistricting based on data collected during the 2020 Census.

District 52 Rep. Reginald Murdock, D-Marianna, said the state is separated into four congressional districts that, based on census data, must either grow or reduce in citizens to meet the proper requirements.

"We will come together to discuss the congressional maps based on census data," said Murdock. "We are in the process of getting ready to file bills and maps for consideration for the four congressional districts. At this time, I don't have the data in front of me to know exactly what the data says, but we have to either grow or reduce the number of citizens in each area to meet the requirements.

“We will all come together on September 29, however, there will be other meetings held prior to that where we will present our maps that will be vetted in state agency committees,” continued Murdock. “They will be vetted and cataloged before the meeting on the 29th. There are just some preliminary things before that meeting takes place."

District 49 Rep. Steve Hollowell, R-Forrest City, said some legislators are in the process of drawing up maps and plans to be filed and submitted for review in committees before making their way to the House floor.

"I haven't seen any plans yet and it is just redistricting for the four congressional districts," said Hollowell. "They plan to start hearings on September 29, which is a Wednesday, I believe, and it will go through Friday of that week. There are a couple people who have maps or are drawing up maps to be submitted. We will look at those and then they will go through State Agency and Governmental Affairs committees for approval."

According to Murdock, the law reminds legislators to consider a lot of different things, including proportionality when drawing up these plans for redistricting.

"We have about 2.95 million people in Arkansas. You divide that number by four and theoretically you come up with the number of citizens per congressional district," said Murdock. "That is what we will be considering with these maps. There are lots of things that the law tells you to consider when drawing up these maps and proportionality is one of those things. There are several things we will be discussing."

Hollowell said the First Judicial District would probably pick up a few counties during this phase of redistricting.

"I don't think there will be much change," said Hollowell.

(Continued from Page 1) "There will be a few counties added to the first and fourth districts and a few taken away from the third with only a little shifting around on the second district.

“We are in the first district and we need to add some people to the district,” said Hollowell. “I am not sure on the exact number, but it is somewhere around 40,000 people. We will probably pick up a couple of counties. I don't know exactly where those counties will come from or what counties they will be because we haven't seen any maps and we don't know what the final map will be."

"I haven't seen any of the maps that are planned to be filed," said Murdock. "However, I am in the process of coming up with my own map to present and file. We are working feverishly on this to try to be ready to present a map that is fair, equitable and good for all Arkansans.

According to Murdock, income tax reductions and other tax cuts will not be discussed during this session, as no definitive date has been set for those meetings at this time.

“As for income tax reductions and other tax cuts that we have talked about previously during this session, there have not been any definitive dates set for us to make decisions on those items. This meeting is solely for the purpose of redistricting the state,” said Murdock.