Public comment at the Long Beach Independent Redistricting Commission during a meeting at city hall, on Oct. 20, 2021. Photo by Pablo Unzueta for CalMattersThe state Assembly has passed legislation to require large cities, counties and school districts to use independent commissions to redraw districts for their governing boards, but the measure exempts five major counties.
The Legislature long wielded redistricting authority for itself and the state’s congressional delegation, and every 10 years its power players would carve up California to help themselves, their parties and their loyalists gain or retain office.who died recently After one particularly creative round of redistricting in the 1980s, the late Congressman Phil Burton, described the lines he drew as “my contribution to modern art.”