Secretary of State Jon Husted said Wednesday that a proposal in the Ohio Senate is lawmakers’ best bet for delivering on their promise to enact redistricting reform before the end of the year.
“I believe the Senate proposal is a better starting point at getting something accomplished in this General Assembly than introducing these new concepts,” Husted said in an interview.
Husted, a Republican, has long advocated changing the way Ohio forms its legislative and congressional districts, which has become hyperpartisan and recently favored Republicans. As a state senator, Husted proposed a plan that passed the Senate in 2009 but failed to get support in the Democratic-controlled House.
The Senate approved a similar, bipartisan plan in 2012 and reintroduced it in this session as Senate Joint Resolution 1. That legislation has been debated in committee hearings and also discussed by the Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission, a panel of lawmakers and legal experts reviewing the Ohio Constitution.
But Rep. Matt Huffman, the No. 2 ranking House Republican from Lima, introduced a pair of proposals last week that introduce new ideas to the debate.
Husted said he was glad the House Republicans put forth their ideas last week but said lawmakers should work to enact changes agreeable to both Republicans and Democrats. Husted said lawmakers need to approve a plan by the end of the year because they promised to, and because the longer Ohio goes without reform, the more likely it is an outside group without Ohio ties will get reform through at the ballot box.
Click here to read more of this story.
About Marion Online News
