LANSING – Some details of the changes to the Senate map in redistricting are coming to light with sources telling Gongwer News Service that Sen. Tory Rocca (R-Sterling Heights) should have a more Republican friendly district.

Map-writers continued their work Monday, and the maps expected to be released Friday are not yet final.

But Gongwer News Service has learned that strongly Democratic Roseville, now in Rocca’s 10th District seat, would switch to the solidly Democratic district of Sen. Steve Bieda (D-Warren). As part of the reshuffling in Macomb County, St. Clair Shores, a politically competitive city, would move from Mr. Bieda’s 9th District to the strongly Republican 11th District seat held by Sen. Jack Brandenburg (R-Harrison Township).

And then Republican-leaning Macomb Township would shift to Rocca’s seat.

The upshot would be that Brandenburg’s district would remain strongly Republican, Bieda’s seat would become slightly more Democratic and Rocca’s seat, now politically competitive, would tilt slightly Republican.

Meanwhile, population growth in west Michigan will drive considerable changes to the Senate map there, sources said. The 24th District of Sen. Rick Jones (R-Grand Ledge) will likely drop Allegan and Barry counties. Instead, Mr. Jones’ district will likely move north and east, joining Clinton and Shiawassee counties with his current base in Eaton County.

That would pull Shiawassee out of the 22nd District held by Sen. Joe Hune (R-Hamburg) and Clinton out of the 33rd District held by Sen. Judy Emmons (R-Sheridan).

Additionally, the 19th District held by Sen. Mike Nofs would see a big change, likely dropping the Jackson County portion. Instead of that politically competitive turf, Nofs’ district would move north to grab reliably Republican Barry County from Jones’ current district and solidly GOP Ionia County from Emmons’ seat. That will mean a big change for Emmons’ seat although the exact contours of her new district were not clear.

Amber McCann, spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville (R-Monroe), said she expects the Senate Redistricting Committee to meet next week and take up the Senate plan. The House will take up the state House and U.S. House plans.

Of where the maps stand, McCann said, “I would say we are 90 percent done.”

Sen. Steve Bieda of Warren, the top Democrat on the Redistricting Committee, said his office received Friday a hand-delivered letter signed by Richardville and Hune indicating the Senate plan would be submitted to the Senate secretary Friday and be made available to the public and Democratic caucus members that day. That’s the same day House Republicans are expected to make public the plan for the House.

Bieda said the letter indicated the committee would meet June 21 and June 22, the same days the House Redistricting and Elections Committee will meet.

Although having four to five days to study the Republican plan before a committee vote would be an improvement from 10 years ago, when House Republicans did not reveal their plan for the House until it was on the floor, Bieda said it would still be “a very shortened process.” Bieda noted the plan would not be available in bill form until the committee actually met.

“In my opinion, it’s an extremely important part of our representative government for everyone to have their voices heard,” he said. “I’d like to see more transparency. … For now, what seems to be proposed is a very intense partisan effort.”

Newspaper columnists and other groups already are criticizing the Republicans’ handling of the process as secretive.

To that, McCann said: “We have held public hearings. We have had map submissions from the public, and I think that no matter who was involved in the redistricting process, somebody would be criticizing it.”

HOUSE DEMS CRITICIZE REDISTRICTING PACE: Redrawing the legislative lines should be a more open process and the tight timeline Republicans have set to approve new maps is misguided, House Minority Leader Richard Hammel (D-Mount Morris Township) and the ranking Redistricting and Elections Democrat Rep. Barb Byrum (D-Onondaga) said Monday.

In a letter to House Speaker Jase Bolger (R-Marshall) and Redistricting chair Rep. Pete Lund (R-Shelby Twp.), Democrats said the timeline of submitting maps by Friday with committee action to follow the week after “confirms our fears that Michigan’s redistricting maps have been drawn in secret meetings hidden from the public eye so that they can favor the interests of those in power, not the interests of our residents.”

Republicans have said they will make the maps public Friday when they are submitted to the clerk. Typically, the maps are dropped into a bill at the last minute or unknown until they reach the House floor.

Democrats, however, have argued all year that redistricting should be the subject of hearings across the state so that residents can have their input.

Ari Adler, spokesperson for Bolger, said the redistricting committee has been meeting publicly and reiterated the maps will be made available at the end of the week.

“Everything that has been done is fair and legal,” he said.

This story was provided by Gongwer News Service. To subscribe, click on Gongwer.Com

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