House leader asks for new Missouri district map

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- House Minority Leader Rep. Mike Talboy, D-Kansas City, says a new state Senate district map is better than an earlier version, but still not perfect.

But when it comes to the new boundaries in his own legislative chamber, Talboy says the state's Appellate Apportionment Commission needs to take another stab at redrawing the boundaries for state house districts.

The commission, made up of state judges, issued a new state Senate district map Friday after the commission's original plan, filed on Nov. 30, met with charges that it was unconstitutional.

The state constitution reads that counties shall not be split among senate districts except when necessary to add people to a nearby district because the neighboring county has too many people to fit into a single senate district. Under the original map, Johnson County was split between two Senate districts and Cass County near Kansas City was split three ways. Greene County was also split up among three districts.

Under the new map published Friday, Johnson and Cass counties are now in one district, while Greene County is split between two districts. Lafayette County is now part of two separate districts.

"The Appellate Apportionment Commission did the right thing by acknowledging its blatant constitutional violations in drawing new Missouri Senate districts and taking prompt corrective action," said Talboy in a statement released by his office. Talboy goes on to call for the redrawing of House district boundaries.

"Although the House plan doesn't suffer from the same constitutional infirmities as the original Senate plan, the commission ignored natural geographic boundaries and divided communities in ways that produced House districts that, on the whole, make little sense," Talboy said. "Missourians should not be stuck for the next decade with district boundaries that undermine representative democracy, and the commission should develop a workable House redistricting plan while it still has time."

Talboy and other political leaders have been outspoken in their criticism of the Appellate Commission maps. The maps were drawn up in closed door meetings after the commission took public testimony in a one-day hearing in October.

The appellate commission, in a short statement, did not give a specific reason for changing its original Senate map, saying only "(a) majority of the Commission opted to revise the plan upon further consideration of a constitutional provision regarding multi-district counties, even though that provision may not apply to redistricting maps drawn by the appellate judges."