Missouri House redistricting commission can't reach deal

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- A state commission charged with drawing new Missouri House districts could not reach agreement Friday and wrapped up its work without developing a new map.

Ultimately, the commission decided that it could not agree and voted to conclude. Commission members encouraged the state's chief justice to begin the process of appointing the panel of appellate judges who would be responsible for developing a map.

The panel was meeting Friday in Jefferson City with a little less than a week to go before its deadline for developing a tentative map.

In Missouri, two commissions represented evenly by Republicans and Democrats are charged with redrawing the boundaries for the state's 34 Senate districts and 163 House districts. The 18-member panel responsible for the House has one Republican and one Democrat from each congressional district. If the commissions are unable to agree, a panel of state appeals court judges is responsible for developing the new districts.

Joe Maxwell, the panel's chairman and a former Democratic lieutenant governor, said he thinks progress was still being made toward an agreement Friday and that it seemed premature when work was stopped. He said Democrats are willing to incorporate the agreements for state House districts that are reached between two commissioners from the same congressional district.

"I like to get things done that is my responsibility to do, and I'm disappointed that I couldn't get that done today," Maxwell said.

Maxwell said Democrats agreed to conclude because individual members still can meet with their colleague from the same congressional district and the deals reached between them would be posted with the other proposed maps.

Ann Wagner, the vice chairwoman and a Republican, said during the commission's meeting Friday that it appeared the panel had come to an impasse and that it was time to take the next step in the redistricting process.

Wagner said in an interview after the meeting that reaching an agreement is difficult and that redistricting commissions in the past have been unable to reach a deal, including a decade ago.

Wagner said the Republicans had sought to use the existing districts as a guide while making the changes necessary to account for how the population has changed. She said the districts that were proposed by the Democrats were not sufficiently compact.

The districts for the Missouri Legislature are redrawn every 10 years after the census. Since 2000, the southwestern corner of the state and the outer St. Louis suburbs have been among the fastest-growing areas. St. Louis County and St. Louis city each have lost population since 2000.

A separate commission responsible for drawing new districts for the state Senate met earlier this week but did not reach an agreement. It was scheduled to meet again next week before the Thursday deadline for developing a tentative map.

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Online:

Missouri Legislature Redistricting: http://oa.mo.gov/bp/redistricting