Alternative Redistricting Plan Passes the Missouri Senate
For the past few weeks, my colleagues and I have been discussing an extremely important piece of legislation, Senate Joint Resolution 38. This resolution proposes an alternative redistricting plan to the one created by the “Clean Missouri” amendment passed in 2018. Senate Joint Resolution 38 proposes giving the redistricting responsibilities to an independent, bipartisan, citizen-led committee, instead of an appointed state demographer, which was proposed in “Clean Missouri.”
Before “Clean Missouri,” the law required districts to be drawn to be compact, contiguous, equal in population and to preserve communities to the greatest extent possible, and the current districts are drawn to follow those guidelines. “Clean Missouri” proposes drawing districts by prioritizing fairness and competitiveness over compactness and ensuring districts of approximately equal population. Senate Joint Resolution 38 restores the prioritization of compactness and preserving communities, and maintains fairness and competitiveness as lower priorities.
Senate Joint Resolution 38 also builds on the ethics reforms included in “Clean Missouri.” This resolution bans all lobbyist gifts and adjusts campaign contribution limits. My colleagues and I certainly supported the ethics reforms in “Clean Missouri” and were committed to including stricter ethics requirements in SJR 38.
My fellow senators and I finished debating SJR 38 on Monday, Feb. 10, and we eventually passed the legislation. It will now be sent to the House of Representatives for their consideration. If it is passed, SJR 38 will be placed on the ballot, and it must receive approval from the voters before becoming law.
I believe SJR 38 builds on the important ethics reforms of “Clean Missouri,” while revising the redistricting process to ensure fair districts free of gerrymandering. The newly drawn districts will have an immense impact on our state for the next 10 years. It is of the utmost importance that we establish a fair and transparent process of drawing new districts, and I believe SJR 38 accomplishes that goal.