PROVIDENCE – In each of the last two years, Common Cause Rhode Island has made efforts to get legislation passed to have new legislative district lines drawn in the Ocean State but those efforts came to a halt each time.
Now, the Providence-based nonprofit that promotes democracy by ensuring effective government processes is looking to get a bigger spotlight shined on this particular campaign. Common Cause members, legislators and other community leaders announced Wednesday that they kicked off its “Redraw Rhode Island” effort.
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The proposed legislation, a constitutional amendment, would put the installation of an independent redistricting commission onto the November ballot for voter approval. If passed, the independent redistricting commission would draw new district lines in the state following the 2020 Census.
Common Cause Rhode Island Executive Director John Marion told PBN Wednesday that this is the first time his organization is building a campaign around this initiative, stating that in prior years, Common Cause had helped craft the proposed legislation but there “wasn’t much beyond the bill.”
“This is the first attempt to build a coalition around creating one of these independent redistricting commissions,” Marion said, noting he hopes to have up to 10 coalitions publicly support this effort by the time the bill has a hearing at the Statehouse. The League of Women Voters of Rhode Island and the NAACP-Providence are backing this proposed amendment.
According to a media release from Common Cause Rhode Island, a “partisan efficiency gap” analysis conducted in 2014 by the University of Chicago Law School found that Rhode Island’s 2012 House of Representative plan is “the most Democratically partisan gerrymandered” in the U.S. The release also noted that the legislature’s maps, more often than not, have “ended up in court,” citing lawsuits after the 1980 Census cost taxpayers in the Ocean State more than $1 million in legal fees as the legislature tried to defend those maps that “were each ruled unconstitutional.”
The bill proposes commission members be selected randomly where everyone has an “equal chance” to serve on the 15-person board, Marion said. The R.I. Office of the Secretary of State would screen applicants for any conflicts of interest, then, Marion said, use a “lottery system” to choose the first six members. Finally, those six members would select the remaining nine members to make up the commission.
Currently, the R.I. General Assembly is allowed to appoint members to a commission, and, Marion said, it would appoint legislators, lobbyists and political-party officials that “do the bidding of the legislature.” Marion said the bill builds on how an independent commission can be created “that eliminates conflicts of interest.”
“We want a group that is independent of the legislature,” Marion said.
Sen. Dawn Euer, D-Newport, and Rep. Jason Knight, D-Barrington, are the sponsors of the bill for their respective chambers in the R.I. General Assembly. Common Cause Rhode Island also created a website to highlight the organization’s stance as to why an independent redistricting is needed.
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com.
