House nixes redistricting map; process in limbo

The House State Agencies Committee made short work defeating a Senate plan and proposed amendment that could have advanced the Congressional redistricting debate.

SB 871 by Sen. Robert Thompson, D-Paragould, would shift Russellville and part of Pope County into the 4th District along with Franklin, Johnson and Madison counties. His plan would move Ashley County to the 1st.

Rep. Ann Clemmer, R-Benton, attempted to amend Thompson’s bill over his objections to keep Pope County in the 3rd District, but the measure failed.

Thompson’s bill was then considered, but did not receive 11 votes to move forward.

The map’s failure leaves the legislature in limbo until Monday, most likely.

Attention will turn back to the Senate to see if 18 State Senators will attempt to pull the "Fayetteville to the Fourth" plan to the Senate floor for a vote. It could not obtain 5 votes to get out of committee, but Senate rules allow for the parliamentary move.

House Minority Leader John Burris, R-Harrison, said that he thinks Democrats are trying to eliminate all options so that the "Fayetteville to the Fourth" plan will be the only available plan for consideration.

"Their goal is to have no other resort except for the ‘Fayetteville Finger’," Burris said after the meeting.

But finding 18 votes in the Senate will be tricky. Republicans are opposed to the plan and the move. With 20 Democrats in the Senate, 3 Democratic Senators could prevent the bill’s committee extraction from occurring.

At least one of those Democrats, Sen. Jerry Taylor, D-Pine Bluff, says there is no way he’d support the move or the Fayetteville map.

"There’s no way that Pine Bluff and Fayetteville should be in the same district," Taylor said. "Nobody can make the case for that in my opinion and there’s no way that I would vote for it."

House Speaker Moore, D-Arkansas City, who supports the "Fayetteville to the Fourth" plan, remained optimistic that a majority of votes could be found for a map.

Despite the political tug-of-war costing taxpayers more than $40,000 a day, he was confident after the meeting that the legislature will find a solution and not punt to the courts for a decision.

"If the bill is not extracted out of committee, we’ll obviously have to confer. We are going to get an agreement. We’re not going to let the courts decide Congressional redistricting. It’s just a process of communications. Hopefully, it will be fruitful at some time," Moore said.

The 88th General Assembly could continue talks for another 2 1/2 weeks. Their adjournment resolution calls for them to complete their work by April 27.