Wilson Asks Court Takeover of Redistricting

Launching a preemptive strike against the Legislature, Gov. Pete Wilson on Friday asked the state Supreme Court to begin drawing new district lines for the Assembly, Senate and Congress because lawmakers have failed to act in “a timely manner.”

With its scheduled Sept. 13 adjournment one week away, Wilson said the Legislature had failed to make “reasonable progress” toward a redistricting agreement.

“I have said all along I would prefer that an honest redistricting solution be reached through negotiations between myself and the Legislature,” Wilson said in a statement.

“I still hold that out as a possibility but recognize that any delay in requesting the California Supreme Court to assume jurisdiction risks that it will not have the time necessary to adopt fair and constitutional districts in time for the 1992 elections.”

Wilson’s action, his second major move into an arena the Legislature prefers to call its own, left some lawmakers and legislative aides wondering if the Republican governor had pulled the plug on negotiations with the Legislature. The talks are aimed at fashioning districts in response to the 1990 U.S. Census.

A spokesman for Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) described the governor’s move as unjustified. “We are still a week away from the end of the legislative session and it remains perfectly conceivable that we will complete the drawing of lines,” said Michael Reese, Brown’s press secretary.

Senate Republican Leader Ken Maddy of Fresno said he believed the governor would still negotiate with the Legislature but was trying to get a head start on the legal process in case lawmakers failed to produce a plan to his liking.

“What he is saying to the Supreme Court is that there is not enough time unless you intervene at this point and begin the work you have to do,” said Maddy. “I understand his frustration. If the Legislature and the governor can come to an agreement between now and the end of the session, we can always withdraw the suit.”

The governor had set a Sept. 3 deadline for the Legislature to send him the new districts. But Wilson backed away from that date when the chairman of a commission he appointed to draw an independent plan said the panel could not complete its work on time.

And while Wilson had threatened for months to go to court if the Legislature failed to act by the scheduled end of the session, many lawmakers were privately doubting his resolve and speculating that Wilson would agree to extend the session to work on the issue.

“The governor’s deadlines are impossible deadlines geared to upsetting the process entirely,” charged Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles). “Even the governor’s own panel has not made his deadlines.”

The state Constitution gives the Legislature the power to redraw district lines every 10 years to account for population shifts detected in the census. To become law, the boundaries must be passed by both the Assembly and Senate and signed by the governor. The Legislature can override a governor’s veto with a two-thirds majority vote in each house.

If the Legislature and the governor reach an impasse, the Constitution allows the Supreme Court to take over and draw the lines itself. That last happened in 1973.

Republicans want the new maps drawn promptly because they fear that, if the process is dragged out, the court will not be able to resolve the issue in time for the 1992 primary elections. If that happened, the court might tell the candidates to run in existing districts or in districts drawn by Democrats and vetoed by the governor.

New districts are expected to benefit Republicans because, since 1980, the population has shifted from the Democratic-dominated inner cities to the Republican-leaning suburbs.

A proposal for new Senate district lines released this week by Senate leaders is the only legislatively drawn plan to be made public so far. Republicans in the Senate have openly supported it. But Republican leader Maddy said Friday that Wilson is concerned that those proposed districts favor incumbents and minimize competition between the two major parties.

Boundaries for the Assembly, Congress and State Board of Equalization are being drafted behind closed doors and are not expected to be available until Tuesday or Wednesday.

With the session scheduled to end Friday, it appears there will be only a day or two for the Assembly to respond to comments from the public or the governor.

“The Legislature has failed to make progress toward a redistricting agreement,” Wilson said.