Utah Makes Headway in Drawing a New District

The Utah legislature’s Districting Committee settled on boundaries for a 4th seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, on November 29. The Utah Districting Committee is composed of 5 State Senators and 7 Representatives. It exists solely for the task of dividing up the state from 3 U.S. House districts, to 4 districts.

The Utah legislature is in special session, and is expected to pass the new plan early in December. This work anticipates that Congress will pass HR 5388, also in December. HR 5388 would temporarily expand the size of the U.S. House from 435 seats to 437, with the two extra voting seats going to the District of Columbia and Utah. Utah was chosen because the expectation is that the new member from D.C. would be a Democrat, and the new member from Utah would be a Republican, so neither major party would be disadvantaged. The other basis for choosing Utah is that it came closest to “deserving” another seat, when the 2000 census results were translated into seats for each state.

The new Utah congressional district is centered on southwest Utah.

Comments

Utah Makes Headway in Drawing a New District — 9 Comments

Phil on November 30, 2006 at 9:56 pm said:

You say “temporarily expand the size of the U.S. House from 435 seats to 437”, but I’m pretty sure the bill states that it’s a permanent increse.
Phil on November 30, 2006 at 9:57 pm said:

*increase
Charles Broy on November 30, 2006 at 10:41 pm said:

Like many other bills passed it is Unconstitutional to give Washington D.C a vote.the founding fathers Excluded Washington.D.C. for a very good reason.
NewFederalist on December 1, 2006 at 4:25 am said:

I agree with Charles Broy. Just when will DC (or perhaps New Columbia?) be “awarded” their two “rightful” Senate seats and hold elections for governor and legislature in addition to mayor and council? That is just what they need… MORE government! This solves EVERYTHING!
Taylor Bowles on December 1, 2006 at 5:03 am said:

If it isn’t broke, why fix it?
matt on December 1, 2006 at 12:27 pm said:

So, people in 49 states have their collective legislative “voice” slightly diluted, but it’s ok because both Democrats and Republicans get to do it evenly? We’re in more trouble than I thought if garbage like this can get voted through.
Eric Garris on December 2, 2006 at 7:18 am said:

Residents of Washington, DC, were permitted to vote in Maryland US House elections before 1800. So the founding fathers were not opposed to letting D.C. residents have voting representation in the US House.
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