House of Delegates to begin redistricting process

The Virginia House of Delegates will begin the redistricting process by holding a meeting of the Reapportionment Joint Committee and a public hearing on Monday, August 17, Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford), House Privileges & Elections Chairman Mark Cole (R-Spotsylvania) and Delegate S. Chris Jones (R-Suffolk) announced Wednesday.

“While we still strongly believe the defendants should have the opportunity to pursue their appeal, the House of Delegates fully intends to exercise its legal right to remedy the flaws with the current Third Congressional District,” said Speaker Howell. “These meetings are important and necessary prerequisites to filing redistricting legislation. Once these meetings are complete, the House will work efficiently and diligently in an effort to meet the Court-ordered September 1 deadline. Redistricting is a complicated and arduous legal process made more difficult by the compressed timeframe under which we are operating.”

The Reapportionment Joint Committee will meet Monday, August 17 at 8:30 a.m. in House Room D. The Joint Reapportionment Committee is authorized pursuant to §30-263 of the Code of Virginia to “perform such other duties and responsibilities and exercise such supervision as may promote the orderly redistricting of congressional, state legislative, and local election districts.” At this meeting the committee will receive an overview of the Third Congressional District case and adopt public criteria for redistricting.

“The Reapportionment Joint Committee is responsible for the first steps of the redistricting process,” said Delegate Jones, the Committee Chair. “The purpose of this meeting is to adopt redistricting criteria to guide legislators and the public as we move forward. The committee will also receive an overview of the court case and breakdown of the current Third Congressional District. The committee will also begin compiling the necessary data analyses to promote an orderly redistricting. After this meeting and the public hearing, we will move efficiently through the legislative process in an effort to meet the September 1 deadline.”

The House Privileges & Elections Committee will hold a public hearing to solicit input from citizens on potential redistricting plans on Monday, August 17 at 3 p.m. in House Room D, House P&E Chairman Mark Cole announced.

“As I did throughout the last redistricting process, I encourage and invite broad public input as we begin to redraw parts of the Third Congressional District,” Cole said. “At this hearing, we invite citizens to provide their thoughts on redistricting in the Third Congressional District. An already complicated process is made more difficult by the current timeframe, but we remain committed to ensuring transparency and public input throughout. I look forward to hearing from citizens on Monday.”