Republicans demand federal investigation as California redistricting bills near final vote

CALIFORNIA, USA — Efforts to re-draw California’s congressional maps continued at the capitol as lawmakers debated how much the process could cost the state.

Continuing to promise transparency, lawmakers met in Appropriations Committees Wednesday to talk about the financial impacts of the potential special election. Lawmakers are estimating it to cost around $230 million.

The Department of Finance says it doesn’t have an official estimate on cost just yet, but the state does intend on providing funding to counties in advance of the election.

The cost isn’t the only concern; questions are mounting over who drew the adjusted maps since they were released. With just one day left to pass the redistricting package, state Republicans are now calling for a federal investigation.

“What we need to know right now is who drew the maps,” said Asm. David Tangipa (R-Fresno).

Last week, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and consultant, Paul Mitchell, took credit for drawing the proposed maps. When asked in hearings, Democratic Isaac Bryan (D-Los Angeles) responded with an indirect answer.

“These maps were drawn in collaboration between many stakeholders, including experts who have been drawing lines from multiple municipalities for over 100 different jurisdictions across California and beyond,” said Bryan.

Unhappy with the answers from his Democratic colleagues, Republican Assemblymember Tom Lackey (R-Palmdale) says there hasn’t been transparency throughout the process.

“When we mention Paul Mitchell, it’s like ice water in their veins. They know it’s probably true, but why not let us know if it’s not true? They’re not saying it isn’t Paul Mitchell are they? I haven’t heard that. They have their very crafted response,” said Lackey.

Democrat Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar Curry (D-Winters), author of AB 604, also acknowledged minor changes were made to the maps this week.

“There’s two small things. It’s like 0.027% change, so it’s minimal,” she said.

A spokesperson for Speaker Robert Rivas’ office provided ABC10 with this statement clarifying the changes and who drew the maps:

“First:
The maps were NOT changed on Monday. That is disinformation. The Legislature made minor technical changes to the maps between the time we made them public, around Friday 5pm, and the time they were published into print on Monday 8am. Those two minor technical changes to do two things: 1) Eliminate a population split of the City of Industry, to keep this city united, 2) Improve the compactness of the plan in southern Santa Ana; there was a line that divided city blocks, and now those blocks are united. Both minor changes are consistent with improving compliance with traditional redistricting commission criteria.  These minor changes altered 0.027% of the plan. In the spirit of transparency, we have all versions of the maps clearly published on our website, so the public can see these very minor, technical changes.

Second:
The Legislature made the decision to draw new maps to stop Trump’s power grab. We’re here at this flashpoint because Donald Trump and Republican leaders are trying to rig the election.

You want to know who drew these maps? People who have led the fight against the cruelty and chaos of the Trump administration.

The development, creation and drawing of the maps a partnership between the Legislature, Gov. Newsom, and our lawmakers in Congress. Everyone knows that, last week, the Senate and Assembly received a maps package via our Elections Committee portals from the DCCC, and those maps and associated data were posted on those sites, available for everyone to see. As the DCCC said publicly when they submitted the maps, we worked in collaboration with outside groups, which hired California based redistricting experts, who have worked on nonpartisan redistricting for more than 100 cities and counties across the state. The work they submitted became the basis for the redistricting plans that we are discussing this week. We’re proud of the work here, and now we’re sending these to the people of California, who will have the final say. Because unlike Donald Trump, we believe in democracy and empowering our voters.”

In another attempt to stop the redistricting efforts, state Republicans are now asking for a federal investigation, saying what the legislature is doing is illegal and corrupt.

“We believe that there are credible allegations that federal law has been violated in this corrupt redistricting scheme that’s going on behind us. We also believe that there are prima facie violations of federal civil rights and voting rights laws that need to be investigated and adjudicated by the federal government,” said Asm. Carl DeMaio (R-San Diego).

As the redistricting package heads to the Assembly and Senate floor Thursday, experts are predicting voters should be prepared for a special election.

“As you can imagine, we’re expecting some pretty lengthy debate, but ultimately they will pass the two houses and then the governor will sign the two bills. The ACA goes automatically to the voters after the legislature votes in favor of it,” said Chris Micheli, Adjunct Professor at McGeorge School of Law.