Harrisburg, PA – March 16, 2022 – Today, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld the bipartisan maps for state legislative districts drawn by the Legislative Redistricting Commission and scheduled the petition period for the May primary; the maps that passed the commission in February will be those used on the ballot this year.
“I’m pleased with this ruling because not only were these maps fair, reasonable and supported in a bipartisan way, today’s decision means we can proceed with our election calendar and folks can begin preparation to run for office or learn who their potential representatives will be,” said Senate Democratic Leader and LRC member Jay Costa said. “I supported this map because I believe it is representative and gives Pennsylvanians a fair voice in their state government, and I’m excited to see the electoral process begin this year.”
The Supreme Court decision lays out a timeline for the 2022 election, as the previously scheduled petition period has already passed.
Candidates for the General Assembly may circulate petitions in the districts they live in beginning March 18 and ending March 28.
The primary election will be held as previously scheduled on Tuesday, May 17, 2022.
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Harrisburg, Pa. – December 16, 2021 − State Senator Jay Costa today voted in favor of the preliminary maps that were presented to the Legislative Reapportionment Commission (LRC). The preliminary maps were approved by the LRC and now enter a 30 day public comment period.
The Senate preliminary map was accepted unanimously by the commission.
“I’m proud of the preliminary product that we advanced today, as well as the thoughtful and bipartisan process we used to get here,” said Senator Costa. “After months of hearings and countless hours of testimony from experts and the public, we’ve drafted a document that creates representative seats, compact and contiguous districts, and elevates minority voices.”
This year, the LRC accepted publicly submitted maps and allowed testimony via Zoom to make the process more participatory than in the history of redistricting. There were 9 meetings, 6 hearings, 29 publicly submitted maps, testimony from 51 citizens and 29 experts.
Due to COVID related challenges, census data was delivered five months late which compressed the timeline for a preliminary map. Despite this, the Commission is submitting a map on schedule with the expected May primary for 2022.
“I hope that everyone takes a close look at the plan as a whole but more importantly, their area of the state and gives us feedback about what they like but also what they don’t like about the map,” said Senator Costa. “We will be taking those comments seriously when putting together the Final Plan.”
More information on future meetings and the preliminary map are available at redistricting.state.pa.us.
HARRISBURG, PA − June 12, 2018 − The Pennsylvania Senate Democrats voted unanimously against a Senator Aument amendment to create judicial districts, as part of the redistricting reform bill, Senate Bill 22.
Ultimately, the amendment passed by a partisan vote of 31 to 18, with several Republicans voting against it as well.
Senate Bill 22 was intended to create an independent commission for the redistricting process, to prevent gerrymandering and ensure fair, competitive elections. The irony and hypocrisy of the amendment from Senator Aument is that its purpose is to gerrymander the court system. It would create commission-drawn districts for judges – instead of statewide elections, as they are now.
“This amendment hijacked a well-intentioned bill to restore public faith in government,” said Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa, Jr. (D-Allegheny). “The Republicans who voted for it are doing so in retaliation for the Supreme Court’s recent decision on their gerrymandered maps from 2010. It would ensure a Republican majority on the court, while the advocates and supporters of Senate Bill 22 have been pursuing fair elections. The Republicans in the Senate who voted for this amendment are complicit in working aginst the goals of Senate Bill 22.”
“Senator Aument’s amendment is a poison pill to many in our caucus, and we have heard the same from good government organizations including Fair Districts PA, Committee of 70 and the League of Women Voters,” Senator Costa continued.
“Here we are: bamboozled, run amok, led astray, taken down one path and led to another,” said Senator Vincent Hughes (D-Philadelphia). “The gerrymandering we were supposed to be addressing in 22 has turned into creating gerrymandering in the election of judges.”
“This is not the time or place for this amendment,” said Senator Lisa Boscola (D-Lehigh), the prime sponsor of Senate Bill 22, during floor debate. “Without consensus or further vetting, it is wrong to attach this controversial amendment to Senate Bill 22. Unlike Senate Bill 22, there have been no hearings on this issue, and we have not heard from experts. There have been no working groups or analysis as to why this proposal could be better than what we have now. Please colleagues, do not let this bill be hijacked.”
“This [amendment] does not make us a stronger Commonwealth, this divides us,” said Senator Anthony H. Williams, the Democratic chair of the State Government Committee.
Senate Bill 22 is expected to be voted on final passage, in its amended form, on Wednesday, June 13.
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HARRISBURG, PA − June 6, 2018 − For the past several months, the Senate has been working with constituents and advocacy organizations to improve the fairness of Pennsylvania’s redistricting process. That work took the shape of Senate Bill 22, sponsored by a majority of the Senate.
Three weeks ago, Senate Bill 22 was amended, and many organizations and individuals have reached out with concerns about the latest version of the bill.
We are working with the chairs of the State Government Committee, Senators Williams and Folmer, to address some of those concerns through additional amendments on the following issues:
- Diversity: The Commission should reflect the geographic, racial, ethnic and gender diversity of the Commonwealth
- Eligibility for the Commission: Prohibiting registered lobbyists, and the staff and families of elected officials from serving on the commission
- Party registration: Commissioners should be continuously registered with the same party or unaffiliated, without changing that affiliation for at least three years; and the three non-Democratic or Republican members of the commission should not all be registered with the same ‘third party’
- Compensation: Commission members should be compensated prior to the passage of their preliminary redistricting plans
- Map timeline: Remove the 30-day period to file an appeal of the Commission drawn plan to the Supreme Court; add December 31st of the year ending in 1 as the deadline for the General Assembly to approve a plan
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Harrisburg – March 19, 2018 – State Sen. Jay Costa (D-Allegheny) released the following statement on today’s decision from the federal court on redistricting:
I applaud the federal court for denying the Republican challenge to the new map. The map provided by the state Supreme Court are fair, reasonable and constitutional – unlike the 2011 unconstitutional gerrymander we had before.
On a practical note, we are nearly through the entire period of petition signing and there are already candidates filed in most of the districts outlined by the state Supreme Court. To undo that work by the candidates and Department of State would throw this entire year of elections into disarray.
The decision today protects free and fair elections.
