The Center Square—Gov. Tom Wolf has vetoed legislation to create new congressional districts for the commonwealth, leaving courts to decide the issue.
Wolf vetoed House Bill 2146 on Wednesday, two days after it gained approval from the Senate on a party-line vote of 29-20. The legislation passed the House on Jan. 12, 110-91, with two Republicans voting with Democrats.
The congressional redistricting process now shifts to the Commonwealth Court, where pending lawsuits aim to have a judge draw the lines. At least a dozen proposed maps were submitted for consideration as of the court’s Monday deadline, and hearings are scheduled on the matter for Thursday and Friday, according to The Associated Press.
Submitted maps came from Democratic and Republican lawmakers, partisan advocacy organizations and good-government groups. The Commonwealth Court’s decision is expected to be appealed to the state Supreme Court, where Democrats hold a 5-2 majority, the news wire reported.
Wolf outlined the reasons for rejecting HB 2146 in a veto message that echoed many of the same concerns he raised to Republican leaders in a letter last month, shortly after it was approved by the House State Government Committee.
The map, created by Lehigh County resident Amanda Holt, was one of 19 submitted to the committee by the public, and it was amended in committee before approval by the General Assembly.
Wolf contends “the revised map splits multiple communities of interest, including splits in Luzerne, Dauphin, Philadelphia and Chester counties that do not appear to be motivated by compelling legal principles, but rather by a desire to make districts more favorable to Republican candidates,” the veto message read.
The governor also alleged the map is inconsistent with statewide voter preference because it gives “a structural advantage to Republican candidates that far exceeds the party’s voter support.”
The veto message cited redistricting criteria set by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that “the HB 2146 map does not adequately satisfy,” and alleged “Democratic members of the General Assembly were completely cut out of the process of selecting the map from start to finish.”
“After this bill was introduced, I made my strong objections to the congressional redistricting map clear and urged bipartisan cooperation,” Wolf wrote. “I even provided the General Assembly with two congressional redistricting map options as examples of the type of map I would support – free of gerrymandering, consistent with the principles of the Redistricting Advisory Council, and in full accord with the Voting Rights Act and United States and Pennsylvania Supreme Court precedent – and to show that there are multiple ways to draw a fair map that meets the redistricting principles.
“Instead, the HB 2146 map was the only map considered by the General Assembly despite all the time they had to introduce maps for public comment and debate,” he wrote. “The public deserves a fair map completed in a bipartisan manner; the General Assembly failed to adopt one.”
Rep. Seth Grove, R-York, sponsor of HB 2146, blasted Wolf’s veto.
“We went from a redistricting process that was open to every Pennsylvanian, took into account feedback from countless residents and a Legislature-approved map drawn by a citizen to the Wolf way of having a few select members of the judiciary decide which map will be used,” Grove wrote Thursday in a statement.
“What can we surmise from Wolf’s veto message? He wanted a Democrat gerrymandered map drawn by Democrat politicians. The Republicans in the General Assembly showed tremendous leadership by using the most open and transparent congressional redistricting process in the history of the Commonwealth to select a citizen-drawn map for the first time in Pennsylvania history to end partisan gerrymandering,” he continued. “However, Wolf just wants a Democrat power grab to help the failing president. Wolf is just a typical politician who has failed Pennsylvania once again.”
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