As you may have seen in the news, the General Assembly will take up state legislative redistricting when the 2012 session convenes on January 11. Earlier this year, we completed congressional redistricting pursuant to 2010 census data, and the next part of the process is redrawing state legislative lines—those boundaries that delineate the 47 state Senate and House of Delegates districts.

The Process
On the evening of Friday, December 16, the the Governor’s Redistricting Advisory Committee (GRAC) released its proposed 2012 legislative redistricting map. This is only a suggested map, and Governor O'Malley may opt to submit a different map. In all likelihood, the governor’s map, which he must submit to the General Assembly on January 11, will be substantially similar to the GRAC map. If the legislature takes no action within 45 days, the governor's map becomes law. 

Changes to District 19 and Other Highlights
The proposed map makes only very small changes to District 19. The most notable changes would be transferring an Olney precinct into District 14, which represents the majority of that community already, and gaining several precincts from District 39 in the Washington Grove area.

Minority representation has been a hot-button issue in the redistricting process this year. The GRAC map proposes increasing the number of maturity-African-American districts from ten to twelve and creates two sub-districts with significant Hispanic populations, one in District 47 (Prince George’s County) and another in District 18 (Montgomery County). Sub-district 18B would be comprised along the Aspen Hill boundary of District 19 and District 18, and reduce the number of Hispanic residents in District 19.

The GRAC redistricting commission considered a myriad of issues relating to minority representation. In addition to the GRAC map increasing the number of majority-African American districts from ten to twelve, the map creates Maryland’s first majority-Hispanic sub-district (the new district “District 47B” – Prince George’s County), and GRAC has submitted for public comment the possibility of creating a second majority-Hispanic sub-district along the boundary between the 19th and 18th legislative districts (the proposed “District 18B” – Montgomery County). Comprised of portions of both the 19th and 18th legislative districts, the District 18B proposal would significantly reduce the number of Hispanic residents in the 19th Legislative District.