A state lawmaker says Nebraska should use a bipartisan commission when it redraws congressional, legislative and other districts once every decade.
Lincoln Sen. Bill Avery said Monday that his measure (LB1133) would ease the ill will and distrust that surfaced last year when lawmakers redrew districts to fit the state's shifting population.
The proposal is designed to place the decision in the hands of people who have no political stake in the new districts. Democrats
have complained that the boundaries approved last year favored
Republicans, who hold a majority in the officially nonpartisan
Legislature.
Avery says 21 other states already have commissions that draw
districts, advise the Legislature, or act as back-ups when lawmakers reach an impasse.
