By Jan Murphy | Pennlive
A last-minute insertion of a judicial election reform plan didn’t hurt the chances of the Senate approving a bill that also proposes a constitutional amendment to reform the way legislative and congressional maps are drawn in Pennsylvania.
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.
By Mark Scolforo/Associated Press
(Harrisburg) — Republicans in Pennsylvania’s Senate are seeking to use political momentum behind nonpartisan redistricting to drastically alter how state appeals judges are elected, drawing howls of protest from Democrats.
Op-ed by State Senator Lisa Boscola
Since my first experience with map drawing back in 2001, it was apparent that partisanship plays too large a role in our redistricting effort. The recent decision by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court discarding the congressional maps merely serves to reaffirm this position.
The General Assembly has long had the tools to fix the issue once and for all by taking the politics out of map drawing. It is why I am a proud prime sponsor of SB 22. This legislation provides for the creation of an independent commission to draw our lines every 10 years. This has never been a partisan issue for me, but a practical one.