4th seat in House? Clock is ticking

WASHINGTON — Congress won't act on Utah's proposed fourth seat in the U.S. House of Representatives until after the November election — and after a special session of the Utah Legislature to approve the new fourth district.

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. released maps earlier this month of what a four-district Utah might look like, but U.S. House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wisc., wants more than that before voting on the bill.

"Chairman Sensenbrenner is waiting for a final Utah redistricting plan before he intends to have the committee mark up this legislation," said the chairman's spokesman, Jeff Lungren. "He has conveyed this position to Utah members of Congress and Governor Huntsman."

The committee needs to vote on the bill before it would go to the full House for a vote. The bill could have been taken up at the committee's markups, usually held on Wednesdays, but today's schedule, finalized on Tuesday, did not include the bill, according to the committee press office.

Congress is set to adjourn by the end of the week so members can go home before the November election. The bill could be taken up when they return for the "lame-duck" session and quickly be approved by the House and Senate for it to become law. If not, the bill, like all legislation, would need to be reintroduced at the start of the next Congress.

Huntsman's spokesman, Mike Mower, said the bill is "still very much alive" and that the governor is open to calling a special session to act on the fourth district map when appropriate.

But neither Utah Senate President John Valentine nor House Speaker Greg Curtis see an immediate special session to deal with a possible four-seat congressional plan.

"We can't have a special session in the next two days, before Congress adjourns" for the elections, said Curtis, R-Sandy.

He believes no new four-seat plan can be adopted "without going through a public hearing process." And it is unclear if even that can be done in November, after the congressional and legislative elections, but while Congress comes back for the anticipated lame-duck session.

Valentine, R-Orem, points out that in 2001 the Utah Legislature did adopt a fourth-seat plan. But since Utah lost its U.S. Supreme Court appeal on getting a fourth seat, that plan never took effect.

"That is the official four-seat plan," noted Valentine.

However, that was based on 2000 Census numbers. And after five years of population growth, "We know those numbers are now not accurate," he said.

The four-seat plan put forward last week by the governor, Valentine and Curtis is based on updated population growth throughout Utah. And so, said Valentine, it is a more accurate and more appropriate plan.