Redistricting narrowed to 3 proposals

Three proposals to accommodate a new, fourth seat for Utah in the U.S. House were approved Tuesday by a special legislative redistricting committee.

The plans will be considered at statewide public hearings next week.

Lawmakers are trying to come up with a four-district map of the state that can be approved in a Dec. 1 special legislative session expected to be called by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. — in time for possible action by the lame-duck Congress.

On Nov. 27 and 28, committee members will travel to Provo, Price, St. George, Park City, Ogden and Salt Lake City, to collect public comment on the three proposals, including one approved in 2001 that has been criticized as unfair to Democrats. That plan was drawn up when Utah unsuccessfully went to court for a fourth seat.

Senate Republicans, however, have insisted that the 2001 proposal known as "Plan A" continue to be considered. The committee's other two proposals, "Plan I" and "Plan J," were put together behind closed doors during a break in Tuesday's meeting.

Those two proposals call for dividing Salt Lake County from east to west between a redrawn 2nd district and a new 4th district that would also include all of the state's westernmost counties except Box Elder.

Box Elder and other northern counties would make up a redrawn 1st District, and the rest of the state, including Utah County, would fall into a redrawn 3rd District under both plans. One of the plans would put Park City in the 2nd District while the other places it in the 3rd.

Details of all the plans considered by the committee are available on the Legislature's Web site, at le.utah.gov.

The committee rejected a proposal by the minority Democrats, "Plan G," that would have created two largely urban districts from most of Salt Lake and Utah counties and two largely rural districts from the rest of the state.

"This really is a snapshot of what the state is," said Senate Minority Whip Gene Davis, D-Salt Lake. But Republicans disagreed, arguing that the state is better served when all members of Congress represent rural constituents.

"We should get some balance in all four districts, get a mix of urban and rural," Rep. John Dougall, R-American Fork, said. And Rep. Ben Ferry, R-Corinne, warned that under the Democratic proposal, the rural representatives would be "outweighed" by their urban counterparts.