The amended plan solved the original Plan G's problem of lumping the homes of 1st District Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, and 3rd District Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, together in a redrawn 1st District. Plan G. 1 moves Mapleton, where Cannon lives, back into the 3rd Congressional District, while Springville would be split between the 1st and 3rd districts. Bishop would represent a rural 1st District and the new member of Congress would represent the new 4th District.

Spanish Fork, Payson and the rest of southern Utah County would be part of the 1st District.

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. is planning to call a special session of the state Legislature on Dec. 1 to approve a map. A lame-duck Congress reconvenes on Dec. 4 and is considered the last hope before the 2010 Census for those who want to land a fourth congressional seat for Utah, presumed to go to a Republican, and a seat for the District of Columbia, almost surely to be a Democrat.

Plan A was adopted in 2001 and is the default map. If no other map is adopted, Plan A would become Utah's proposal to Congress. The only problem is that all sides consider it unworkable. The likely winner is Plan J, or a variation of it, like Plan I.

Davis said Democrats never intended to put Mapleton, Cannon's hometown, in a district with Bishop. Under Plan G.1, Bishop would represent District 1, which would cover rural Utah from the state's three northernmost counties to all of southern and eastern Utah. In fact, the district would cover every corner of the state map.

The new member of congress would represent Weber, Davis, Tooele and western Salt Lake counties. Matheson would represent urban Salt Lake County and Cannon would represent northern Utah County and southeastern Salt Lake County, including Draper, Sandy, Midvale, and West Jordan.

Brigham Young University professor Brandon Plewe presented a map to the committee during the Provo hearing that would keep all of Utah County together. Plewe said he hastily drew the map, which keeps all of northern Utah together, creates an urban Salt Lake County district for Matheson and a 4th District that would cover most of western Utah, including a portion of western Salt Lake County.

To make all four districts equal in population, the map would split Davis County, giving North Salt Lake and the southern quarter of Bountiful to Matheson's 2nd District in order to keep the rest of northern Utah together.

Plewe is a professor of Geographic Information Systems and used a computer system to present redistricting plans for the Provo School District. He said redistricting is all about trade-offs, and that any plan will include splitting some counties and cities.