The Utah Supreme Court ruled Friday that the $1 million price tag required to establish an independent redistricting commission still sticks.
That cost, calculated by legislative fiscal analysts at the request of the Governor's Office of Planning and Budget, was based on the premise that lawmakers would run their own parallel process.
The state Constitution assigns that task to the Legislature, but some charge that it gives elected officials the chance to choose their voters instead of the other way around.
At issue is a ballot initiative effort, sponsored by the grass-roots Fair Boundaries Coalition, to establish an advisory panel to reshape Utah's 29 Senate and 75 House districts -- and the state's congressional slots -- after the 2010 Census.
"We reject the petitioners' arguments," wrote the high court. "We do not read the plain language of the initiative to prohibit the Legislature from undertaking separate research and analysis of redistricting issues at any time."
To do so would require a constitutional amendment, which cannot be achieved through a ballot initiative. So the proponents stopped short of taking the final decision out of the Legislature's hands, relegating the 11-member panel to an advisory role.
Two similar measures that stalled in the 2009 legislative session had been assigned costs of $254,000. The coalition's attorney, Lisa Watts Baskin, had argued that the $1 million estimate unreasonably anticipated a duplicative effort.
While the state's high court had the authority to conduct its own cost analysis, the opinion stated that it lacked the time and resources to do so.
Initiative proponents now must get to the task of amassing nearly 95,000 signatures from registered voters around the state by April 15 to get on the 2010 ballot.
Despite the judicial setback, they remained upbeat.
"The case was useful," said coalition board member Nikki Norton, "because it established that the top-end expense would be about $1 million if the Legislature ignores the will of the people and decides to duplicate the process."
House Speaker Dave Clark, R-Santa Clara, opposes the initiative, arguing that lawmakers are well-equipped to handle the task.
"I'm not opposed to the help when it comes to redistricting," Clark said, "but this particular model they've set up has terrible language that will open the door for legal challenges."
Establishes an 11-member commission to redraw the boundaries of state legislative and congressional districts. State lawmakers would retain final say.
Allows no more than four members from the same political party, with three unaffiliated.
Pledges to keep communities intact.
Excludes people with obvious conflicts of interest.
Opens the process to citizen applicants.
Source: www.fairboundaries.org
