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Gov. Gary Herbert on Wednesday called a special session of the Legislature beginning Oct. 3 to debate and adopt redrawn congressional, legislative and state school board districts.

The Legislature's Redistricting Committee is still working on its recommendations for those plans. It adopted a "base plan," which may still be tweaked a bit, last week for the state school board.

It plans to consider maps for the state House and Senate and U.S. House in meetings on Sept. 7, 12 and 22 — and said additional meetings may be needed.

Herbert issued a statement on Wednesday praising the Redistricting Committee "for including the public in a meaningful way and soliciting input in their statewide redistricting efforts."

It held 17 hearings statewide and allowed reporters to watch in its "war room" last week as a subcommittee made final tweaks to the state school board map.

However, its attorneys said later that their reading of state open meetings laws do not require allowing reporters in such meetings, so they may not be admitted in similar meetings where more politically sensitive congressional and legislative maps are finalized. Also, last week the senators on the committee met behind closed doors to try to work out a deal on the state Senate map.

Herbert said in his laudatory statement about the committee, "This is a challenging process, but good process leads to good outcomes."

Republicans and Democrats have sparred most often publicly about new maps for congressional districts — but Herbert vowed to ensure that final plans are fair.

GOP leaders say they prefer a "pizza slice" plan that would divide Salt Lake County into three or four slices and combine each with a rural area to ensure that each member of Congress is concerned about both rural and urban issues.

Democrats say that is designed to dilute their votes in their stronghold of Salt Lake County and ensure that all members of Congress are Republican. Many of them urge creating three mostly urban districts along the Wasatch Front, and another mostly rural district.

Herbert said, "When the final bill hits my desk, I will evaluate it for fairness and balance, for an outcome that validates both rural and urban, and that yields the best results for the entire state of Utah."