The General Assembly returned to Raleigh this week for a one-day session to reconsider the redistricting plans written earlier this year. A computing problem resulting from the splitting of hundreds of voting precincts into two and sometimes three districts left as many as 480,000 voters unassigned to districts for the state House of Representatives, the state Senate and Congress. Plans for Wake County judicial districts and Greene County were also affected.
While the legislators in charge of redistricting attempted to characterize the omission of these voters as a minor technical glitch, I joined with many of colleagues to oppose their work. The state Constitution allows redistricting to occur only once every 10 years unless a court rules that the plan fails to meet legal standards. That has not happened in this case. In this case, the law includes a provision that spells out how districts left unassigned – for whatever reasons – are to be assigned. That law went into place once the majority approved the plan and it produced maps that did not look like the plan the majority submitted for approval to the Department of Justice. Instead, about 15 of the districts were disjointed. Others were out of balance for population.
The majority should have realized that their maps were unconstitutional, scrapped them and started over. They chose instead to ignore the law and go back this week to change a redistricting plan that had already received preliminary approval on some issues from the federal government. Their decision has worsened an already bad plan. I voted against their proposed changes. If you would like additional information about the redistricting plans approved by the General Assembly, visit www.ncleg.net and click on the “Redistricting” tab at the top of the page.
Session schedule
The new majority continues to lengthen the number of days they want legislators in Raleigh. Though many people in North Carolina expect a part-time legislature, the General Assembly has been called back to Raleigh three times already with at least three more meetings scheduled before the start of the 2012 session. The next session is now scheduled for Nov. 27. We are told that we will be in town for about three days. We are expected to consider a plan to fix the payment schedules for teachers after legislation approved this year prohibited them from receiving full paychecks in August. We are also eligible to consider disaster relief legislation; legislation concerning the state’s gaming compact with the Cherokee Tribe in western North Carolina, redistricting, veto override votes and other matters. Sessions have also been scheduled for February and April. Since adjourning regular session, legislators have been called into special sessions for a total of nearly three work weeks. Each day of session costs the state an estimated $50,000.
Veterans Day
Thank you to all of our nation’s veterans for their service to our country. Veterans Day is an important time for us to remember their sacrifices and those made by the families who support them. We have a great number of veterans in our state because of the presence of our large military bases. I hope to spend time with some of them this weekend. I hope you will also use this time to remember those young people stationed at Fort Bragg, Camp Lejeune, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base and other smaller bases in our state. These service members play a critical part in the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and deserve our sincere thanks.
Thank you for your interest in state government. In the meantime, please contact me if I can be of help.
Keep in touch,
Michael H. Wray
NC House District 27