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Dear Friends and Neighbors,
I hope this message finds you all safe and well. I spent the day in Salem where the legislature voted to pass new congressional and state legislative maps that will be in place for the next 10 years.
This year’s redistricting process was unlike any other. As Chair and then Co-Chair of the House Redistricting Committee I have had a hand in nearly the entire process. The timeline to complete the process was shortened considerably due to Census data delays. All of the Redistricting Committee’s public hearings were held remotely, either by video or phone. Despite these challenges, Oregonians turned out in the thousands to share their testimony, and the committee work diligently to complete their work on this truncated deadline. I am grateful to all who took part in this critical process and made it a success.
In this newsletter, you will find more information on the new maps that were passed, as well as details on an upcoming virtual town hall I will be hosting next Tuesday, October 5.
Lastly, I want to say how appreciative I am of the feedback I heard from so many of you throughout this process. I always say that I have some of the smartest and most engaged constituents in the state, and the thoughtful emails and suggestions I received from you throughout this process proved that point, so thank you.
As always, please email me at Rep.AndreaSalinas@oregonlegislature.gov or call my office at 503-986-1438 if you have questions or need assistance with a government service.
Sincerely,
 Andrea Salinas, State Representative
Special Session on Redistricting Adjourns Successfully
On September 17th, the House and Senate Redistricting Committees released the final iteration of redistricting lines that were to be voted on in the Special Session. You can find those maps here.
Several days later, the Special Session on Redistricting convened on September 20th. The maps publicly released by the Committees were translated into two pieces of legislation: SB 881 and SB 882. SB 881 represents the new Congressional lines, and SB 882 represents the new state legislative lines for both the House and the Senate. These bills were introduced by the Senate Committee on Redistricting and successfully passed out of that committee.
Next, these bills moved to the floor of the Senate, where they successfully passed and were sent to the House for further consideration.
The House Special Committees on Congressional Redistricting and State Legislative Redistricting considered the bills next. SB 881 successfully passed out of the House Special Committee on Congressional Redistricting, and SB 882 successfully passed out of the House Special Committee on State Legislative Redistricting.
Shortly after these bills were passed out of committee, a member of the Legislature tested positive for COVID-19. Unfortunately, because some members are unvaccinated, we were forced to cancel floor sessions scheduled for September 21st and 22nd. To follow appropriate public safety guidelines, the Legislature instead reconvened on Saturday, September 25th.
On September 25th, the day SB 881 and SB 882 were scheduled for a vote on the House floor, my Republican colleagues did not come to floor, due to their inability to obstruct a vote on the maps and continued complaints about the Congressional maps. Quorum rules state that 3/5 of House members must be present on the floor to take up votes on legislation. So we were unable to vote on these bills on Saturday due to the Republican’s decision not to show-up for work.
This was not the first time we’ve seen this tactic from House Republicans. In the last three years, Republicans have walked out to deny quorum five times to prevent votes on a number of bills.
As Chair of the Redistricting Committee, I worked to encourage House Republicans to collaborate on a set of introductory draft maps once we received 2020 Census data. They declined. Their continued refusal to compromise and engage in honest collaboration throughout this process gave the Speaker few options to ensure the Legislature could complete its constitutional duty.
Jim Moore, professor of political science at Pacific University said the “Republicans did not take advantage of having an equal committee to present a more neutral map that the committee could consider. They went to the extreme so that Republicans would be overrepresented in the state legislature and congressional delegation, way beyond their numbers”.
Despite the partisan slowdown, the House Special Committee on Congressional Redistricting met again on September 25th to present the -3 amendment to SB 881. This amendment to SB 881 makes a few changes to the introduced Congressional map based on feedback we heard from around the state during public testimony.
This morning, the -3 amendment to SB 881 was successfully adopted in the House Special Committee on Congressional Redistricting and moved to the House floor for consideration. For a full list of changes, you can watch the Committee work session on the bill here.
This afternoon, SB 881 -3 (Congressional Map) and SB 882 (State Legislative Maps) successfully passed off the House floor. The legislative map already passed by the Senate last week so only the congressional map needed to be referred back to the Senate for a successful concurrence vote, which occurred today shortly after it was sent over by the House.
Above image: Speaking on the House floor today in support of SB 881A.
As Chair of the House Special Committee on Redistricting, I take my role as public servant seriously. My commitment is to Oregonians, and my job was to produce fair and representative maps that reflect Oregon’s population growth, align with statutory and constitutional criteria, and ensure public participation.
The maps drawn meet these requirements and the highest of legal standards. The maps are contiguous, of equal population, utilize existing geographic or political boundaries, are connected by transportation links, and do not divide communities of common interest in our state.
Despite the delayed Census data and the COVID-19 pandemic, I am proud of the inclusive and accessible process that was open to all Oregonians. Because we prioritized accessibility, we saw nearly 2,000 pieces of testimony submitted from across the state during 22 public hearings held this year.
Redistricting is an incredibly complex process where moving a single district line has ripple effects across the state. This was a tough job. The economic opportunities and natural beauty of our state have continued to make it a destination for so many. While we must adjust and adapt to the ways Oregon has changed in the last 10 years, the maps adopted are fair and representative of that change in ways that ensure the voices of communities across the state are heard.
I hope you will take a moment to learn how our state and congressional maps have changed as redistricting is one of the most fundamental processes of democracy and participation is critical to any democracy’s success.
Upcoming Virtual Town Hall: October 5 at 5:30pm
Next Tuesday, October 5, I will be holding a virtual town hall on Zoom from 5:30-6:30pm to discuss redistricting, the Special Session, and to answer your questions.
In order to attend, you must register in advance. You can find the link here. After signing up, you will receive the Zoom link in your email inbox.
To make the most of our time together, I ask that you please submit your questions in advance to Rep.AndreaSalinas@oregonlegislature.gov. I look forward to reading them.
This will be an interesting discussion, and I hope to see you there!
email: Rep.AndreaSalinas@oregonlegislature.gov I phone: 503-986-1438
address: 900 Court St NE, H-485, Salem, OR, 97301
website: http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/salinas
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