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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-16-2022_Open Session_General Comments_Losano, Alesandra, et al_San Bernardino City IRC Letter of Support for Nov 2022March 4, 2022 TO:San Bernardino City Council, San Bernardino City Clerk, San Bernardino Mayor John Valdivia, San Bernardino City Manager Robert D. Field, San Bernardino City Attorney Transmitted via Electronic Mail council@sbcity.org sbcityclerk@sbcity.org Mayor@SBCity.org Field_Ro@sbcity.org Attorney@SBCity.org City of San Bernardino 290 North D St. San Bernardino, CA 92401 Re: Support for Placing an Independent Redistricting Commission in the City of San Bernardino on the November 2022 Ballot. Dear San Bernardino City Public Servants, The undersigned organizations write to express our support for the creation of an independent redistricting commission (“IRC”) in the City of San Bernardino. We support the Charter Review Committee’s unanimous recommendation that the City transition to an IRC for the next redistricting cycle and urge the City Council of San Bernardino to create an IRC via ordinance, as described in Cal. Elec. Code Section 23001, or to place a measure creating an IRC on the November 2022 ballot. Using an IRC is one of the most concrete and effective steps a city can take to prioritize community voices and build public trust in local democracy.The best-functioning redistricting processes that we monitored during the 2021 redistricting cycle, out of 60+ local jurisdictions, conducted the process with independent commissions. These IRCs demonstrated consistent prioritization of community testimony over partisanship and produced maps generally regarded as fair, balanced, and representative of the constituents for those respective jurisdictions. IRCs are an effective tool for increasing overall public participation in the redistricting process.Because they are demonstrably independent from political affiliations or priorities, IRCs make constituents and community-based organizations (“CBOs”) more likely to engage in the process. A city council or advisory commission drawing district lines can have a chilling effect on public participation—constituents tend to assume that their city council will simply pick the lines that give them the greatest electoral advantage. This dampening effect on participation is alleviated by using an IRC because IRC members are qualified, impartial, and clearly not drawing district lines to protect incumbents or give advantage to candidates. Several local IRCs received hundreds of public comments in 2021; the local redistricting processes that generated the most public participation across the state were all run by independent commissions. Additionally, IRCs are an effective way to avoid partisan bias during the redistricting process.Our experience has been that different IRCs that use different approaches to the party affiliations of their commissioners all result in the same outcome -- fair, independent, and high-integrity map-drawing. There are three ways to address the partisan composition of an IRC: (1) 5/5/4 split between the largest political party in the county, the second largest political party in the county, and others/decline to state (the method used at the state level); (2) a partisan split roughly matching the voter registration of the county (the method used in SD and LA Counties); and (3) leaving partisanship out of IRC ordinance language completely (the method used in Escondido and Sacramento). Regardless of what method is used, an IRCs insulation from political interference helps ensure that district maps are drawn with communities and fair representation in mind, rather than one-sided gain for a particular political party. We strongly encourage the City of San Bernardino to join the Counties of Los Angeles, San Diego, and Santa Barbara, the Cities of San Diego, Long Beach, Sacramento, Oakland, and many others, as well as the State of California, in establishing an independent redistricting commission. This can be done by placing a measure adopting an IRC on the November 2022 ballot or by passing an ordinance adopting an IRC via City Council. We would like to offer ourselves as a readily available resource for best practices on establishing an IRC as the City moves through this process. The City can also access a wide variety of research and tools, as well as an independent redistricting commission ordinance generator, on localredistricting.org. Respectfully Submitted, Alesandra Lozano Program Manager, Voting Rights & Redistricting California Common Cause Sky Allen Program Director IE United Betsy Starbuck President The League of Women Voters of the San Bernardino Area Ana Gonzalez Interim Executive Director Center for Community Action & Environmental Justice Maribel Nunez Executive Director Inland Equity Partnership CJ Page Executive Director Community Health Action Network Luz Gallegos Executive Director TODEC Legal Center Anna Lisa Vargas Lead Community Organizer Communities for a New California Education Fund Vonya Quarles Executive Director Starting Over, Inc Pamela Grogan Chief Executive Officer Nehemiah Charitable Fund Susan Gomez Chief Executive Officer Inland Empire Community Collaborative Christian Shaughnessy Youth Community Organizer Sigma Beta Xi Youth and Family Services