Topeka ? House members spent last week negotiating over lines on a map as they continued reshaping their 125 districts for the next 10 years.

Members of the House Redistricting Committee missed two self-imposed deadlines for submitting amendments to a Republican proposal drafted last year.

GOP legislators said they hope that progress in bipartisan negotiations will help avoid a floor fight when the bill is debated by the full House.

“We want to get a map that will pass with bipartisan support and will be seen as fair,” said committee Chairman Mike O’Neal, R-Hutchinson.

Democrats said any redistricting talks are a welcome change.

“When you weren’t talking, anything is an improvement,” said House Minority Leader Jim Garner, D-Coffeyville.

Negotiators weren’t quite ready to announce a new proposal last week but said they were close.

“Ninety-five percent of the Democrats are pleased and 100 percent of the Republicans,” said Rep. Doug Mays, R-Topeka, one of the negotiators. “We’ll do the best we can.”

The Republican-drawn map would consolidate 10 districts now represented by Democrats into five.

Republicans now have a 79-46 majority in the House. They also have a 30-10 majority in the Senate, which must also approve the House redistricting plan, but the two chambers traditionally leave each other’s maps alone.

The state must redraw its legislative, congressional and State Board of Education districts every 10 years to account for shifts in population, using federal census figures as a guide.

Johnson County and the Wichita area gained population in the 2000 census and will pick up more representation, while rural areas especially north-central and northwest Kansas will see declines.

Once a House map clears both chambers, the Kansas Supreme Court will have 30 days to decide if it passes constitutional muster. If not, the proposal would be sent back to the House and the process would start over again.