Senate redistricting plan passes House

State remapping puts Kansas governor in 'tough situation'

? The House gave first-round approval Monday to a bill that redraws the state’s 40 Senate districts and puts Gov. Bill Graves in a serious political bind.

There was no debate on the bill, which advanced on a voice vote. Final House action was set for Tuesday, and leaders expect the measure to go to Graves.

A coalition of the Senate’s 10 Democrats and 11 conservative Republicans drafted the redistricting plan and pushed it through their chamber over the objections of Senate President Dave Kerr, R-Hutchinson.

The governor said last week he had reservations about the proposal but had not decided whether he would veto it. He was in Washington Monday, attending the winter meeting of the National Governors Assn. But last week he told The Topeka Capital-Journal that he will probably need all 10 Democratic votes in the Senate for tax increases that he has said are necessary to avoid deep cuts in education and social services.

“So, I find myself in a kind of a tough situation,” Graves told the newspaper. “I’m going to sort of tread lightly here for a few days and see what develops.”

House members advanced the bill without debate in keeping with a tradition that each chamber approves the other’s redistricting map unchanged.

Senate coalition members said their proposal was fairer to Democrats and rural legislators than a map endorsed by the Senate Reapportionment Committee. Critics suggested the coalition plan helps conservative Republicans, particularly in Johnson County.

All 21 of the senators who voted for the map signed a letter to Graves last week urging him to sign it into law.

“We gave our word to them, just as they gave their word to us,” Lee said. “And if either group was to break that word, we simply would not be able to operate in the Senate again.”