California’s Proposition 8, which banned gay marriages in the state, got most of the attention in the November election, but the state’s Proposition 11 sets an important example that other states, including Kansas, should consider following.

Proposition 11, which passed by a slim 50.8 majority, will establish a new redistricting system for California. After the 2010 Census, a 14-member, multi-partisan committee will draw new political boundaries for the state assembly, senate and board of equalization. State legislators still will draw the lines for congressional districts.

The makeup of the California redistricting commission will be amazingly democratic. Any voter who has voted in two of the three most recent general elections and who is registered in a political party or as a “decline-to-state” voter for the past five years can apply. A panel of auditors will trim the pool to 20 Democrats, 20 Republicans and 20 other voters based on their skills and impartiality. Three Republicans, three Democrats and two others will be chosen at random for the commission. They then will choose six other commissioners with attention to representing the state’s racial, geographic and gender groups.

The new California system may not be perfect but it suggests that there are better ways to draw legislative and congressional districts than the processes many states currently use. Legislatures still draw those lines in most states, which means the divisions are largely political. The lines traditionally are drawn to favor incumbents, especially incumbents in the majority party.

As illustrated by the Kansas redistricting process after the 2000 Census, the inherent advantage enjoyed by the majority party may not even be the worst aspect of the partisan system. A particularly bitter redistricting battle tied up business in the 2002 Kansas Legislature and created hard feelings that continued to haunt the 2003 session.

Unfortunately, 2003 legislation that attempted to set up an independent redistricting commission failed to get any traction and hasn’t been revived. The state’s financial situation will appropriately dominate the 2009 session, but this also will be the state’s last chance for redistricting reform before the 2010 Census.

In Kansas it would make sense for members of the Democratic Party to be more supportive of a new redistricting system because they have been the minority party for many years. However, in recent elections, the Republican margin has been slipping, with increased numbers of voters identified as Democratic or independent.

It’s far easier in California than it is in Kansas to take such an issue to the voters. That means that Kansas residents need to take the lead on redistricting and let their legislators know they are dissatisfied with the current partisan process and want to see a change.