Kansas Senate panel to vote on congressional map

? A Kansas Senate committee is preparing to vote on a bill that would redraw the state’s U.S. House districts to reflect population changes over the past decade.

The bill on the Reapportionment Committee’s agenda Wednesday contains a plan from Chairman Tim Owens, an Overland Park Republican.

That plan moves the northeast Kansas community of Manhattan into the 1st Congressional District of western and central Kansas, something local officials oppose. It also puts all of Lawrence in the 2nd District of eastern Kansas, rather than splitting it between the 2nd and 3rd District, which is centered on the Kansas City area.

Owens is promising that committee members can propose alternatives.

The committee’s approval of the bill would send the redistricting plan to the Senate for debate.