Panel endorses Kansas House proposal

? A Kansas House committee is signing off on a proposal to redraw the chamber’s 125 districts to reflect changes in the 2010 census.

The reapportionment committee took less than 10 minutes on Monday to approve the map, endorsing it on a bipartisan, voice vote.

There were no amendments offered to the plan, which would collapse three current House districts and create three new ones in the Kansas City metropolitan area.

One district each would be lost in southeast, southwest and central Kansas, reflecting the population gains over the past decade in Johnson and Wyandotte counties.

House Speaker Mike O’Neal, chairman of the redistricting committee, said the decision was quicker than he anticipated, but that it is possible that the full House could debate the proposal yet this week.