This evening Senate Democrats voted to kill House Bill 11-1319, the Colorado Communities redistricting map, in the Senate State , Veterans and Military Affairs Committee. The bill’s presentation came hours after Senate Republicans forced Democrats to assign the bill to a committee after enacting a procedural move to have every bill read at length until Democrats conceded to hold a public hearing.“This is the second redistricting bill Senate Democrats killed in less than 24 hours, including one they authored,” said Senator Greg Brophy, R-Wray. “Despite the fact that we have a constitutional duty to redraw Colorado’s congressional districts, Democrats chose to punt and give this task to the courts.”
The Democrats’ decision to kill yet another redistricting proposal guarantees Colorado’s congressional districts will once again be drawn by unelected members of the court system.
“House Bill 11-1319 respected communities of interest, avoided unnecessary divisions in cities and honored the organic testimony heard at the statewide redistricting hearings,” said Brophy. “It’s clear the Democrats had no intention of passing a redistricting map and intended to give this to the courts the entire time. Their actions show a clear pattern of deception to the people of Colorado.”
Senator Brophy went on to point out several actions taken by Democrats that demonstrated their intention to give the redistricting process to the courts. Brophy referenced as evidence: House Bill 10-1408 which repealed congressional district criteria, the Democrat filibuster of their own redistricting proposal, their refusal of Republican offers to draw a bipartisan map in public, and tonight’s committee hearing.
“While Republicans were willing to concede to several of their points to draw this map, we were absolutely unwilling to compromise the Eastern Plains and communities of interest across the state to get their support. Unfortunately this means the redistricting process is now out of the hands of the General Assembly,” concluded Brophy.
House Bill 11-1319, the Colorado Communities map, died on a party-line vote. Democrat Senators Rollie Heath, Bob Bacon and Betty Boyd voted ‘no’ while Republican Senators Bill Cadman and Kevin Grantham voted ‘yes.’
