The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday evening voted in favor of a motion that brings the county one step closer to potentially having an independent redistricting commission.
In a 4-1 vote at Tuesday's "study session" reviewing independent redistricting commission options, the board of supervisors approved a motion that directs staff to look at specifics of a state-appointed independent redistricting commission — such as who could serve on it and how exactly it would function, among other things.
A county spokesperson said staff will return with an updated plan in about a month. From there, the county could decide how they want to move forward.
Supervisors John Peschong (District 1), Bruce Gibson (District 2), Dawn Ortiz-Legg (District 3) and Jimmy Paulding (District 4) voted in favor. Supervisor Debbie Arnold of District 5 voted against.
The state-appointed redistricting commission would control where and how the county's districts are formed, ostensibly drawing district boundaries that are not manipulated to benefit a particular candidate or political party when elections roll around.
"... You can set up a process that people believe in, that voters support and that will ensure a process that has integrity to it," Atascadero Mayor Pro Tem Susan Funk said at the meeting Tuesday in favor of an independent redistricting commission. "That's what voters are asking of us — and we can do that." Funk is running for a county board of supervisor seat in District 5.
San Luis Obispo County has typically done its redistricting through the board of supervisors and its staff. This led to controversy, however, during the last redistricting cycle in 2021 over the fairness of certain district boundaries. It resulted in a map that's known as the "Patten map."
The county supervisorial districts were redrawn in a manner that opponents claimed favored Republican representation in violation of the Fair and Inclusive Redistricting for Municipalities and Political Subdivisions (FAIR MAPS) Act. In essence, gerrymandering.
"Even though the county has considerably more Democrats than Republicans, the Patten map deliberately creates three districts with significantly more Republicans than Democrats," attorney Michael Normoyle with San Luis Obispo County Citizens for Good Government said at the time. "The supervisors packed the remaining Democrats into two weirdly shaped districts."
A 2021 report from the California Secretary of State tracking party registration showed 69,270 voters in San Luis Obispo County, or 37.64%, were registered Democrats, while 63,894, or 34.72%, were registered Republicans.
Supervisors John Peschong, Debbie Arnold and Lynn Compton approved the map then. Dawn Ortiz-Legg and Bruce Gibson voted against it.
The map was later scrapped as part of a settlement with several groups that filed a lawsuit challenging its validity. The county paid $300,000 in legal fees as part of the settlement.
