Wisconsin Assembly approves bill allowing cities, counties to delay drawing new districts

MADISON - The Assembly signed off on a bill Wednesday that would allow city councils and county boards to delay drawing new district lines until after the spring 2022 election.

The issue has sparked the latest fight in the long-running battle over redistricting, the contentious process of drawing new districts for Congress, the Legislature and local offices. 

New lines must be drawn every 10 years to account for population changes. Many city and county officials say it's impossible to do the job on time this year because the U.S. Census Bureau is so far behind in producing data they need to draw their districts.

Assembly Bill 369 would let them conduct the spring 2022 elections using their current districts. New maps would be in effect for local races starting in the spring of 2023.

The bill would not affect how redistricting is done for the Legislature or Congress, where the political stakes are much higher. Depending on how the lines are drawn, the maps can give one side an advantage in elections for a decade.

State law requires cities and counties to draw initial maps for their districts by July 1, but that's impossible this year. The census data was supposed to be made available by March but now is not expected until August or September.

Democrats are skeptical of the measure, saying they fear Republicans who control the Legislature could use it to try to set a precedent that would let them delay redistricting for the Legislature until after the 2022 elections.

Opponents also don't like the bill because it would keep in place a measure approved 10 years ago that allows lawmakers to alter ward lines after local officials have approved their city council and county board lines. 

"It's an unnecessary bill, and it's probably unconstitutional," Democratic Leader Gordon Hintz of Oshkosh said before the session. "Given where this came from, the distrust that exists and the games we saw in 2011, I don't think anybody here thinks that's a good idea."

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos of Rochester disputed that claim, saying Republicans were trying to fix a problem for local officials that was caused by delays from the U.S. Census Bureau. 

"I didn’t choose the timeline," Vos told reporters. "I wish the districts were already in the process, right? I wish we already had the numbers from the census data."

The Assembly sent the bill to the Republican-controlled Senate on a 59-38, party-line vote. It has a clear path through the Senate but could face a veto from Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.

Critics say if it is approved the state will likely face a lawsuit because the districts no longer have equal populations, which violates the "one person, one vote" principle.

Supporters of the legislation say they have no choice because of the census delays. They also say they face a likely lawsuit if they don't act because local governments will miss their July 1 deadline to draw their initial maps. 

"If we do nothing, we know they will definitely be breaking the law," Vos said. "If we do something, yeah, somebody could bring a challenge and we’d have to look at that but I guess I would rather try to be proactive to fix the problem as opposed to just throw up our hands and say, 'Well, I guess the courts will figure it out.'"

The bill is supported by the Wisconsin Counties Association, the League of Wisconsin Municipalities and the Wisconsin Towns Association. Some local officials, such as Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell, have opposed it. 

Hope Karnopp of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.

Contact Patrick Marley at patrick.marley@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @patrickdmarley.