California Independent Redistricting Commission Begins Work; New York Legislature Lags

INDEPENDENT REDISTRICTING

• Commission looks at new boundaries (By Brian Bullock, Santa Maria Times - CA) This week, California is beginning a process to draw up “non-partisan” district boundaries with the first public hearings held by the California Citizens Redistricting Commission. … The commission was formed after voters passed Proposition 11 in 2008 and Proposition 20 in 2010, which transferred authority of establishing district boundaries from elected representatives to an independent commission.
• Sampson Pushes Senate Republicans On Redistricting, Ethics (Posted by: Joseph Spector, Politics on the Hudson) Senate Minority Leader John Sampson, D-Brooklyn, called on Senate Republicans today to abide by their pledge for ethics reform and independent redistricting, saying they are going back on their commitment last year to the New York Uprising group.
• POLL: Cuomo is Budget Winner Say Voters, as His Ratings Go Higher; After Budget, Voters Feel Better About Legislature, Not its Leaders (SIENA RESEARCH INSTITUTE, Steven Greenberg) “Nearly three-quarters of voters view Cuomo favorably, including two-thirds of Republicans and independents, and his favorability rating is nearly identical in New York City, the downstate suburbs and in upstate,” Greenberg said. “His job performance rating is the same among Democrats and Republicans, 56-40 percent, while independents are nearly evenly divided at 49-47 percent. And by a nearly seven-to-one margin, voters say Cuomo was a winner as a result of the budget, including at least 59 percent of voters from every party and region.”