The legislative redistricting bill is on its way to the Senate floor. The Senate Corporations committee approved the bill after removing a House Amendment that put the communities of Arvada and Clearmont into a Johnson County legislative district. While residents of the area requested the change, it put the district over deviation, or the population range that is required in each legislative district. Cheyenne Sen. Tara Nethercott said that’s unacceptable.
“We have added three legislators in order to accomplish some of these challenges. There should be absolutely no reason if we add two new House members to the state that anywhere should be without deviation,” said Nethercott. “So we will have to get that fixed.”
The committee spent some time trying to clean up some district lines in south Cheyenne, but proposals would force two current State Representatives to run against each other and so the committee withdrew their proposed changes. The bill now heads to the Senate floor for further debate.