Fresno supervisors unhappy at losing power to draw district maps

Lori Pesante has battle scars from the Great Redistricting Battles of 2021, during which she watched community organizations turn out in droves in efforts to get county boards of supervisors in the San Joaquin Valley to take into account changing demographics.

Despite threats of lawsuits and overwhelming public support in redistricting hearings for community-submitted maps, boards kept districts largely unchanged from the last 30 years.

“They experienced a slap in the face from the supervisors when they ultimately chose a map that had absolutely nothing to do with fair lines and everything to do with them preserving their power,” said Pesante, who led the redistricting efforts for the Bakersfield-based Dolores Huerta Foundation.

Pesante praised Gov. Newsom for stripping supervisors in Fresno, Kern and Riverside counties of their redistricting powers and handing them over to a 14-member citizens commission.

“These are the very people who were organized to support these bills because the next time we get a chance to do this won’t be till 2031. But when we do get that chance, we’re going to make it count.”

Assemblymember Joaquín Arámbula, D-Fresno, introduced legislation to replace the Fresno supervisors with a 14-member Citizens Redistricting Commission when supervisorial maps are drawn in 2031.

“The selection process is designed to produce a commission that is independent from the influence of the board and reasonably representative of the county’s diversity,” Arambula’s bill states.

Selection of commission members

The commission members will be proportional to the county’s political party preferences. Based on current voter registration, that would result in six Democrats, five Republicans, two with no party preference, and one from a third party.

At least one commission member must reside in each of the five supervisorial districts, be continuously registered for five years with the same political party, and not have been appointed, elected to or been a candidate for local, state or federal level representing the county for 10 years preceding the appointment. An immediate family member is also disqualified.

Members cannot be an employee or paid consultant for an elected representative nor be an officer, employee or appointed member of a political party central committee. A registered state or local lobbyist is also prohibited.

The county elections official will select 60 of the most qualified candidates, then create a subpool for each of the five supervisorial districts.

The county auditor-controller will then randomly draw one commissioner from each of the five subpools, then select three additional commissioners regardless of district.

The eight commissioners will then appoint six additional candidates to the commission.

Supervisors not happy

Fresno supervisors, who sent a letter to the state Assembly opposing Arámbula’s bill, adopted a new map that was similar to the ones used since 1990 with minor changes.

County spokeswoman Sonja Dosti said Arámbula’s bill “is not a systemic or statewide approach to redistricting, but a specific co-opting by the State Legislature of Fresno County’s local control.”

The supervisors, in a statement to the legislature, complained the bill will “usurp local control and discretion of the County of Fresno’s elected representatives, while other counties with similar demographics and population base would maintain local control and discretion over the redistricting process.”

Counties, they said, have the discretion to set up independent redistricting commissions. “Future elected representatives should be allowed to exercise their discretion to establish a redistricting process that meets the particular needs of the County and reflects local priorities and the values of all County residents,” they said.

Dosti said the county’s map adopted last December “has not been subjected to a legal challenge because it meets the requirements of the Voting Rights Act and state law.”

Pesante said lawsuits are expensive. Only residents in Riverside County have filed a lawsuit against a supervisorial map in the state.

“That’s a better question for the attorneys or the organizations,” said Pesante.

Dosti said an independent redistricting commission “with no accountability to the voters would take this important process out of the hands of the people.”

The change, said Dosti, requires the county to fund and staff the commission, “which may have significant financial implications.”

The bill analysis reports that the costs could be “minimally in the hundreds of thousands on a decennial basis.” The state would reimburse the county for those costs.

Pesante welcomes more independent redistricting commissions. “This is an imbalance that has needed to be corrected for a very long time,” she said.

The Latino population is significant in Fresno (54.7%), Kern (56.1%), and Riverside (51.6%), but each has only one Latino on its board of supervisors.

Tulare, Kings, Madera and Merced counties also have Latino majorities but only one Latino or Latina on its board of supervisors.

“I haven’t seen any evidence that the existing supervisors (in those counties) have any interest in giving up their ability to draw their own lines,” said Pesante. “So it will be up to the state lawmakers to deal with that.”

Fresno and Tulare each have three Latino-majority supervisorial districts, but critics of the current maps argue they are not drawn to maximize opportunities for electing Latinos.

Arámbula took to Twitter to respond to the governor’s signing.

“I’m grateful to (Gov.) Newsom for listening to community and signing my bill, AB 2030,” he wrote. “My gratitude also to the Dolores Huerta Foundation for sponsoring the bill and to all our supporters.”