Wyoming’s redistricting goes to conference committee

On Monday, the House of Representatives did not concur with the Senate’s plan on redistricting. 

On March 7, the House voted 11-46-3 against the plan. Both chambers then appointed members to the Joint Conference Committee to begin the process of coming to a resolution. 

One issue the House has with the Senate’s plan revolves around the deviation. In the 1963 case of Gray v. Sanders, the United States Supreme Court announced the “one person, one vote” principle. Fundamentally, the one person, one vote principle is achieved when each legislative district has an equal population. For this redistricting process, the legislature is shooting for a deviation of that population at 5% or lower. The Senate’s plan goes above that deviation marginally but does leave a window open for a possible court challenge in the future. 

The plan approved by the House also increases the size of Wyoming’s Legislature with a 62/31 plan, adding one Senator and two Representatives, something the Senate worked to prevent with a 60/30 plan. 

The plans are radically different according to Sen. Dave Kinskey (R), who sits on the Joint Conference Committee and told Sheridan Media that committee has met two times already.

Should the committee agree on a plan, it will be sent to both chambers for approval. Barring any disagreements, the bill then goes to the desk of Governor Mark Gordon to be signed into a law. Should one of the chambers disagree with the plan, the bill will then go onto another appointed committee known as a free conference committee. A free conference committee can propose amendments to a bill in its entirety and is not confined to debating a particular amendment.