Board of Supervisors sparks discussion on independent redistricting commission 

The power to redraw district lines could lie in the hands of San Luis Obispo County's constituents.

On Sept. 12, with 1st District Supervisor John Peschong and 5th District supervisor Debbie Arnold dissenting, the SLO County Board of Supervisors directed staff to return at a later date with a draft proposal for an independent redistricting commission. Staff will also plan a study session with the public to discuss that proposal.

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• File Map Courtesy Of SLO County
• UNDOING The SLO County Board of Supervisors adopted this new redistricting map through 2030, subsequently erasing the Patten map and directing staff to research the potential for creating an independent redistricting commission.

The board is still reeling from the 2022 adoption of the controversial Patten map by the board's then-conservative majority, allegations of gerrymandering to favor the Republican Party, and a lawsuit to block the Patten map's implementation.

"We need to take power away from this board to unbiased people," 4th District Supervisor Jimmy Paulding said at the meeting.

The decision comes hot on the heels of its April 18 adoption of a new redistricting map that mirrors one the county's used since 2011, effectively erasing the Patten map. During that April meeting, the now liberal majority asked county staff to research a framework to set up an independent redistricting commission in SLO County.

Staff returned with three options after reviewing similar commissions in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Fresno, and Kern counties set up through a ballot measure and/or special legislation.

Paulding, 2nd District Supervisor Bruce Gibson, and 3rd District Supervisor Dawn Ortiz-Legg contemplated having SLO County voters decide on establishing a commission by placing a measure on the 2024 election ballot.

If passed, interested commissioner candidates would need meet a slew of requirements. Supervisors wouldn't be able to directly appoint them.

Applicants can't have been a candidate for, elected, or appointed to an elective office in a local jurisdiction within the previous eight years. They can't have been an officer, employee, or paid consultant to a campaign committee, political party central committee, and/or a candidate of an elective office in a local jurisdiction. They can't have contributed $500 or more in a year to a candidate in a local jurisdiction, been registered to lobby in a local jurisdiction, and can't have endorsed, worked for, volunteered, or contributed to a local election candidate.

Yet, complaints of potential future gerrymandering in favor of Democrats permeated public comment. Atascadero resident Gary Kirkland claimed that "there's no such thing" as an independent commission, adding that "the party with the most activists and people determined to serve on these things" will take over. He said that former state Sen. Sam Blakeslee and Assemblymember Jordan Cunningham were elbowed out of political races because of gerrymandering.

Blakeslee, the moderate Republican who represented SLO and Northern Santa Barbara counties, didn't seek another term in 2012 after the California Supreme Court upheld Senate maps drawn the previous year by an independent redistricting commission. At the time, he told The Tribune that the new district "strongly favored" Democrats over Republicans in party registrations.

Republican Cunningham, who represented the old 35th District, found his constituency split between two new districts in 2022. It ultimately morphed into the 30th District that skews more Democrat than the 35th District.

The board has until August 2024 to formalize a decision on whether to place an independent redistricting commission proposal on voter ballots. Δ