State Redistricting Panel to Hold Hearing

A state panel that will recommend a plan for redrawing lines of congressional and state legislative districts in Maryland will hold a public hearing in Rockville next month, the Maryland Department of Planning announced Monday.

The hearing will be held at 7 p.m. on Aug. 10 in the auditorium of Building I at the .

The Governor's Redistricting Advisory Committee will use federal census data and public input to recommend a redistricting plan to Gov. Martin O'Malley (D).

O'Malley will consider the recommendations in drawing legislative districts for electing members to the state Senate and House of Delegates. He will introduce the plan as a joint resolution on Jan. 11, the first day of the 2012 Maryland General Assembly. The state constitution gives the legislature 45 days to approve the plan, pass an alternative plan or take no action and let the plan become law.

The panel also will recommend redistricting Maryland's eight congressional districts. Though there is no constitutional time requirement for approving a congressional redistricting plan, the legislature is likely to consider the congressional plan during a special legislative session in mid-October, so that plans can be in place in time for the 2012 election, according to the Department of Planning.

The panel is headed by Jeanne D. Hitchcock, who is O'Malley's appointments secretary and formerly served as Deputy Mayor of Baltimore under then-Mayor O'Malley.

Other members of the five-person panel are:

• Maryland Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Dist. 27) of Chesapeake Beach.
• House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Dist. 30) of Annapolis.
• James J. King, a restauranteur and former Republican delegate from Gambrills.
• Richard Stewart, President and Chief Executive Officer of Montgomery Mechanical Services Incorporated.

Click here for more information, including how to sign-up to testify at the public hearings.