House update: Nelson County now its own state house district

By REP. DAVID FLOYD
50th District State Representative

REP. DAVID FLOYD

Sunday, Aug. 26, 2013, 8:30 p.m. — Following each census, it’s the responsibility of your General Assembly to redraw state legislative and congressional districts. The principle behind the effort is to ensure “proportional representation.” In a representative democracy, every person is entitled to an equal voice in legislative bodies; therefore, in a legislative body with 100 people, every citizen of the state has a right to a vote that represents 1/100th of the population.

In the 2012 session, we set about the job of redistricting and were successful with congressional districts. But in drawing the lines for the state legislative districts, the majority party in each chamber was, shall we say, a little too exuberant. The lines drawn were political, of course, but excessively so; the standard required of our constitution was not met. There was a court challenge, the lines were thrown out, and we were back to the drawing board. In the meantime, the old district lines from the census in 2000 were still in effect.

This calmed the waters for a while, and Kentucky waited for the General Assembly to draw new lines that would pass constitutional muster. But while we waited, there was no “proportional representation.” In the 50th House District, for example, the current population is about 50,000 while in other House districts, the population is under 30,000. Not good.

And so, another court challenge came from Northern Kentucky, this time in Federal court, rightly claiming that the existing districts were out of compliance with the Constitution. The court agreed, and is prepared to do our jobs for us – to draw the new lines. In my opinion, the job of drawing legislative districts is inherently political, and should be done by legislative bodies. The fact that the majority party draws the lines is just the way it is, so long as the work conforms to the Constitution.

So, Gov. Beshear called this Extraordinary Session, and the job was done.

Your 50th District (which for the last 10 years has included all of Nelson, one precinct in Spencer and three in Bullitt County) had to be downsized. Since there are 100 (House) legislative districts in Kentucky, each would ideally have 43,394 people. In redrawing we are permitted a 5% range; therefore, the new district can have between 41,124 and 45,564. Nelson County is 0.1 percent over the target population, the smallest deviation of any new legislative district.

On my desk in Frankfort is a history of how each legislative district has been drawn. Over the decades Nelson County has shared a district with Anderson, Washington, Bullitt, Spencer, Marion, Larue, Hardin, and even Mercer County. For the first time, Nelson County will be its own legislative district.

Despite the political nature of redistricting the prospect is very good in 2014 that the party leading the House of Representatives will change. The simple truth is that all the issues that have stalled, all the bills that have failed to even get a vote on the House floor will never advance if the majority in the Kentucky House remains the same. I plan to seek another term serving the people of Nelson County and hope to continue to represent our shared values when the General Assembly convenes in 2015.

The best part of my job is hearing from you. Call me at home, or leave a message for me at 1-800-372-7181. I’m here to help.

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