Illinois Valley Times

In stressing the need for lawmakers to be able to rely on dependable Census Bureau data, state Rep. Ryan Spain (R-Peoria) hinted he doesn't think Peoria can be Peoria without accurate representation. 

“I wanted to see if you could talk just quickly about the importance of the census and a lot of our local work, because addressing many of these challenges requires that we maximize our federal funding through the census,” Spain told a House Redistricting Committee during a recent hearing concentrated on the area. “It's kind of frustrating because we're waiting on delays but we've done a lot of work in Peoria in terms of our complete count activity.”

As the debate heats up over how best to make the once-in-a-decade task of map redistricting a fair process, Republican lawmakers are doing all they can to have a bigger voice in the process.

The task of redrawing district maps is typically left to the party in charge. But since complete data from the Census Bureau used to create the maps won't be available by the June 30 deadline, Republicans see a window of opportunity in the delay. 

A growing number of GOP lawmakers are pushing the People’s Independent Maps Act as a way of assuring a fairer process going forward. The measure would give the state Supreme Court the power to appoint 16 independent citizens to a redistricting commission within 30 days of passage. The members would be equally split politically.

Spain approves the legislation, at one point thanking Tri-County Urban League President Laraine Bryson after she told the committee, “the importance of the census is as people are counted and that population is counted ... that brings more resources to the community.”