The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) issued the following statement regarding today’s Los Angeles City Council vote opposing Proposition 11:

“Today, in a 10-3 vote, the Los Angeles City Council approved a resolution opposing Proposition 11, the flawed redistricting measure that will appear on California’s November ballot.  We applaud the City Council for its leadership in recognizing that the proposition would impede genuine redistricting reform, and jeopardize opportunities for all California voters to be fairly represented in the state’s democracy.   We are pleased that California’s most diverse city recognizes the importance of ensuring that the voices of all Californians are heard during the redistricting process.  NALEO commends the efforts of Los Angeles City Councilmember Richard Alarcón and his colleagues for bringing the resolution to the floor of the City Council. 

“NALEO opposes Proposition 11 because it would take the important job of drawing state election lines and place it in the hands of a commission which is not accountable to the public.  The measure’s process for appointing commissioner members fails to ensure that the commissioners would have the expertise needed to do their jobs effectively.  Proposition 11 also fails to ensure that its redistricting commission will reflect California’s geographic and ethnic diversity. 

“Additionally, Proposition 11 creates a ‘two-track’ redistricting process where the state legislature would establish the boundaries for Congressional districts, while the new redistricting commission would establish them for California legislative and Board of Equalization districts.  This could result in multiple sets of hearings which create additional barriers for members of the public to participate in the redistricting process.  Thus, Proposition 11’s ‘two-track’ approach would undermine the goal of achieving open and accountable redistricting, one of the main purposes of redistricting reform.

“Finally, Proposition 11 would place new problematic redistricting criteria in California’s Constitution.  These criteria could impair compliance with the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which protects Latinos and other under-represented groups from discrimination in the electoral process.  For example, the criteria include an inflexible and confusing requirement that state senate districts be created by 'nesting' adjacent assembly districts.  Past California redistrictings and current research by UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies demonstrate that this requirement is a significant obstacle to achieving full minority representation in the state.

“California’s diverse communities have worked hard to achieve fair representation in the state’s democracy, and Proposition 11 could turn the clock back on the progress we have made.  As a long-time advocate for the Latino community, NALEO has a deep commitment to open and accountable redistricting, and we recognize that we need to make changes in our current redistricting process.  However, Proposition 11 would actually undermine these important goals, and it is the wrong answer for real redistricting reform in California.  For these reasons, we urge all Californians to vote ‘No’ on Proposition 11.”