Fresno is not moving forward with a plan to hand its city council redistricting efforts to the public.
A plan to form a citizens redistricting commission failed 3-4 during Thursday’s Fresno City Council meeting.
Driving the news: Fresno City Council President Nelson Esparza and Councilmembers Mike Karbassi and Tyler Maxwell proposed an independent citizens redistricting commission that would start after the 2030 census. They proposed a ballot measure that would have gone before the voters in November.
Currently, the City Council draws the lines for the districts. Under the proposed plan, the city would have had a citizen-led commission similar to the statewide redistricting commission that has drawn the congressional and legislative lines since 2010.
The proposal would have barred commission members from being city employees, registered lobbyists, family members of elected officials and elected officials themselves, over a certain period of time.
Commission members also would have been required to have voted in two of the three prior primary elections or have lived in the city for at least 10 years.
The commission would consist of seven members each nominated by the seven city councilmembers.
The big picture: Esparza, Karbassi and Maxwell were ultimately the only three councilmembers to support the proposal.
Councilmembers Miguel Arias, Annalisa Perea, Nick Richardson and Brandon Vang largely opposed the proposal for the commission not being independent enough, raising concerns about campaign staff or political consultants being allowed to serve on the commission.
They also wanted to see the commission have the final approval on the maps, instead of sending the maps back to the city council for approval.
What they’re saying: Following the vote, Karbassi lambasted his colleagues for voting it down.
“And just to be clear, we’re keeping the status quo,” Karbassi said. “That means whenever the council committee ad hoc wants to redistrict, they’ll do it behind closed doors. You don’t have access to those meetings. It’s legal. That’s what’s going to happen like it did last time, unfortunately. It’s up to the next council to change it.”