{"id":42596,"date":"2025-11-07T15:17:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T15:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/42596\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T15:17:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T15:17:12","slug":"could-californias-prop-50-be-scaled-back-theres-already-an-effort-to-ask-voters-to-limit-the-new-maps-to-2026-the-mercury-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/42596\/","title":{"rendered":"Could California\u2019s Prop. 50 be scaled back? There\u2019s already an effort to ask voters to limit the new maps to 2026 \u2013 The Mercury News"},"content":{"rendered":"

The dust hasn\u2019t even settled on Proposition 50<\/a>, but another proposed initiative for voters to decide is already in the works.<\/p>\n

Orange County attorney James V. Lacy filed a proposal with the California attorney general\u2019s office this week for an initiative that would scale back the mid-cycle congressional redistricting plan approved by voters this week.<\/p>\n

RELATED:\u00a0California Republicans sue to block Proposition 50 after voters approved the redistricting measure<\/a><\/p>\n

Proposition 50 makes changes to California\u2019s congressional maps<\/a> for the 2026, 2028 and 2030 elections. The goal is to give California Democrats an advantage in five more House races for the upcoming midterms, and the subsequent two elections, to offset similar gerrymandering by Republicans in other states.<\/p>\n

Lacy\u2019s proposal would ask voters<\/a> if they\u2019d like to restrict the new congressional maps only to the 2026 elections. The congressional districts already established by California\u2019s independent commission would be used in the 2028 and 2030 elections, the proposal states.<\/p>\n

Calling it \u201ca pretty simple proposition,\u201d Lacy said the idea is to restore the congressional lines already drawn by the independent commission in time for the 2028 election and reinforce that future maps will also be drawn by the commission rather than the state legislature.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince Proposition 50 restores the commission in 2032, why should we wait? We can accept that voters made the change for 2026, but why wait for 2032?\u201d said Lacy, who voted no on Proposition 50 but was not involved in any of the campaigns that attempted to defeat it.<\/p>\n

The Dana Point resident also said there is some concern, too, that the state legislature could \u201cturn around and take away the temporary nature of Proposition 50\u201d and again draw future congressional maps.<\/p>\n

Representatives for the Assembly speaker and Senate president pro tem did not immediately respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n

The attorney general\u2019s office \u2014 which is responsible for preparing a title and summary for proposed initiative measures \u2014 is accepting comments on the initiative through Dec. 5.<\/p>\n

Once the attorney general\u2019s office gives the OK, those behind the proposed initiative can begin collecting signatures to qualify it for the ballot. Lacy said they will need to collect more than 800,000 signatures and hope to get it on the November 2026 ballot.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, California Republicans filed a lawsuit earlier this week<\/a> to stop the new maps from taking effect. They alleged that Proposition 50 unconstitutionally gerrymandered congressional districts and are asking a judge to stop the maps\u2019 implementation while the case plays out in court.<\/p>\n

As of Thursday afternoon, more than 8 million votes had been counted, per the California secretary of state\u2019s office, with nearly 64% of them (nearly 5.23 million) in favor of Proposition 50 and about 36% (or almost 3 million) in opposition.<\/p>\n

Lacy was recently heavily involved in another election-related ballot measure: Measure DD<\/a> in Santa Ana last year, which would have granted noncitizens the right to vote in local elections if it had passed. Lacy successfully sued earlier in the campaign to\u00a0<\/a>have the ballot language rewritten<\/a>, arguing that it was misleading to voters.<\/p>\n

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