Gov. Bobby Jindal inserted himself more deeply today into the fray over the redesign of the state’s congressional districts, threatening to veto any map that doesn’t maintain two north Louisiana-based seats. The House has passed a map that keeps the two northern districts as sought by Jindal, one anchored in Shreveport and the other containing Monroe and Alexandria. But the Senate has backed a map that runs an east to west district in the north, along Interstate 20 and containing Shreveport and Monroe. A second horizontal district would contain central Louisiana. “We will veto any bill that doesn’t have two vertical north Louisiana districts,” Jindal spokesman Kyle Plotkin says in an e-mail when questioned about the divide between the two chambers.
Senators rejected a Jindal-backed proposal that was similar to the House-approved map. Today, the House redistricting committee refused to advance the Senate-approved map to the full House for debate, leaving the chambers at a stalemate. The House and Governmental Affairs Committee vote was 10-9 against approval. Lawmakers were working on a tight timeline if they wanted to find a compromise before the redistricting special session must end next week. If lawmakers can’t come to terms, they can revisit the issue in the regular legislative session.
