Reapportionment measure moves from Senate to Assembly

Senators approved SCR1, a study resolution, and sent it to the Assembly for final action.

At this point, the process is going smoothly. But the study is the easy part, and it'll be different when the actual district realignments start in 2001.

Districts will be revised after lawmakers get the results of the 2000 federal census that is expected to show big population gains in southern Nevada.

In 1991, the year of the last Nevada reapportionment, there were lots of closed-door caucuses, open bickering and claims of gerrymandering to protect incumbents, And the final vote to realign districts was straight party-line.

Still, legislators are hopeful that in 2001 new computer software will simplify and speed up the job of redrawing district lines to, for example, take one neighborhood or street from one district and plug it into another.

One inevitable aspect will be the continued shrinking of Nevada lawmakers representing rural areas of the state, already down to just two of 21 senators and four of 42 Assembly members.

The booming Las Vegas area will be in line for more representation because projections show it'll have nearly 70 percent of Nevada's population by 2000. Now, it's about 62 percent.

The percentage change translates into a need to increase southern Nevadans' representation in the Legislature by several seats.

That means rural and even Reno-Carson area representation in northern Nevada shrinks if the current seat count is maintained. The alternative is to increase the size of the Legislature. The Nevada Constitution allows for up to 75 lawmakers - a dozen more than the current total of 63.

It's a certainty that Nevada, with an expected population of just over 2 million by next year, will qualify for a third congressional seat. The existing seats include one that takes in most of Las Vegas, and a sprawling second House district that includes all the rest of the state.

archive