The latest reapportionment plan for the area has Duxbury and Moretown together in a two-representative district with Fayston, Warren and Waitsfield.
Last week the House Government Operations Committee approved a redistricting bill that adds the two towns to the existing three-town district.
On Wednesday, February 1, the House approved the committee’s bill by a vote of 138 to 4.
That plan has to go to the Senate before it is final. If approved it will replace the existing single-member district of Warren, Waitsfield and Fayston; it will also dissolve the existing two-member district of Moretown, Northfield and Roxbury.
Redistricting happens every 10 years in response to the federal census. The 2010 federal census data suggest that every 4,172 Vermonters be represented by one state legislator and the population of the three Valley towns together is approximately 4,770 or some 14.4 percent over the target number. That would mean that Valley voters are under-represented in the State House.
The House, in adopting the bill, concurred that the ideal single-seat district is made up of 4,172 residents and a two-member district should have 8,344 residents.
The bill as adopted by the House allows an overall deviation of 18.99 percent from those numbers. Deviations of 20 percent have been upheld in recent court cases.
Early proposals had split Fayston at Route 17 with all those north of that road being put in a district with Moretown and Duxbury. Fayston residents south of Route 17 would have remained in a one-member district with Warren and Waitsfield. After that plan was announced, Duxbury residents expressed a desire to stay with Waterbury during early hearings on reapportionment and Moretown agreed that it made sense to be in a district with Duxbury and the north half of Fayston.
Under the latest proposal that puts Moretown with The Valley towns, Northfield joins Berlin in a two-seat district and Roxbury joins Granville, Brookfield, Randolph and Braintree in a one-member district.
When the state reapportionment board began working on the issue of redistricting last summer, after a party-line and very close vote, members voted to try to create all one-member districts throughout the state, arguing that one-member districts were easier for representatives to seek re-election in.
Many towns protested against being split in half to accommodate this goal and the House Government Operations Committee plan created multiple two-member districts.
The House bill will be sent to the Senate and then local boards of Civil Authority will review the plans. The final bill is expected to be passed by the end of the legislative session.
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