ATLANTA – The Republican-controlled Georgia House of Representatives gave final passage Friday to new district boundaries for the state Public Service Commission (PSC) over objections from Democrats that the map discriminates against minority voters.
The bill, which originated in the Georgia Senate, cleared the House 97-68 along party lines and now goes to GOP Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk for his signature.
The new map makes significant changes to the five PSC districts, moving 44 of the state’s 159 counties into a different district than the current map.
The changes were necessary to bring the population deviation between the districts to plus-or-minus 1%, said Rep. Bonnie Rich, R-Suwanee, chairman of the House Legislative & Congressional Reapportionment Committee.
House Democrats argued the bill perpetuates the current system requiring commissioners to run statewide even though they must live inside their districts.
A federal lawsuit currently pending claims electing commissioners statewide violates the federal Voting Rights Act because it dilutes minority voting strength.
“It makes no sense for us … to perpetuate statewide election of members of the PSC,” said Rep. Sam Park, D-Lawrenceville. “It could be seen as thumbing our noses at the court.”
House Minority Leader James Beverly, D-Macon, said the new map is politically motivated, a bid by majority Republicans to avoid creating a majority-minority PSC district centered around Gwinnett County, which has seen huge growth in its minority population since the current map was drawn a decade ago. The new map moves Gwinnett into a district dominated by heavily white communities in Northeast Georgia
“Intentional racial discrimination is wrong,” Beverly said.
But Rep. Houston Gaines, R-Athens, said it’s too late to change the method of electing PSC members when the candidate qualifying period is set for next week. Such a change from the current system of statewide elections would require a constitutional amendment, he said.
Qualifying for congressional, statewide and legislative offices begins on Monday and runs through noon next Friday.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.