South Dakota: committee proposes spliting house districts
AP reports: A subcommittee of the state Constitutional Revision Commission has decided tentatively that all legislative districts for House members be split in two.
The proposal, which will be reviewed by the full commission when it meets again next spring, would establish two House districts within each state Senate district.
Currently, each of the state's 35 legislative districts elects one senator and two at-large House members, except for a huge district in northwestern South Dakota. District 28 is split into two House districts.
Mary McClure Bibby, a former seven-term Republican legislator and head of the subcommittee studying the legislative boundary-making process, says split House districts would be especially beneficial in sparsely populated areas of the state that now require very large districts. Often candidates from the larger towns in rural districts have the political edge over those from rural areas, she says. -- AP Wire | 11/27/2005 | Split house districts may be proposed