2022-01-04 City Council - Full Agenda-1114

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Staff Report to the Mayor and City Council Public Hearing - Redistricting January 4, 2022 Page 2 called redistricting, ensures all districts have substantially equal population. The redistricting process for the City of Colton must be completed by April 17, 2022. The first of four scheduled public hearings was held on November 16, 2021, and provided an overview of the redistricting process. This is the second public hearing in the redistricting process. In November 2018, the voters in the City adopted Measure R, which reduced the number of districts from 6 to 4, beginning with the 2022 election. A map identifying the district boundaries was included with the text of the Measure, however the Measure did provide that the districts may be adjusted from time to time as required by law and with each subsequent decennial census. At this time, the districts must now be reviewed using the 2020 census data and in compliance with the FAIR MAPS Act, which was adopted by the California legislature as AB 849 and took effect January 1, 2020. The map approved by the electorate as part of Measure R was used as a starting point to review and redraw the City’s four districts using the 2020 census data to achieve population balance, the key requirement under both the FAIR MAPS Act and the Federal Voting Rights Act. As noted at the first public hearing, currently, the four district map approved with Measure R exhibits an 11.95% deviation between the least populated and greatest populated districts when 2020 Census data is incorporated into it. The data indicates that the chief cause of this deviation is District 4, where there is an 8.01% excess in total population over equal. District 2 is the district that goes most in the other direction – a 3.94% deficit in total population under equal. “Substantially equal in population” is defined by the U.S. Supreme Court as being within a 10% or less deviation. As such, the four district map approved with Measure R must be redrawn to achieve population balance; in particular to reduce the total population of District 4. Incorporating the 2020 Census data, the City’s redistricting consultant has prepared two initial map options for the Council’s and public’s consideration. The purpose of this second public hearing is to share proposed map options and receive feedback on the maps presented. Each of those maps is analyzed below. Map Option 1 Map Option 1 begins with a simple population rebalance, to reduce the total deviation to an acceptable level. Closely resembling the cu rrent Council district boundary map, as approved by voters with Measure R, this map primarily reduces population in District 4 and distributes it relatively evenly throughout the remaining three districts. The map reflects an acceptable total deviation of 1.22%. Based upon the citizens of voting age population (CVAP) metric, all four districts are majority/minority Hispanic voting districts, meaning that Hispanic voters makeup the single largest citizen voting age population. Complete demographic analysi s of the census data for Map Option 1 is attached to this report. The map is depicted here: 1.1 Packet Pg. 9