Advance's Moroni lauds bipartisanship on final agreement on Missouri House redistricting map

Lawyer Michael Moroni of Advance, Southeast Missouri's only representative on the House Independent Bipartisan Citizens Commission, said the 20-member panel came to unanimous agreement Wednesday on final boundaries for all 163 seats in the General Assembly's lower chamber.

The group was named to redraw Show Me State House boundaries to reflect the population changes in the 2020 census.

Moroni said it is his understanding this is the first time in 40 years commission consensus was reached on House districts without the need for judges to finish the job.

If the group had been unable to come to an agreement, the Missouri Supreme Court would have appointed six appeals court judges to draw the district maps.

The men and women Gov. Mike Parson appointed to set legislative boundaries in the state Senate were unable to complete their assigned task. Judges will be tasked to finish the work in establishing the map for the 34 seats in the legislature's upper chamber.

Moroni, a Democrat, commended the bipartisanship he has witnessed since Parson appointed the members of the House commission in July.

"Both parties really wanted (agreement) to happen," said Moroni, an lawyer in private practice with an office in Bloomfield, the Stoddard County seat.

"Very key in the process was we took the work in chunks. We addressed outstate Missouri first, then dealt with the suburbs and finally we looked at the four areas of contention between the parties — in Greene, Boone, Jackson and St. Louis counties."

Locally

• Perry and Ste. Genevieve counties will be joined into a new District 145, now represented by Rick Francis of Perryville. The current 145 is made up of Perry, Madison and Bollinger counties.
• District 146 — now represented by Barry Hovis — will take most of Cape Girardeau County outside the City of Cape Girardeau. The southwestern portion of the county will become part of District 151 and be joined with southern Bollinger County and all of Stoddard County. District 151 is currently represented by Herman Morse of Dexter.
• District 147, currently unrepresented because of the resignation of Wayne Wallingford, who is the new Missouri Department of Revenue director, will continue to comprise just the City of Cape Girardeau.
• District 148, now represented by Jamie Burger, will be comprised entirely of Scott County.

What's next

The new House map, which will be in effect for the August 2022 primary election, has been turned over to Missouri Secretary of State John "Jay" Ashcroft.

"The map is a done deal unless the secretary has some technical issue with it, which we don't expect," Moroni said.

The deadline for completion of redistricting is Sunday. At least 70% of the panel needed to agree on a unified map to avoid judicial intervention.

"It was an enjoyable process; at times, it was taxing and it took more energy and work than I thought it would," Moroni reflected.