KASTEN GETS PLACE ON PANEL FOR REDISTRICTING

JEFFERSON CITY - Rep. Mary Kasten of Cape Girardeau has been named to a committee of the Missouri House responsible for drawing new boundary lines for Missouri's nine congressional districts.

By law, the General Assembly is responsible for drawing new lines based on new census data gathered last year.

The Senate has a similar committee which will work with the House group to bring a final proposal to a vote before the mid-May adjournment of the Legislature.

"I'm looking forward to the challenge of the committee," said Kasten Saturday.

Also serving on the redistricting committee will be Rep. Gene Copeland, D-New Madrid.

Since Missouri will retain all nine of its seats in the U.S. House, the process will not be as controversial as it was in 1980 when 10 congressional districts had to be merged into nine.

In 1980 the General Assembly struggled all year to come up with a plan, and even failed in a late year special session before giving up. The final plan was drawn by a panel of three federal judges.

"Since we are not losing any seats, it should be an easier process this time," observed Kasten. "But there has been a loss of population in the cities, which may cause some re-shuffling in those districts.

"It is my hope that can have a fair alignment for the districts that include the big cities," she added.

The 8th district, represented by Congressman Bill Emerson, has lost a little population and will have to add some additional area. But, overall, the make-up of the district is not expected to change drastically.

State House and Senate districts will be re-drawn later this year by special commissions appointed by the governor. Congressional district committees of each party will make recommendations to the governor on who should serve in drawing House boundaries. Senate lines will be drawn from a commission based on recommendations from the state committee of each party.