Prop 11 Applicant Review Panel Announced

The process for implementing California’s Proposition 11, the ballot initiative which moved district-drawing process for state legislative districts from legislators to a Citizens Redistricting Commission, is well underway.

The Applicant Review Panel (APR) for the Citizens’ Redistricting Commission–the state auditors who will choose the candidates for the Citizens Redistricting Commission–was announced on November 16th.  The APR was chosen from an applicant pool that consisting of all auditors employed by the state and licensed by the California Board of Accountancy at the time of the drawing, and chosen randomly by the State Auditor during a drawing that was open to the public.   The process, in accordance with the California Government Code Section 8252 (b), required the State Auditor to:

randomly draw the names of three qualified independent auditors from a pool consisting of all auditors employed by the state and licensed by the California Board of Accountancy at the time of the drawing. The State Auditor shall draw until the names of three auditors have been drawn including one who is registered with the largest political party in California based on party registration, one who is registered with the second largest political party in California based on party registration, and one who is not registered with either of the two largest political parties in California.

Now that the APR has been formed, the State Auditor will be accepting the first stage of applications to serve on the Commission from December 15, 2009 through February 12, 2010.  The APR will whittle the applicant pool down to 60 “of the most qualified applicants”, 20 each from the largest state party, the second largest state political party, and 20 who are unaffiliated with either of the largest two parties.  The President pro Tempore of the Senate, the Senate Minority Floor Leader, and the Speaker and Minority Floor Leader of the Assembly will each be able to strike up to two names from each group of 20, for a total of 8 taken from the list.  The State Auditor will then randomly choose the 8 members of the Citizens Redistricting Commission from the remaining names, until there are 3 members of the largest party, 3 members of the second largest party, and 3 members who do not associate with either of the two largest parties.  The timeline for this process is here.