Pa. legislative map changes await vote

The once-a-decade redistricting process will soon come to a close in Pennsylvania with a vote set on new boundaries.

The five-member panel tasked with approving state House and Senate district lines for the next 10 years will vote on a final plan Monday afternoon.

Historically, the difference between a preliminary redistricting plan and a final draft has been small, said Senate GOP spokesman Erik Arneson.

But this time, he said, Senate Republicans have made big changes to the much-maligned state Senate 15th District now represented by Republican Jeff Piccola.

It’s a “much more compact shape than the horseshoe shape that was presented in the preliminary plan,” Arneson said.

Arneson says the 15th District was the subject of most of the feedback the redistricting panel received. If it weren’t for the quite unexpected announcement that Piccola would not seek re-election, Arneson said it might have been harder to change the so-called horseshoe.

Senate Democrats have not offered their own final proposed maps, nor have either House caucus.

Congressional district lines will also be decided before the holiday break, but no proposed maps have surfaced.