By Erin Smith
The North Carolina General Assembly has redrawn its Senate and House district maps and they are now waiting to hear from the federal court whether or not the newly drawn maps will be approved. For Rep. William Brisson, the newly drawn map, if approved by the court, will see House District 22 comprised of all of Bladen County and a large portion of Sampson County.
Under the existing map, NC House District 22 consists of all of Bladen County and portions of Johnston and Sampson counties.
The newly drawn NC Senate map saw no changes made to NC Senate District 8 which currently consists of all of Bladen, Brunswick and Pender counties. Bladen County is currently represented in the North Carolina Senate by Bill Rabon, a Republican.
“I feel pretty comfortable with it,” said Rep. Brisson of the newly redrawn House 22 district.
The maps were submitted to the court in late August for a ruling. That ruling is expected to come sometime in September. “It’s in the court’s hands right now,” said Rep. Brisson.
The NC House and Senate district maps were ordered to be redrawn after a federal judge ruled they were in violation because several districts were found to be drawn based solely on race. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the ruling.
The redistricting kerfuffle has cost North Carolina tax payers $4 million in legal expenses to date, according to reports.
Not everyone is happy with the new maps. Democrats claim Republican lawmakers did not consider speakers at hearings and did not take into consideration the racial make up of some districts, according to reports.
Redistricting leaders say the new maps comply with the court ruling. A panel of three federal judges will have the final say. The judges have the option to approved the proposed maps as presented, reject the new maps and ask the General Assembly to redraw the maps yet again, or the judges can ask an outside firm to redraw the maps.