'Last Line Of Defense': Christopher Cabaldon Supports California Redistricting Plan To Counter GOP

Forbes Breaking News

In a California State Senate Elections Committee hearing on Monday, California State Senator Christopher Cabaldon (D) advocated for legislation that would clear the way for Democrats to redistrict the state in response to similar Republican efforts in Texas.

Transcript

00:00Began when you're ready.

00:01All right.

00:02I don't know where this is going.

00:05Madam Chair, thank you so much, and to members of the committee and members of the public.

00:09And I know, Madam Chair, you've reported that more than 13,000 Californians have already

00:13weighed on this issue and very much appreciate the opportunity to present one of the pieces

00:19of legislation that are necessary for the public to have the ability to chart their

00:23own course for California and vote on the maps.

00:27I'm here today to present, on behalf of Speaker Rivas, Assembly Constitutional Amendment

00:31Number 8, which, if enacted by the legislature, will go directly to a vote of the people in

00:36the November election.

00:38ACA 8 is intended to make possible the public vote that the Chair just described, to make

00:44it possible for the first time in California history, for California voters, to draw their

00:50own maps at the ballot box, not just the first in the country, but the first in California

00:55as well.

00:56Redistricting has a long history in the California Constitution.

01:00Since the 1920s, there have been ballot measures placed before the people of California to create

01:05independent commissions, to have redistricted them by judges.

01:09And over and over and over and over and over again from the 20s until the 2000s, the voters

01:13have overwhelmingly rejected them.

01:15It was in 2008, after rejecting independent commissions in 2005, 1989, 1984, 1994, repeatedly,

01:24by two-to-one margins, that the voters finally, by the slightest margin that you can imagine.

01:29I was one of them who voted yes on the Constitutional Amendment in 2008 that passed with 50.8% of

01:37the vote, the narrowest of margins in order to amend our Constitution to create the Independent

01:42redistricting commission.

01:43That commission, in the Constitution, is charged with protecting communities of interest, fundamentally,

01:52with hearing from the public during the process of redistricting, and incorporating their own

01:59views, not just big political views, but their own views about what their districts should

02:03be.

02:04So in a community like Rancho Cordova, just down the highway, where does Rancho Cordova

02:10belong in a district?

02:11When we talk about these districts, they are not just about big partisan issues.

02:15They are about which communities are able to work together to elect representatives that

02:19see them, that represent them.

02:21That's what the commission was set up to do.

02:23And so today we're asking, through ACA 8, for the opportunity for the voters to enact the

02:29maps that are in separate legislation, but that are referenced directly in this constitutional

02:34amendment and therefore the ballot measure, that would enact the maps that the commission

02:41itself would have enacted if it had been given the charge by the people of California to do

02:46what the chair just said.

02:48That is, if California voters came to the polls in November, or today, and said, we want maps

02:54that will fight back against Texas's efforts to rig the 2006 congressional election, to

03:00fight back against the efforts to undo the deep unpopularity that has been caused, not

03:07just by H.R.1 and the elimination of health care for millions of Californians, for the attacks

03:13on our public universities, but also the unbridled enforcement actions and disappearances and

03:20kidnappings on our streets from ICE.

03:22The voters, not just of California, but of America, are sick and tired of it.

03:25And they want change.

03:26That's what democracy is about.

03:28You can either change your policies, you can defend your policies.

03:31But one option that is not before us in a democracy is that you can change your voters,

03:35that you can change the rules.

03:37And so fighting back is absolutely essential, and Californians want to fight.

03:42They recognize that as the largest state in the union, as the largest economy in the country,

03:46that we're obligated to stand up and protect our democracy.

03:50And that's what this ACA will allow us to do.

03:53And it does that by putting the maps directly before the voters, and it does that by giving

03:59the voters the transparent option over these next several months to evaluate them and to vote.

04:04It also protects the independent commission.

04:08And that process will return.

04:10Just as it is in the Constitution today, nothing changes.

04:13The Constitution simply provides today that every 10 years after the census, the commission

04:18is convened and it draws our district lines for the Congress based on its testimony from

04:25thousands and thousands and thousands of Californians.

04:27Based on its own research, based on letters that are received from every big city and small

04:31town and Hamlet across the state.

04:35And they will continue to do that after the next census when we draw the new lines.

04:38But I want to emphasize also that the lines that would be enacted by the voters under ACA

04:458 are the lines that the commission would have drawn if it could.

04:49How can we say that?

04:50How do we know that?

04:51Well, the map drawing, which was done with our partners and the congressional delegates,

04:57was done by reviewing the testimony, the files, the letters, the deliberations by the commission

05:05just a couple of years ago that were heard from.

05:07I know voters in my district, even in my own city, who urged the commission to put West

05:11Sacramento in one place or another or voters in Winters who testified, please don't put us

05:15with Davis or please do put us with Davis, that all of that testimony on the ground from

05:20Californians about what it meant to them in redistricting has been incorporated and heard

05:25in this process.

05:28That this constitutional amendment will allow voters to enact maps that divide fewer communities,

05:33that protect the Voting Rights Act.

05:35That's the essential.

05:36That's what the Constitution calls for.

05:38This is the most constitutionally oriented redistricting that we've ever done in California,

05:43and it is absolutely necessary.

05:45We will return to the commission after that.

05:47The constitutional amendment here today before you guarantees that.

05:50And finally, I want to emphasize that the constitutional amendment assures that this is the right

05:55move for the right moment.

05:56It is triggered only if, only if, another state at the behest of the White House decides to try to

06:02cheat and rig the election.

06:04Texas is front and center.

06:06A couple of other states are looking at it as well.

06:09We have to be the last line of defense for our democracy in California.

06:14If those states stand down, then so will California.

06:19We didn't ask for this fight.

06:20They brought this fight to us, and California cannot stand down if other states are attempting to cheat

06:26and rig the election in 2006 to maintain Republican control of Congress.

06:32So I'm happy to answer any questions at the appropriate time, Madam Chair.

06:35We have two witnesses here with us.

06:38First is Jody Hicks from Planned Parenthood, and second is Sarah Sodwani.

06:45If the two support witnesses could approach, you each have three minutes.

06:50Begin when you're ready.

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