Washington enacted new legislative districts on Feb. 8 when the Washington State Senate approved an amended version of a map proposal drafted by the Washington State Redistricting Commission. The maps will take effect for Washington’s 2022 state legislative elections.
Washington’s four redistricting commissioners each released their proposed state legislative maps on Sept. 21, 2021. The commission announced on Nov. 16 that it was not able to produce new maps by its Nov. 15 deadline and had submitted plans to the Supreme Court for consideration, as authority to draw new maps passed to the court if the commission failed to agree on maps before the deadline. The court decided to accept the final legislative map drafts the commission submitted, ruling that it had “substantially complied” with the deadline. The Washington House approved the final state legislative map proposal by an 88-7 vote on Feb. 2, and the Senate approved the proposal on Feb. 8 in a 35-14 vote.
Senate Majority Leader Andy Billig (D) voted for the new maps but said, “I continue to have significant concern that the Yakima Valley legislative district may not be compliant with the federal Voting Rights Act.” Senator Jamie Pedersen (D) said, “I think I’m not the only one who was surprised and disappointed that this past Nov. 15, as the clock approached midnight, without actually having agreed on a plan, without having published a plan for public comment, our redistricting commission voted to approve some sort of oral agreement that they had to send that over to us.”
