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Members Of Independent Redistricting Committee Named

Gov. Spencer Cox named Brigham Young University professor Rex L. Facer as the chair of the state’s redistricting committee. 

Facer and his six committee members, who will be selected by legislative Democraic and Republican leaders, will be in charge of suggesting new boundaries for Utah House, Senate and Congressional seats based on the 2020 Census data. However,the Salt Lake Tribune reports that pandemic-related census delays will also delay the committee’s work.

The Census Bureau announced last week that population information used to determine the number of federal House seats for each state will not be available until the end of April. 

 

According to a report by NPR, these numbers were legally due by the end of last year and this is the first time the bureau has missed the deadline since it was legally mandated in 1976. Rep. Scott Sandall told the Tribune it’s likely Utah will not receive the data needed for redistricting until August or September. 

The other committee members include Rob Bishop, Lyle Hillyard, N. Jeffery Baker, Pat Jones, Christine Durham and William A. Thorne, Jr..