The state Reapportionment Commission is poised to vote Monday on its final proposal for new political boundaries that reflect population changes since the last U.S. census.
Final maps, presented Friday, are largely the same as the proposals that were approved last month and taken out for public hearings.
Once approved, the commission’s plan is expected to face a lawsuit from Hawaii County critics who contend the new maps wrongfully deny Hawaii island a fourth seat in the state Senate based on population gain over the past decade.
Commissioners voted to have technical staff members continue working on alternative maps that would reflect additional changes to the population base.
"Since early on in this process, back in May or June, we talked about how the commission could get sued by various groups," commission Chairwoman Victoria Marks said. "We’ve done the best we can, but if a court decides that we were not correct, the court would have some alternatives to consider and hopefully avoid having to appoint a master."
If the court rules against the commission, it could decide to appoint a special master to draw the new district maps.
Opponents contend the maps are based on a total population base that includes some population groups whose members are not considered permanent residents of Hawaii. Those groups include military members, their dependents, students and incarcerated felons — people who live in Hawaii but have declared another state as their permanent place of residence.
A lawsuit would seek to exclude at least 47,000 military members who are self-declared nonresidents. Commission staff members said the total number could not be extracted as it has been in previous years because changes in privacy laws have yielded less information to determine where they live and from which area of the state they should be taken.
The final maps were drawn after Monday’s decision by the commission to subtract a limited number of military members and students — about 16,000 — whose residency status and location were obtainable from data that was provided by the military and state universities.
Neighbor island maps were largely unchanged from the proposals that went to public hearings, although some modifications were made based on public comment to some districts on Maui and Oahu. Oahu maps had to be redrawn to reflect the exclusion of most of the 16,000 nonresidents.
"We had to make some tough decisions and split a few communities up here and there, but we tried to keep that to a minimum," said Commissioner Dylan Nonaka, a member of the technical committee that drew up the maps.
One example is the Senate plan for Oahu, which separates St. Louis Heights from Kaimuki, placing them in separate Senate districts.
"There were places that no matter what you did and how you drew the lines, you just couldn’t make it work in terms of staying within the population restrictions," Nonaka said.
As before, the maps leave three pairs of incumbents in the same district and create two open seats, one each on Oahu and Hawaii island.
On Oahu, Rep. Kymberly Pine (R, Ewa Beach-Iroquois Point) would face Rida Cabanilla (D, Waipahu-Ewa), and Rep. Barbara Marumoto (R, Kalani Valley-Diamond Head) would face Rep. Mark Hashem (D, Hahaione Valley-Aina Haina). New boundaries also would pit two Hawaii island Democrats against each other: Jerry Chang (D, Piihonua-Kaumana) and Mark Nakashima (D, Hawi-Hilo).
The final vote is set for 2 p.m. Monday at the state Capitol.
