January 24, 2022 |
House District 47 has so far survived the long political knives of redistricting. In the one statewide plan to be introduced at Thursday’s Corporations Committee meeting, the nation’s largest legislative district remains intact as is.
The map of the statewide plan posted to the legislature’s web site shows HD 47 sprawling across rural southern Wyoming from Rock River in Albany County to Farson in Sweetwater, remains intact.
The losers for now appear to be Albany and Laramie County. Neither will get what they wanted during last month’s contentious committee meetings. Laramie County will not get an 11th House. Albany County opposed sharing any house or senate districts across its borders. Under the plan to be voted on this week, which includes the so-called “I-80 compromise” preserving District 47, Albany County will share house and senate districts with Carbon an Laramie Counties. At the Corporations meeting on January 12th, House Minority Floor Leader Cathy Connolly of Laramie said she had been ambushed by the I-80 compromise.
Chairman Dan Zwonitzer countered Rep. Connolly, saying that the plan had been posted on the legislature’s web site on that previous Friday. The I-80 compromise was hammered out between Sen. Larrry Hicks of Baggs and Sen. Brian Boner of Douglas. Both had opposed Zwonitzer’s plan to expand Laramie County to 11 seats.
Representative Danny Eyre of Uinta County is a member of Corporations. Eyre said the I-80 compromise makes more sense than any other regional plan presented so far.
The I-80 compromise stops House Seat in 47 from being a pinball for now. Will it survive the gauntlet of Thursday’s meeting, and then the Legislature? Committee co-Chair Ogden Driscoll put it this way in December.
The process isn’t over. Statewide Compilation Plan 1—Revision 3 is the only plan on the agenda to be submitted at Thursday’s meeting. That could change. Or there could be an ambush. The Corporations Committee is scheduled to meet at 8:30 in the State Capitol on January 27.
Related: Committee returns to work on redrawing legislative districts today
