By Kevin Lee     Illinois Statehouse News

SPRINGFIELD  –  State senators from both parties are calling for changes to the way legislative maps are drawn.

But there is a fundamental divide between Democrats and Republicans on how the state should revamp its redistricting procedure.

A state Senate committee on Monday passed, by a partisan vote, a proposal sponsored by state Sen. Kwame Raoul, D-Chicago, that would change how lawmakers consider redrawing the state's map of legislative districts.

Under Raoul's proposal, if initial attempts by both the Illinois House and Senate to draw a legislative map failed, each legislative chamber could develop their own district map with a three-fifths supermajority vote without having to go through the governor.

Raoul said that giving each chamber the option of drawing their own districts gave the redistricting procedure a better chance of succeeding.

"It creates greater flexibility. So under that theory, when you advance (a proposal) to the individual chambers considering their different maps, it gives a greater opportunity for certainty," he said.

But state Sen. Brad Burzynski, R-Sycamore, said Raoul's proposal leaves a lot of uncertainty.

Under Raoul's proposal, the last-ditch measure for redistricting returns the responsibility back to lawmakers, and Burzynski said that lawmakers may not be able to finalize a map, even after several tries.

"If the legislature can't agree or get this through in that earlier step, I don't believe that there's a certainty that (lawmakers) can do it in the final step as well," Burzynski said.

Raoul's proposal now moves to the full Senate for consideration.

Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno, R-Lemont, claimed that Raoul's proposal would help lawmakers draw districts to protect incumbents and their political careers.

Radogno is sponsoring a "Fair Map Amendment" that would put the primary responsibility of drawing a map on a redistricting commission.

Under Radogno's proposal, the state's four legislative leaders would appoint two members each to a redistricting commission that would have a first attempt at drawing a new legislative map. The eight members would then select a ninth person as chairperson of the commission.

Radogno said the commission would be independent and nonpartisan because it would not be made up of lawmakers.

"The only real difference between the proposals is whether or not incumbents draw the lines or whether or not we have an independent commission drawing the lines," she said. "It is clear that Democrats want incumbents to continue to draw the lines; it is clear from the discussion here, Republicans want a commission form of government."

Raoul disagreed that a commission formed by legislative leaders could be considered "independent."

"Is there anything that prohibits a leader from meeting in a smoke-filled room somewhere with the two people that (he or she has) personally chosen and telling them what they want?" he asked.

The state Senate committee rejected Radogno's proposal by a partisan vote on Monday evening.

But the Illinois League of Women Voters is spearheading an effort to put the question of the Fair Map Amendment to voters at November's general election.

In order for voters to consider the proposal, the League is attempting to gather the last of its 288,000 valid signatures over the next few weeks.

Lawmakers could pass a redistricting proposal on to voters for consideration in the November election, but only if both legislative chambers pass the proposal by a three-fifths supermajority.

Redistricting has been a highly scrutinized issue as of late, in part, because the state is due to reconfigure its districts next year.

The state has used its current, controversial redistricting procedure every ten years since 1971.

Previous redistricting attempts have led to a lack of cooperation between parties, legal challenges and arbitrary draws out of a hat to finalize a selection commission.