Placer Supervisors receive overview of Prop 50: County would split into 3 districts

The Placer County Board of Supervisors on Oct. 7 received an overview of Proposition 50 and its potential impact on the county if approved. Joel Joyce, legislative and governmental affairs coordinator for Placer County, confirmed California voters approved Proposition 11 in 2008, which created an independent redistricting commission to create state Senate and Assembly maps. Congressional maps were also added to the commission's roles in 2010. According to Joyce, Prop 50 is a constitutional amendment asking voters to remove the redistricting commission. If approved, Prop 50 would replace the current maps, approved in 2020, with temporary maps for the 2026, 2028 and 2030 Congressional elections. Joyce confirmed the maps would revert back to the commission for 2032. With the proposition, Placer County would be split into Congressional Districts 3, 4 and 6, currently represented by Congressmen Kevin Kiley, Mike Thompson and Ami Bera. Joyce explained the districts would be outlined as follows: District 3: Covers most of Placer's Foothills area and goes down into Granite Bay, Arden Arcade, Fair Oaks and the city of Folsom. District 4: This district would include the city of Lincoln and the county border up until Roseville. The most western portion covers the city of Napa and Rohnert Park, skirts around Santa Rosa and heads east into Lake County, Yuba City and Woodland. District 6: Encompasses the cities of Roseville and Rocklin, covers the city of West Sacramento, skirts over mid- and downtown Sacramento, East Sacramento, Citrus Heights and Orangevale. The board received two comments asking for the county to say no to the proposition and asking what impacts Placer could expect to see if approved. Joyce explained possible impacts could be knowing which representative to work with for projects, depending on the area. "If we're chasing federal dollars, you're going to have to go to the specific representative for that project area," Joyce said. "Some projects may encompass two, but that's in terms of real operational impacts. That's the only thing I can see right now." Board Chair Bonnie Gore confirmed the item was informational in nature only and asked county counsel Karin Schwab to explain why the board was not taking a vote. Schwab confirmed she recommended an educational item out of an abundance of caution due to individual advocacy on Prop 50 by members of the board. Gore confirmed she wrote an opinion editorial on the proposition and noted, if passed, the proposition would result in Placer losing its local voice and create a challenge for representation, as the county could be represented by individuals who do not understand Placer's unique needs. District 3 Supervisor Anthony DeMattei agreed, noting the lack of local representation could result in less funding secured for projects. "We do have Kevin Kiley here representing us and one of the impacts that he has helped us with is the funding for Highway 65 where we couldn't get a measure passed to adopt a sales tax where he went out and got us $22-and-a-half million," DeMattei said. "If we're divided up by three different representatives, the likelihood of something like that happening again in the future is probably going to be zero to zero." "... It's really about rural counties across our state and many of those rural voices have been drowned out by urban centers and if Prop 50 passes, it's going to further silence those communities …" District 2 Supervisor Shanti Landon added, asking the public to talk to farmers and other residents about how the proposition will affect their livelihood. District 4 Supervisor Suzanne Jones noted current congressmen will not win re-election and the county will be represented by congressmen who are not knowledgeable in Placer's rural areas for seven years. "That's up to seven years that our representatives will have to sit out," she said. "It's unlikely they're going to sit around for seven years and wait for that new redistricting to run again for office, and we'll be back to the drawing board just like the beginning of time. We won't know who's going to be good at what." At the end of the board's discussion, District 5 Supervisor Cindy Gustafson and Gore urged Placer residents to vote so their voices are heard. The board took no action on the item, as it was informational only.