Legislative committee receives update on congressional redistricting plan

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KAIT) - The plan to redistricting the U.S. House seats in Arkansas will soon begin, with work scheduled to start in early September, officials told an Arkansas legislative committee Thursday.

The House and Senate State Agencies and Governmental Affairs committees met Thursday in Little Rock to hear from officials with the Bureau of Legislative Research on the issue.

Arkansas has four U.S. House seats, unchanged from the last 10 years.

Redistricting is done every 10 years due to the Census.

Officials said at the meeting that a vendor received population numbers earlier this month and that the information should be available to create maps in early September.

In discussing the issue, officials said there is a lot of case law dealing with redistricting and that any map created, which must be approved by lawmakers, must pass constitutional muster.

The new map will be used during the 2022 election cycle, officials have said.

The legislature draws congressional districts, while the Arkansas Board of Apportionment - made up of Gov. Asa Hutchinson, Attorney General Leslie Rutledge and Secretary of State John Thurston - draws state legislative districts.

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