Ms.
Thank you, Chairman Nordenberg and Legislative Reapportionment Commission for the time and careful attention you have invested in drawing new State House and Senate maps. Rampant gerrymandering of voting districts such as we’ve experienced in Pennsylvania in the past was designed to protect incumbents. This has led to an enormous lack of accountability, lack of transparency, and lack of civility in our legislature. And the voices of our voters have been ignored in favor of big moneyed special interests. A case in point is the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. In spite of the fact that an overwhelming majority of Pennsylvanians support efforts to mitigate climate change, and support investment in high-quality clean energy jobs, the state legislature passed resolution S.C.R.R.R.1 to block Pennsylvania’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. While the proposed House map is much better than the current map, creating more contiguous and compact districts and fewer splits between political boundaries, the Senate map needs more work, especially to more fairly represent minorities. Pennsylvanians deserve government that listens to and truly represents the people, not special interests and big money. Fairer maps are an essential basis for achieving fairer representation. Thank you again for your work.