The New York State Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment released new district maps for all 213 legislative seats Thursday afternoon, creating a new seat in the state senate, eliminating a seat in the assembly and shifting district lines across the state.
The state is required by law to redraw district lines for the state legislature every 10 years based on population shifts. The committee, made up of six members, including four legislators and two non-legislators, uses census data to create the maps.
The new district lines will cause significant changes in Central New York, particularly in the state senate.
The biggest change comes in the 49th district, represented by State Sen. David Valesky. The district formerly covered the eastern part of Onondaga County, all of Madison County and part of Oneida County. According to the proposed changes, the new 49th district would cover Fulton, Herkimer, Hamilton and Saratoga counties, making a significant shift eastward –taking Valesky with it.
The proposed district map also leaves the city of Syracuse out of the new 50th district, taking it out of the representation of State Sen. John DeFrancisco. Instead, his coverage would include the towns of Camillus, Cicero, Clay, DeWitt, Elbridge, Geddes, Lafayette, Lysander, Marcellus, Otisco, Tully, Salina, Skaneateles, Spafford, Lysander and Van Buren in Onondaga County and the towns of Brutus, Cato, Ira and Sennett as well as the city of Auburn in Cayuga County.
The rest of Onondaga County – Syracuse plus the towns of Fabius, Manlius, Onondaga and Pompey and the Onondaga Nation – and Madison County have been redistricted into the 53rd district, according to the proposal. That’s currently in the Southern Tier. State Sen. Thomas O’Mara represents that district.
In terms of the state assembly, the redistricting has had a minimal impact. The numbering of our local districts has changed; the 111th district is now the 121st, which will likely prove confusing, since the 121st was also a local district. The 119th is now the 127th, the 120th is now the 128th and the 121st is now the 129th. The same representatives remain in place.
To view the maps, visit latfor.state.ny.us/maps/.
For more on this story, see our Feb. 1 editions.
