Senator Coleman named to Redistricting Committee

OKLAHOMA CITY – Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat on Thursday announced the members he has appointed to serve on the Senate Select Committee on Redistricting.

“Alongside drafting a state budget, redistricting will be the highest priority of the Legislature next session. The Oklahoma Senate will conduct an open, transparent and bipartisan redistricting process. The senators who serve on the redistricting committee have an important task and I appreciate them accepting the challenge to serve on the Senate redistricting committee,” said Treat, R-Oklahoma City.

Treat previously named Sen. Lonnie Paxton, R-Tuttle, as chair of the committee and Sen. Dave Rader, R-Tulsa, as vice-chair of the committee. Treat said Sen. Michael Brooks, D-Oklahoma City, will serve as co-vice chair of the committee.

The members of the committee are:

• Sen. Lonnie Paxton, R-Tuttle, chair
• Sen. Dave Rader, R-Tulsa, co-vice chair
• Sen. Michael Brooks, D-Oklahoma City, co-vice chair
• Sen. Julie Daniels, R-Bartlesville
• Sen. George Burns, R-Pollard
• Sen. Dewayne Pemberton, R-Muskogee
• Sen. Casey Murdock, R-Felt
• Sen. Bill Coleman, R-Ponca City
• Sen. John Michael Montgomery, R-Lawton
• Sen. Frank Simpson, R-Springer
• Sen. Adam Pugh, R-Edmond
• Sen. Kevin Matthews, D-Tulsa
• Sen. Julia Kirt, D-Oklahoma City

“I look forward to working with my Democratic and Republican colleagues on redistricting in the coming session. I know they’ll work hard on this important job,” Paxton said.

The Senate Select Committee on Redistricting will consider redistricting legislation before those bills go to the full Senate for consideration. Additionally, there will be Senate redistricting town hall meetings statewide the next several months. For a list of dates and times of each meeting, visit www.oksenate.gov.

Paxton said he expects the Select Committee on Redistricting to meet soon and that a meeting announcement would be posted publicly to the Senate website when the meeting details are finalized.

Of the 13 committee members, 10 are Republicans and three are Democrats. The ratio of Democrats to Republicans on the redistricting committee (23 percent) is higher than the ratio of Democrats to Republicans serving in the entire Senate (18 percent).

“Senate Democrats have three of the 13 seats on the committee and have a co-vice chair. That reflects the commitment of the Senate redistricting process to be not only open and transparent, but bipartisan in scope,” Paxton said.

Legislative redistricting takes place every 10 years following the release of U.S. Census data. The Oklahoma Constitution provides that each legislative chamber oversees redistricting efforts to ensure districts are updated as necessary to reflect any population changes.