Who’s drawing election lines? Wicks on abortion access + California falls short on housing

Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert!

WHO’S DRAWING THE LINES?

A pastor, a former United Nations elections expert and a political science professor are three of the 14 people entrusted with redrawing California’s voting boundaries for next year’s midterm elections.

California voters opted for a nonpartisan group driven by citizens ahead of the last time the state underwent redistricting, the process by which legislative districts are redrawn based on population changes tracked through the Census.

Its draft maps so far have drawn criticism from some residents as the commission rejiggered the state into electoral boundaries that were totally different from ones the state has now, splitting communities citizens felt should remain together or adding to areas that some constituents feel do not match their community.

“It’s difficult for us to have to make these decisions that we have to make and if you’ve been watching for the past few days, we’re wrestling with it,” said Neal Fornaciari, a Republican commissioner from Tracy.

Others have questions about the commission’s transparency. A group of Republican voters filed a petition with the California Supreme Court last week, alleging that the commission is working with partisan legal advisers and holding meetings behind closed doors, a breach of state open meeting laws.

The state is losing a seat in the United States House of Representatives because of sluggish population growth between 2010 and now, forcing the 14 commissioners charged with the process to eliminate one congressional district while complying with other criteria that dictate the population, shape and composition of areas in new boundaries.

Some lawmakers would be put in precarious positions if its current draft becomes permanent. The most recent maps, if finalized, would put Central Valley Reps. Devin Nunes and Josh Harder, for instance, in tough spots, unless each of them decided to run in a new area.

The next draft of congressional maps should be finished for public review before Dec. 13. All of the maps for the various levels of governance should be finalized by Dec. 23. Final maps must be sent to the secretary of state before Dec. 27.

Read more on the commissioners backgrounds in our report today.

HOW ARE WE DOING ON HOUSING? NOT GREAT, PPIC SAYS

The Public Policy Institute of California recently used U.S. Census data to take a look at California’s housing situation, and found — shocker — that the situation doesn’t look good.

“The state’s exorbitant housing costs have long been driven by too many potential buyers chasing after too few houses. The typical home value in California is considerably more expensive than in the rest of the country, and while incomes here are also higher, they are not high enough to match. Rents are also high, with California renters spending a larger share of their income on rent, and vacancy rates are consistently lower in California than elsewhere,” the PPIC wrote in a blog post published Friday.

While the post notes that new legislation — SB 8, SB 9 and SB 10 — was passed to increase housing production and remove barriers to the same, “ it remains to be seen whether they are enough to boost production to the levels many consider necessary.”

PPIC found that the 2020 Census data show that the state added 3.2 times more people than housing units over the last decade, meaning that there are 2.93 Californians for every occupied housing unit. That puts California behind only Hawaii (2.93) and Utah (3.09), and well above the national average of 2.53.

It won’t be a surprise to many Sacramento residents that the PPIC found that while coastal housing remains the most expensive, the biggest percentage change in housing values actually occurred in inland region. Yes, the Bay Area flight to the East Bay and Central Valley is real, as is the flight from Los Angeles into the Inland Empire region.

WICKS OPENS UP ABOUT HER MISCARRIAGE AND ABORTION

The fate of legal abortion is in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court, but for Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, it’s personal.

Wicks on Thursday evening opened up about her recent miscarriage, which necessitated an emergency abortion procedure. In a series of tweets, the Oakland lawmaker detailed how she learned one September morning that she was pregnant, that she was miscarrying, and that she required Dilatation and Curettage procedure, also called a D & C, immediately.

“It was hard to process what I was being told – it happened w/dizzying speed. Learning I was pregnant. Learning that the pregnancy was no longer viable. And learning that I needed an emergency abortion,” Wicks wrote.

Wicks wrote about the range of emotions that she felt about the procedure, particularly as it came in the context of a recent Texas law which deputized state citizens to sue anyone who helps a pregnant person get an abortion in the state.

“During this medically necessary abortion, for a pregnancy I had literally just learned about, I asked if my procedure would have been off the table under Texas’ abortion ban. The doctor said, given access issues, it could be very difficult,” Wicks wrote. “Under Texas’ abortion ban, my specific abortion would have *technically* been permitted since my pregnancy was no longer viable. But in practical terms, ACCESS to this healthcare would have been my barrier — Texas’ law makes accessing any procedure so incredibly difficult because of its impact on abortion providers’ ability to even operate in the state.”

Wicks ended her Twitter thread by writing that real lives are stake with the Supreme Court’s decision, which could potentially include overturning Roe v. Wade.

“So, when Justice (Sonia) Sotomayor asked ‘When does the life of a woman and putting her at risk enter the calculus?’ – she was asking for me. She was asking for my daughters. She was asking for millions of people in America,” Wicks wrote. “It’s *our* freedoms that are being openly discussed. It’s *our* ability to access the healthcare that we need that’s in jeopardy. It’s *our* lives that are, literally, at stake”

QUOTE OF THE DAY

With the passing of Charlotte Shultz, Elizabeth Ashford, a former senior adviser to Gov. Jerry Brown, shared an anecdote about the Chief of Protocol for California. You can read it here.

Best of the Bee:

• Online gaming giants, card rooms and California’s Native American tribes are all angling to legalize sports betting in California through ballot initiatives next year. At stake is the chance to control a fast-growing, lucrative industry and, possibly, the future of gambling in California, via Lara Korte.

• Newly published credit card statements detail past spending by the longtime leader of California’s largest state employee union, showing she spent nearly $7,000 on gifts for top union officers and thousands of dollars on international travel for union purposes, via Wes Venteicher.