(Commonwealth of Pennsylvania)HARRISBURG - The five-member commission redrawing the boundaries of Pennsylvania's state legislative districts voted to approve new maps for the next decade, with a focus on the state's fast-growing Latino population that could change the face of the predominantly white House and Senate.The Legislative Reapportionment Commission voted 4-1 during their meeting in the state Capitol, with chairman Mark Nordenberg, the Senate's Republican leader and the House and Senate's Democratic leaders voting for it.The vote came after nearly a year of meetings, hearings and closed-door discussions to carry out the constitutionally required, once-a-decade map-drawing to account for demographic shifts identified by the U.S.
Census.In comments before the vote, Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa, D-Allegheny, called it "truly a product for the public and by the public." House Minority Leader Joanna McClinton, D-Philadelphia, called it a "fair, constitutionally sound map."Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward, R-Westmoreland, called the map "imperfect," but said she was confident that it is constitutional.Nordenberg, a Democrat and a former University of Pittsburgh chancellor appointed by the state Supreme Court, quoted testimony from an academic analyst who called a fair, if slightly Republican-leaning map.He also quoted from a letter by Latino members of the Legislature that applauded the map and said it has nine districts "in which Latinos should be able to elect a candidate of their choice."In addition to a growing Latino population, driving significant change is growth in Pennsylvania's southern and eastern areas that are increasingly liberal, and stagnant population in predominantly white northern and western.