Opinion ID: 1151125
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Objections of the California Senate

Text: (8) The Senate's objections center around supposed Voting Rights Act violations in the Masters' plans for senate districts. Several objections repeat charges made by MALDEF or the Coalition, and were previously discussed herein. Another objection concerns the Masters' decision to include San Luis Obispo County (mostly White voters) in a district that also includes Santa Barbara County and the northern part of Ventura County. The Senate had proposed excluding San Luis Obispo and including Oxnard, to increase minority population for the district. But sustaining the Senate's objection would necessitate combining San Luis Obispo County with either Monterey County to the north, or with part of heavily Hispanic San Joaquin Valley to the east. Monterey County is subject to section 5 preclearance under the Voting Rights Act (42 U.S.C. § 1973c). In the plan presented by the Senate to the Masters, San Luis Obispo County was in fact combined with parts of the San Joaquin Valley, and included Kings County, which is also subject to section 5 preclearance. Thus, the Masters' decision was influenced in part by the necessity of ensuring that preclearance areas were likewise not linked with heavily White areas. The Masters' choice was a reasonable one under the circumstances. The Senate complains that two Black senate districts were not better equalized, resulting in one district (Sen. Dist. 25) having less than 40 percent Black population. Yet Senate District 25 is composed of more than 35 percent Blacks, a figure represented by Black groups as sufficient for a majority minority Black district. Additionally, this new district has a combined minority population in excess of 85 percent. We approve the Masters' decision. Finally, the Senate objects to the splitting of the heavily Hispanic City of Santa Ana in Orange County. The Masters' plan does split the city, but in a manner that enhances Hispanic population in the resulting senate and assembly districts. Again, MALDEF has not complained to us of the Masters' choice, and we endorse it here.