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San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara counties move towards adopting final redistricting maps

The Santa Barbara County Citizens Independent Redistricting Commission modified its final map Wednesday.
Santa Barbara County Citizens Independent Redistricting Commission
The Santa Barbara County Citizens Independent Redistricting Commission modified its final map Wednesday.

Both San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties moved forward with final redistricting maps this week.

The SLO County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted to advance the Patten map, supported by the local Republican Party and the conservative supervisors, as the basis for final district lines for the next ten years.

That map splits the North Coast area into three pieces, putting Los Osos in one district and Morro Bay in another.

Meanwhile Cayucos, Cambria and the rest of the North Coast region would be in a third district with the city of Atascadero.

The SLO County Board of Supervisors chose the Patten map and will vote to finalize it next week.
SLO County
The SLO County Board of Supervisors chose the Patten map and will vote to finalize it next week.

The City of San Luis Obispo remains divided between multiple districts in the Patten map, just as it is under current district lines.

The SLO County redistricting process, in which the Board of Supervisors ultimately decides district lines, is in marked contrast to that of Santa Barbara County, which has an independent redistricting commission made up of county residents rather than elected officials.

That commission made changes Wednesday to its final map it had chosen last week, making modifications to District 4 and 5 which changed the district boundary within the city of Santa Maria.

The map groups together Guadalupe and parts of Santa Maria into one heavily-Latino district, putting the rest of Santa Maria into another district with Orcutt and the Vandenberg area.

The other major change the new map makes is putting Isla Vista with the eastern Goleta Valley and parts of the City of Santa Barbara.

Both the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors and the Santa Barbara County Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission are expected to vote on finalizing their respective maps during meetings next week.

If finalized, both maps will be in place for the next 10 years, barring any successful legal action.

District lines are updated every 10 years following the results of the U.S. Census.

Benjamin Purper was News Director of KCBX from May of 2021 to September of 2023. He came from California’s Inland Empire, where he spent three years as a reporter and Morning Edition host at KVCR in San Bernardino. Dozens of his stories have aired on KQED’s California Report, and his work has broadcast on NPR's news magazines, as well. In addition to radio, Ben has worked as a newspaper reporter and freelance writer.
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