In an effort to ensure that citizens are appropriately represented by their elected officials, the Joint Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment released a rough draft of new state legislative district boundaries earlier this month.

The proposed plan would reduce Long Island's Assembly delegation from 22 to 21 seats, granting the remaining seat to New York City. Furthermore, the proposed lines adhere to the principals expressed in the Voting Rights Act and follow each decennial census of the state's population. A series of statewide hearings to gather public comment on the plan are expected in coming weeks, according to Task Force co-chairs Senator Dean Skelos and Assemblyman William Parment.

"By ensuring that every man and woman in this state has equal access to government representation, we are reinforcing our demographic process and preserving one of the fundamental values of this nation," Parment said. Concern for ensuring minority voting rights took precedence in the decision-making process.

The draft plan will essentially affect every assembly district on Long Island in one form or another, resulting in various shifts of power. For example, the 14th and 15th Assembly Districts would be combined, with only one seat available to either Marc Herbst, the current assemblyman for the 14th Assembly District (A.D.), or Donna Ferrara, the current assemblywoman of the 15th A.D. The reapportionment of the districts would leave Herbst and Ferrara, who are both up for re-election in November 2002, living within the same district.

Currently, the 14th A.D. comprises all communities between the Wantagh Parkway and the Seaford Oyster Bay Expressway south of the Northern State Parkway, including Hicksville, Island Trees, Wantagh, Seaford, a portion of Jericho and Plainview and half of Bethpage. Plans to eliminate one district entirely, however, would mean that Herbst's current constituency would then fall under the 15th Assembly District and run east from East Garden City through to Bethpage and Plainview.

Wantagh would then fall under the 19th A.D., with Seaford in the proposed 12th A.D. and Levittown split between the 15th A.D. and 19th A.D. The 14th A.D. would then comprise those communities east of Valley Stream to Freeport. The new boundaries will be in effect for the 2002 election.

Herbst, however, is hopeful the districts will remain the same. "This is just a proposal," he said. "Within the next month there will be negotiations. We are hoping to keep the seat."

According to information found on the Task Force's website, www.latfor.state.ny.us, the 14th Assembly District's current population is approximately 117,033. If the proposed plan were to go into effect, population in the newly reapportioned 15th A.D is expected to be 131,138. The elimination of one Long Island Assembly District would mean that each remaining district would gain between 10,000 and 15,000 constituents.

Increasing the number of constituents per assembly district, said Herbst, does not give residents fair representation. "Representing 14,000 extra people dilutes their representation," said Herbst. "I still have only one vote."

Also known as delimitation and reapportionment, redistricting results from population changes that are weighed against political considerations to determine whether a political district's lines need to be dramatically altered, slightly adjusted or left alone. The redistricting plan will determine how every citizen and community will be represented at the state and federal levels of government for the next 10 years. It will also determine whether New York's diverse communities will have sufficient political strength to elect candidates of their choice.

One person-one vote, the idea behind the redistricting plan, should be observed so each district has approximately the same number of people in it. The U.S. Supreme Court decisions in the 1960s clarified the constitutional intent to provide equity of representation for all Americans in both congressional and state legislative districts.

"Just to give you some background, redistricting happens every 10 years and is required by the US Supreme Court's interpretation of the federal Constitution," said Parment. "It is really a response to the knowledge that the current districts are mal-apportioned if measured by the criteria of whether or not they have substantial equal numbers of residents residing within the current districts.

"If there were no population changes we wouldn't have to do this but the population changes are such that some districts have as few as 100,000 people and some have as many as 170,000 people so the US Supreme Court's requirement for equal representation - the so-called one-person one-vote standard - must be met following each census."

In a prepared statement, Senator Skelos said, "The recrafting of district lines every 10 years is designed to ensure that citizens are appropriately represented by their elected officials. The process won't end here. We will continue to solicit the public's input on this proposal so as to reach and craft a final plan that meets all the legal requirements to best serve the people of this state."

The state legislature and the governor must approve the redistricting plan. In addition, the US Justice Department's Civil Rights Division must review and approve it for compliance with the Voting Rights Act. Parment and fellow Task Force Co-Chair Skelos said they are virtually on schedule to meet the same redistricting timetable as in 1992 despite disruptions at the Task Force's lower Manhattan headquarters resulting from the Sept. 11 terrorist attack.

A new set of lines will come out following the hearings and will be voted on by the state legislature and approved by Governor George Pataki. Since politicians must announce their candidacy by July, Herbst said the vote is expected to take place over the next four- to six-weeks.

"I know from my experience that even small changes are very meaningful to communities, so although I think of them as relatively small, the communities may think of them as significant. Of course that's part of the purpose of having public hearings on these proposals to get their impression," said Parment.