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NEWS BRIEFS
Lawmakers move to postpone congressional deadline
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Congressional candidates would have an additional week to file for election under an agreement reached on Friday between the House and Senate.
Negotiators trying to work out an agreement on a congressional redistricting plan have been deadlocked for a week, but some movement had been reported in private talks over the past couple of days. That prompted a deal to move Tuesday’s filing deadline to Feb. 7.
“It will only pertain to the congressional filing deadline,” said House Floor Leader Rocky Adkins, D-Sandy Hook. “That was the agreement that was reached to allow communications and conversations to continue to hopefully reach a compromise.”
That means candidates for all other offices, including legislative seats, still have only until Tuesday to file.
The Senate voted 25-0 on Friday to set the congressional filing deadline. The House is expected to vote on the new deadline Monday, which would give lawmakers most of next week to complete congressional redistricting.
Congressional redistricting occurs every 10 years to account for population changes reported in the U.S. Census. The latest count found that the state’s overall population grew from 4 million to 4.3 million from 2000 to 2010. Populations of rural areas in eastern and western Kentucky declined sharply while urban centers grew, forcing new boundaries to be drawn so that each congressman represents an equal number of people.
