In a last minute move on Monday night, Mayor Brandon Scott vetoed a Baltimore City Council redistricting map passed by council last month. This means that in all likelihood, the mayor’s original map is most likely to now become law.
That veto came moments apart from a charter amendment introduced by the council president that would tighten the timeframe the mayor has to issue a veto, effectively preventing the mayor from “running out the clock,” which is how President Nick Mosby has described the veto on the redistricting map which came through at 5:03 p.m. on Monday when the city council’s regular meeting had already begun.
According to guidance from the city solicitor, Mosby said that the council has been told they cannot schedule any special meetings between now and November 17th to override the veto or propose another amended map.
Mosby admonished the decision.
“This is not the type of process that we should be proud of. Obviously the mayor’s map had no community participation. That's why hundreds and hundreds of Baltimoreans came out and kind of let their voices heard to the council and ultimately the council took their concerns, their opinions, their support, and we amended the map,” said Mosby in an interview with reporters after the meeting.
Under Mosby’s proposed charter amendment, the mayor would have two weeks to issue a veto on bills passed by the council. Then, the council would have 20 days to review it and if two-thirds of the council vote in favor of overriding the veto, it would be adopted.
In the case of the redistricting map, President Mosby had asked for the mayor to issue a veto by October 30th so that the council could have convened in a regular meeting to take action that could have included veto override or amendments. The mayor declined to do so.
The city must undergo a redistricting every 10 years, after the most recent census, to make sure that population is evenly spread among districts. The process laid out in the city charter has the mayor introduce a map first that the council can then vote through or amend, however, the charter only gives a 60 day window in which to complete that process. Mayor Scott introduced the map on September 18th which gives a November 17th deadline for when the map must become law.
The Scott administration worked with the planning commission to pass a map that they have said distributes population equitably in terms of numbers while also maintaining contiguous, i.e. districts cannot be interrupted by geographical features like rivers or the harbor. While not required by law, the administration tried to put an “anchor institution” like one of the stadiums, a university, or a hospital in each of the districts.
Scott’s proposal was met with some criticism from neighborhoods like Fells Point, Bolton Hill and Morrell Park because it splits them into different districts.
Speaking last month with WYPR, Marvin James, Mayor Scott’s chief of staff, explained that the planning department, “creates a map fully with the understanding of the guides of population compactness, and being contiguous.. And then as we present it through the council… the public has the ability to provide that input through the council, they will work to amend the map.”
Ultimately, after a series of council hearings and meetings, President Nick Mosby did introduce a new map that would have kept those neighborhoods united. That map passed in a narrow 8-6 vote.
Along with the Monday night veto, Mayor Scott issued a letter explaining the decision. “I have not come to this decision lightly. When we began this process, I made it clear that I wanted to ensure that each district had similar populations, including demographic makeup, and that each district also had within it an anchor institution,” he wrote. Scott noted that some districts on the council’s map, like District 3, fell below 5% of the city’s median population.
The new council districts will be in effect for the May 2024 primary which in heavily Democratic Baltimore City, will decide the fate for many city councilmembers — all of whom are Democrats.
