Lawmakers To Call Their Own Redistricting Session

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana's lawmakers will call themsleves into a special legislative session for the first time in history, when they come into session in March to redraw the state's political district lines.

Rep. Rick Gallot, the chairman of the House committee that deals with redistricting, announced Monday that lawmakers have gathered enough signatures on a petition to call their own special session — instead of waiting for the governor to do it for them.

House Clerk Alfred "Butch" Speer says lawmakers have never previously called their own session.

Gallot says the session will begin March 20 and could last until April 13.

The gathering is required to rework congressional, legislative, Public Service Commission, state education board and some judicial districts to account for population shifts over the last decade. The redistricting is tied to the release of the 2010 Census data.