Beshear urges lawmakers to wait on redistricting

Updated: Wed 3:37 PM, Jan 09, 2013

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - Gov. Steve Beshear is urging lawmakers to wait until later this year to consider legislation to redraw legislative districts.

The second-term Democrat sent a letter to Senate President Robert Stivers and House Speaker Greg Stumbo on Wednesday asking them to hold off the politically divisive issue so that more time can be devoted to reforming the state's pension program for government retirees and for reforming the state's tax code.

Stivers, a Republican from Manchester, has said redrawing boundaries around legislative districts can wait because the next round of elections isn't until 2014. Stumbo, a Prestonsburg Democrat, has said he wants to get it done sooner.

Redistricting is supposed to occur every 10 years to account for population changes found by the U.S. Census Bureau.

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