The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
House of Representatives
State House, Boston 02133

House of Representatives
State House
Boston, MA 02133

Dear Colleagues:

Over the past year, the members of the House Redistricting Committee have been working diligently to redistrict the state's congressional districts. For the first time in twenty years, we have been fortunate in that the apportionment process has allowed us to retain the same number of districts that we held over the previous decade.

With this in mind, the Redistricting Committee aimed to present a Congressional redistricting plan that takes into account the past decade's demographic changes in Massachusetts. Our plan is simple: increase the political influence of minorities, recognize and unite political subdivisions, and respect communities of interest. Our final proposal was guided by several goals:

• Keeping cities and towns whole;
• Joining communities of interest; and,
• Creating a "Minority-Majority" district.

These principles have allowed us to create ten uniformly sized districts, varying in size by no more than
0.53% that are each tied together by common bonds The Committee held five hearings throughout the
Commonwealth--Worcester county; Springfield; Boston; Northern Middlesex county; Bristol, Plymouth and Bainstable counties--receiving testimony from hundreds of citizens, members, local officials, and activists.

In addition, this proposal respects community borders: in 1990, the Congressional districts were drawn to divide 13 communities; this proposal splits only the state's largest city, Boston. Furthermore, the proposed districts are considerably more compact. Finally, for the first time in Massachusetts' history, a "Minority-Majority" district is being created with minorities composing 51.49% of the total population of the 8th Congressional district.

Attached is our proposed redistricting map. Thank you for your ideas throughout this process and for your continued consideration.

Sincerely yours,