After weeks of hearings and negotiations, members of New York state's Independent Redistricting Commission failed to reach a consensus on a single proposal to send to the Legislature. 

Jack Martins, a Republican appointee who serves as the commission’s vice chair, told Capital Tonight that after weeks of hearings and negotiations, Democratic commissioners walked away at the 11th hour without an explanation.

“There are some people, who, perhaps if they are cynical, would think it was by design, understanding that this process automatically defaults to the Legislature,” Martins said. 

On Monday, David Imamura, a Democratic appointee who serves as the commission’s chair, told Capital Tonight that the commissioners had reached an impasse and the Democratic appointees decided to “put together a map that tries to combine everything we’ve discussed and everything that we’ve agreed on and put it together into a single cohesive proposal and present it to our Republican colleagues.”

Both proposals are being sent to the state Legislature for consideration.

If neither proposal receives support from two-thirds of the members in each chamber, the commission will get another opportunity to submit new maps. Martins told Capital Tonight on Tuesday that there were only a “half dozen to a dozen issues” that needed to be resolved and a consensus was close to being reached on the first maps.

If both of the commission’s proposals are rejected by the Legislature, the Legislature would be in charge of drawing the new district lines. Martins said the commissioners are “committed” to delivering bipartisan district lines rather than having “lines drawn by politicians.”