State Sen. Tim Carpenter, D-Milwaukee, will propose a bill that would take the politics out of redistricting legislative boundary lines by giving the responsibility to the Government Accountability Board.

The Legislature is required by the state constitution to redistrict after every census, and the practice is usually used as a tool by the ruling party to consolidate voting districts.

As of right now, Iowa is the only state with a nonpartisan redistricting process. Wisconsin’s redistricting process is still controlled by the state Legislature.

Critics argue redistricting in many cases limits competition, and, Carpenter argues, costs taxpayers money.

“The last redistricting battle cost the taxpayers over 2.5 million dollars in legal fees,” Carpenter said in a statement Monday. “The leaders of the Legislature have already put aside our tax dollars to wage a new legal challenge to whichever political party gets the chance to redraw the boundary lines in 2012.”

Some argue changing who is in charge of redistricting will cut down on partisan motivations in the process.

Jay Heck, executive director of Common Cause in Wisconsin, said the process should be taken out of the hands of the Legislature, where it has been since the beginning of Wisconsin’s statehood.

“Right now, the [redistricting] process is very partisan,” Heck said. “Whoever controls the Senate or the Assembly controls redistricting, and the legislators try to redraw district lines after a census is conducted to obtain the maximum advantage for their political party.”

The GAB will give the primary responsibility to six retired judges who do not have partisan biases and who will accept citizen input, Heck said.

The proposed bill would be a change from the secrecy involved in the current process and cut costs as well as increase transparency, Heck added.

However, it will take some time before any real change can go into effect if the bill is passed.

Andrea Kaminski, a spokesperson for the Wisconsin League of Women Voters, said she is curious as to why the proposed bill has been introduced now, when the Legislature is out of session.

“[Sen. Carpenter] will have to reintroduce this bill next January when the Legislature is back in session,” Kaminski said. “It will require a constitutional amendment, which takes several years to pass.”

To pass a constitutional amendment, it has to be approved by two consecutive Legislatures with the amendment written in the same words for each Legislature, and then it must go to the voters before it becomes law, Kaminski added.

As a result, the proposed bill would not apply to this redistricting season following the 2010 census if it were passed.

However, Kaminski said the bill addresses an important problem.

“The redistricting system is inherently partisan,” Kaminski said. “We think it is great [Sen. Carpenter] is thinking in these terms, and we hope that this time the legislator will head up the redistricting process.”

Putting control over redistricting in the hands of the GAB rather than the Legislature would take away some of the mystique surrounding the issue by letting everyone in on what is happening to make sure it is fair and make reforms if they are necessary, Kaminski added.