Census have to determine number of Calif. House seats

California will find out if it gains a seat in the House of Representatives when the first population figures from the 2010 census are released Tuesday.

The Census Bureau is releasing state population totals that will be used to reallocate the 435 congressional seats. The state released its own figures earlier this month estimating California's population had grown to 38.8 million, up from 34 million in 2000.

California currently has 53 seats and is in the process of changing how it draws district boundaries.

Voters in 2008 stripped the state Legislature of the responsibility for drawing boundaries and entrusted an independent citizens commission to draw state legislative districts and seats for the tax-collecting state Board of Equalization.

This year, voters expanded the commission's scope to include congressional districts.

The final six members of the 14-member California Citizens Redistricting Commission were selected last week.
"We think the initial eight commissioners did an excellent job of complementing regional and ethnic diversity," said Tunua Thrash of the Greenlining Institute, a nonprofit group advocating for racial and economic justice.She said the commission faces a daunting task of drawing those districts in eight months.John Malson of the state's demographics unit said the new census figures will help explain differences in population estimates. The state estimates California's 2009 population at 38.4 million while the Census Bureau pegged it at 37 million.The state has since released its 2010 estimate, showing the higher number.

Malson said the federal government uses different methods than the state, leading the Census Bureau to show a higher number of California residents leaving the state. State demographers believe they are using more precise figures, which come from driver's license address changes.Much of California's population growth this past decade can be attributed to a high birthrate in Los Angeles County, Malson said. That has led some residents there to migrate into surrounding counties, such as Riverside and San Bernardino.

"Either it's going to justify us or we're going to have to review why the differences are so great," Malson said of the new Census total.