It's seemed natural that Summit Hill Borough Council would unanimously support passage of state Senate Bill 22, a bipartisan proposal that addresses legislative and congressional redistricting.

It was such redistricting in 2012 that severed Summit Hill from the 122nd Legislative District. Summit Hill is the only municipality in Carbon County not in the 122nd District. It was moved to the 124th District, which encompasses Schuylkill and part of Berks County.This week, council said it backs the bill that would put an independent citizens commission in charge of both legislative and congressional redistricting.On Monday, Councilman William O'Gurek informed his peers of the provisions of the state Senate bill.He said state Sen. John Yudichak is one of the sponsors of the bill.O'Gurek said the new bill is modeled after a similar plan in California. It would begin the process of changing the state constitution to create a new 11-member redistricting commission, composed of citizen volunteers without ties to elected officials who meet criteria to be specified by the Legislature.No elected officials, candidates, political party officials, their aides or spouses would be eligible to serve."No other nation allows the conflict of interest created by politicians drawing lines that directly govern their own elections," O'Gurek said. "The proposed amendment provides multiple safeguards for a more fair, less partisan process that would reduce the ability of either party to manipulate district lines to its own advantage."