(Harrisburg) -- A final vote on district lines for the state House and Senate is expected today. State Senate GOP spokesman Erik Arneson says his caucus changed 25 Senate districts since proposing a preliminary map, and the biggest changes have been to the district currently held by state Senator Jeff Piccola, a Republican of Dauphin County. "In terms of the number of residents affected by any change on the Senate map...in terms of the visual impact, in terms of changes to compactness, I think the answer is, it’s the 15th," he says. Only the Senate GOP caucus has released its final proposed plans. Their map still takes a district currently held by Allegheny County Democrat Jim Brewster and moves it across the state, to account for the population loss in the west and population gain in the east. Also scheduled next week is the first full chamber vote on the bill that will dictate congressional district lines for the next decade. No proposed maps have been presented yet, and Arneson says it’s uncertain whether plans will be presented this afternoon.










