Proposition 50 would suspend independent redistricting and hand map-drawing power back to politicians, risking the voices of rural Californians.
The California Farm Bureau has formally announced its opposition to Proposition 50, a constitutional amendment on the November 4 special election ballot that would temporarily suspend the independent Citizens Redistricting Commission and return the power of drawing congressional maps to the Legislature.
Under the current law, the Citizens Redistricting Commission—a body composed of citizens, not politicians—adopts congressional district boundaries.
Prop 50 would override those existing maps for the 2026, 2028, and 2030 elections and allow legislatively drawn maps until the commission resumes in 2031.
Farm Bureau president Shannon Douglass argues the measure jeopardizes fair representation for farming communities. “Proposition 50 not only divides farmland but also weakens the voting power of the people who work on farms, ranches, and fields,” she said in the Farm Bureau’s press release.
She noted that in 2020 the commission held hundreds of meetings and considered tens of thousands of public comments to draw districts that balance “similar interests and give rural California a voice.”
According to the Farm Bureau, Prop 50 would tilt representation toward urban centers, dilute rural influence, and risk splitting genuine agricultural communities, “Modoc and Marin don’t belong in the same district, nor do San Jose and Coalinga,” Douglass said.
Several GOP lawmakers have challenged the measure in court, citing procedural concerns, but the California Supreme Court has declined to block Prop 50 from the ballot.
For rural Californians, the stakes are high: if Prop 50 passes, future congressional lines could favor urban districts and sideline agricultural concerns in Sacramento and Washington.
