The plan also would move Colbert, Lawrence and Lowndes counties into different congressional districts, divide Montgomery County among three districts and make other changes statewide.
The Legislature's reapportionment committee gave its approval to maps redrawing Alabama's seven congressional districts and its eight Board of Education districts, to reflect population changes since 2000 that were shown by the 2010 census.
Lawmakers said the plans would be filed Tuesday with the full Legislature, where they could be changed. Any new congressional or school board map, which would take effect starting with next year's elections, would have to pass the Legislature. Top lawmakers want both plans, or rewritten versions of them, to pass by June 9.
The congressional plan endorsed by the committee largely copied one drafted by state Sen. Gerald Dial, R-Lineville. Dial said his plan had input from, and was supported by, Alabama's delegation in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Under the committee's congressional plan, all of Bibb, Chilton and Shelby counties would remain in the 6th District, as would much of west, north, east and southeast Jefferson County and much of north and central Tuscaloosa County.
Most of St. Clair County also is in the 6th District now, but none of it would remain there under the plan. Instead, most of the county would be in the 3rd District, which still would cover much of east-central Alabama, and a slice of north St. Clair County would be in the 4th District, which still would include Walker, Cullman, Blount, Etowah and other counties.
Also, all of Coosa County under the committee's plan would be in the 6th District. Now, much of west Coosa County is in the 6th District but the rest of the county is in the 3rd District.
The 7th District under the committee's plan still would include much of west-central Alabama, much of south Tuscaloosa County and slice of southwest and central Jefferson County. Much of Bessemer, Birmingham, Brighton, Fairfield, Lipscomb, Midfield and Tarrant would be in the 7th District, as well as parts of Forestdale and Center Point.
The committee's plan would add to the 7th District about 51,500 people living in northwest Montgomery County. Much of northwest Montgomery County now is in the 2nd District, which would retain much of southeastern Alabama, including Houston and Pike counties.
The plan also would move Lowndes County to the 7th District. It now is in the 2nd District. The redrawn 7th congressional district would remain the state's only majority-black congressional district: 63.6 percent of its residents are black, according to the 2010 census.
The committee's proposed map also would move Colbert and Lawrence counties from the 5th congressional district to the 4th District. The 5th District would keep Madison, Limestone and Lauderdale counties and all but the southern tip of Jackson County, which would go to the 4th District.
The committee's map also would put all of Morgan County in the 5th District. Now, the Decatur area is in the 5th District but most of Morgan County is in the 4th District.
The committee on Thursday rejected a draft plan it adopted Wednesday that would have removed parts of Tuscaloosa County from the 6th and 7th districts and put the entire county in the 4th congressional district.
The committee's map would make little change to the 1st congressional district, which would keep Mobile, Baldwin, Escambia, Monroe and Washington counties. The 1st District would continue to split Clarke County with the 7th District, but the 1st District's share would shrink.
The committee's proposed Board of Education map, like the current map, would have two majority-black districts: the 4th District, which would keep much of Jefferson County, and the 5th District, which would be redrawn to stretch from Mobile to Tuskegee.
Jefferson County now is split between the 4th and 6th school board districts. It would be split into three districts under the committee's plan, with much of west, north and east Jefferson County in the 7th District, part of the southeast, including much of Homewood, Hoover and Vestavia Hills, in the 3rd District and the rest of the county in the 4th District.
Lawmakers from the Mobile area objected that the committee's school board plan would split Mobile County: A thin slice of northeast and east Mobile County, including much of the city of Mobile, would be in the 5th District and the rest of the county would be in the 1st District. The entire county now is in the 1st school board district.
The committee-approved maps, based on the 2010 census, put 682,819 or 682,820 people in each of Alabama's seven congressional districts and put anywhere from 595,435 to 598,361 people in each of Alabama's eight school board districts.
Among other changes in the committee's congressional plan:
Montgomery County would be divided by three congressional districts: A northwestern part would be in the 7th District; part of the county's northeast and east, with about 31,900 people, would be in the 3rd District, and the rest of the county, with about 146,000 people, would be in the 2nd District. Currently, the 3rd District covers most of the Montgomery County, and part of its north and west is in the 2nd District.
All of Pickens County would be put in the 7th congressional district. Now, much of west Pickens County is in the 7th District but the rest is in the 4th District.
Dial, a co-chairman of the reapportionment committee, predicted the congressional and school board plans endorsed by the panel would pass the Legislature largely as written. Sen. Cam Ward, R-Alabaster, a committee member, said they might pass unchanged.
But Rep. Jim McClendon, R-Springville, the other co-chairman, predicted many changes would be proposed. "There is no guarantee that these will pass as written," he said.
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