HARRISBURG -- A proposal to take politics out of redistricting won't get a hearing before the House State Government Committee anytime soon.

Sponsored by Rep. Steve Samuelson, D-Northampton, the plan would prevent sitting lawmakers from serving on a five-member redistricting panel and would prohibit the panel members from considering party registration or voting records when drawing new lines between legislative districts.

The Legislature could vote the plan up or down, but could not amend it. A "no" vote would send it back to the panel for changes, and if the Legislature still does not agree, the secretary of state would choose one of the two plans at random.

The State Government Committee was expected to consider the bill this morning, but Chairwoman Babette Josephs, D-Philadelphia, removed it from the agenda. In a memo to committee members, she said she had concerns about the bill's requirements for the Legislative Reference Bureau to develop redistricting procedures. Bureau Director Robert W. Zech Jr. told Ms. Josephs that the requirement might compromise his office's nonpartisan mission and reputation.

"While I am doubtful that there is enough support in the General Assembly to pass even the most carefully drafted redistricting legislation, I am certain that the chances of passing flawed legislation ... are, in my opinion, nonexistent," Ms. Josephs wrote in her memo.

Supporters of the bill, including the League of Women Voters, say that's just an excuse to keep in place the current system of gerrymandering.

In other states, like Iowa, legislative districts are compact rectangles, but Pennsylvania's districts form odd shapes as they snake around communities where party registration could tip the balance away from incumbents.