A multipartisan commission draws CA’s districts; the map must get approval of 3/5 Dems, 3/5 Reps, and 3/4 others.
Standards are:
(1) equal population
(2) compliant with Voting Rights Act
(3) geographically contiguous
(4) The geographic integrity of any city, county, city and county, local neighborhood, or local community of interest shall be respected in a manner that minimizes their division to the extent possible without violating the requirements of any of the preceding subdivisions. A community of interest is a contiguous population which shares common social and economic interests that should be included within a single district for purposes of its effective and fair representation. Examples of such shared interests are those common to an urban area, a rural area, an industrial area, or an agricultural area, and those common to areas in which the people share similar living standards, use the same transportation facilities, have similar work opportunities, or have access to the same media of communication relevant to the election process. Communities of interest shall not include relationships with political parties, incumbents, or political candidates.
(5) geographically compact without violating the above
If they did the districts without gerrymandering I assume this would at least mean more competitive districts, so conceivably the GOP could pick up a few seats in California?