Madison - Republicans unveiled a plan Friday to redraw the state's 132 legislative seats just before a wave of recall elections this summer - a proposal that would push at least 11 pairs of lawmakers into the same districts.

A quick vote would allow GOP lawmakers to approve the maps and lock down advantages for themselves at the ballot box for the next 10 years by drawing district lines in their favor. Republicans' schedule would allow them to sign off on maps to their liking even if they lose control of the Senate in the coming weeks.

Republicans have been working on the maps for months, but Democrats and the general public saw them for the first time Friday, a week and a half before lawmakers are expected to approve them.

Democrats are in the minority in both houses and will have little to no say in what the maps look like. But a lawsuit has already been filed over redistricting, meaning a federal court could still weigh in on the process.

A legislative hearing on the new maps is scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday, and the Legislature could act on it as early as July 19 in extraordinary session.

"(Republicans) are now going to convene an extraordinary legislative session to rush a vote on their plan out of fear they will lose their majority when voters render their verdict in the upcoming recall elections," said a statement from Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller (D-Monona).

"Instead of creating any jobs for the people of Wisconsin, the only jobs they're protecting are their own."

But GOP leaders said they were simply doing their jobs.

Once a decade, every state must draw new lines for congressional and legislative districts based on new U.S. census data, which show that Wisconsin gained more than 300,000 residents since 2000. The new lines are needed to ensure the districts are of equal population.

"Republicans have been keeping our promises and getting the job done since day one. We started with jobs bills to improve the economy; we balanced the budget on time and turned a deficit into a surplus; and now we're fulfilling our constitutional requirement to properly reapportion the state's legislative and congressional districts," Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald (R-Horicon) and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) said in a joint statement.

Republican leaders said there were 11 states where some redistricting measures had already been approved by the Legislature and signed by the governor or been passed through an alternate system of redistricting used in those states.

Scott Fitzgerald spokesman Andrew Welhouse said Republicans would seek to pass separate legislation allowing the legislative and congressional maps to be redrawn before local municipalities finish drawing ward lines. Currently, state law requires the ward lines to be drawn first, which would mean that lawmakers would have to wait until long after the recall elections to pass a redistricting plan.

Welhouse said lawmakers were moving more quickly this year because of new technology, such as computerized mapping. He declined to comment on whether local communities could use that same technology to move more quickly as well.

Some communities have drawn their ward lines, but many have not. Those that have approved them may have to redraw them once the Legislature approves its maps.

Dramatic changes

Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) would see her 8th Senate District change significantly, likely becoming far more Republican. As now, the district would include parts of Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Washington and Waukesha counties. But it wouldn't include Shorewood, where the recall movement against her was launched last winter, and which has voted Democratic in recent state and national elections. Also gone: sections of the east side of Milwaukee.

What it lost on the east and south, Darling's district would pick up on the west and north, taking in more of Germantown and Menomonee Falls than it does now, along with Lannon and part of the Town of Lisbon.

Now, the 21st Senate District consists of most of Racine County, and the 22nd Senate District consists of most of Kenosha County.

Under the proposal, the 21st District would hold the western, Republican-leaning portions of both counties, while the 22nd District would include the city of Kenosha and much of the City of Racine, which have larger Democratic and minority populations.

With those changes, Sen. Bob Wirch (D-Pleasant Prairie), who is facing a recall election, would be drawn out of the 22nd District he has long represented. He called the changes "shameful political gerrymandering."

Democrats said two Democrats challenging Republican senators in recall elections - Rep. Fred Clark of Baraboo and former Brown County Executive Nancy Nusbaum - were drawn out of the districts they are seeking. That would mean if they won this summer's recall elections, they could serve briefly but would then have to move or run in a different district in November 2012.

In the Assembly, 11 pairs of sitting lawmakers are drawn into the same districts, and 11 other districts are left without incumbents. In three districts, Republicans would have to run against each other; in two districts, Democrats would have to run against each other; and in six, a Republican would have to run against a Democrat - in districts that Democrats said leaned Republican.

Cullen Werwie, a spokesman for Republican Gov. Scott Walker, said the governor would examine the bill when it reaches his desk and declined to comment on whether it was appropriate to vote on it before the recall elections.

"It's up to the Legislature right now," Werwie said.

Sen. Randy Hopper (R-Fond du Lac), who is facing a recall election, said he didn't know if voters would have a problem with lawmakers approving new maps just before the recall elections. Asked if he thought the timing was fair, he said, "That's leadership's call."

Republicans currently run all of state government, but run the risk of losing the Senate this summer because of unprecedented recall elections against six Republicans and three Democrats. Republicans have a 19-14 majority, and Democrats would need to net three seats to gain control of the chamber.

Courts have drawn Wisconsin's maps for the past three redistricting cycles, but that's because control of the Legislature was split between the two parties, which were unable to agree on a plan.

Under the federal Voting Rights Act, districts must be drawn in ways that ensure minorities have an opportunity to elect candidates of their choice.

This month, former Senate Democratic leader Judy Robson of Beloit and 14 other citizens asked for a three-judge panel to develop a redistricting plan if lawmakers do not put a constitutional plan in place in a timely fashion.

GOP legislative leaders have retained Michael Best & Friedrich and the Troupis Law Office to draw the maps. So far they have reported spending $300,000 in taxpayer money for those maps, but lawmakers have not said how much they expect the legal work to cost in total.

At Wednesday's hearings, Senate and Assembly committees will consider a bill that would dictate how challenges to the maps in state court can be conducted. Under the bill, the Supreme Court would have to assign a panel of judges from three circuit courts to hear the challenges.

Those suing would be barred from substituting any of the judges. Appeals of the panel's rulings would be heard directly by the Supreme Court, without going through the appeals court. Those changes would not affect the lawsuit that has already been filed because that case is in federal court.

Tom Tolan and Emma Roller of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.