Some updates in the ongoing redistricting saga. The federal judge in charge of redrawing New York’s Congressional districts–since lawmakers in Albany couldn’t come to an agreement of their own–released a second draft of maps yesterday.

The new versions make some tweaks in Brooklyn and a few districts upstate but leave the proposed Bronx lines the same as those proposed last week (read our story on this here), potentially merging Kingsbridge and Norwood with a district in northern Manhattan currently represented by Charlies Rangel–which State Sen. Adriano Espaillat is now saying he might make a run for.

Meanwhile, lawmakers are still trying to get Gov. Cuomo to approve their maps for State Senate and Assembly districts. The lawmakers introduced a bill Sunday night that included revised maps, which apparently don’t differ all that much from the old ones introduced last month. Many Bronxites blasted those maps for senselessly carving up the communities of Bedford Park and Norwood--along what many assumed to be racially-drawn lines–between the 33rd and the 34th State Senate Districts.

What’s new in the legislation proposed Sunday is an amendment that would allegedly reform the redistricting process for the next time (which would happen after the 2020 Census), something lawmakers have been promising to do for a while now.

Good government groups have long argued that those in office shouldn’t be in charge of drawing their own districts because it leads to gerrymandering–when districts are drawn in ways that up the incumbent candidate’s chances of being re-elected.

In the new amendment, lawmakers proposed creating a 10-member “independent redistricting commission” to take over the task of drawing new maps. Some groups, like government watchdogs Citizens Union, have come out in support of this proposal, while others say it still leaves too much in the hands of politicians, who would be in charge of choosing the members of the commission and would ultimately be the ones to approve the  maps

Cuomo, an adamant supporter of independent redistricting, had in the past promised to veto any maps from lawmakers that showed evidence of gerrymandering. But according to the New York Times, the governor said in a radio interview yesterday  that the new district maps were “far from perfect,” but that lawmakers had “made progress.”

He said he would approve the maps if the Legislature passed a law reforming the redistricting process in the future, in addition to the constitutional amendment, according to the Times.