By MIKE CATALINI
Associated Press

TRENTON (AP) - New Jersey's Democrat-led Legislature is considering asking voters to approve overhauling how the state draws its legislative districts.

The Assembly and Senate budget and appropriations committees are holding a joint hearing Monday on a proposed constitutional amendment.

Republicans and a prominent political pollster criticize the Democratic proposal as a "sham" and an attempt to fool voters into supporting legislative maps that favor Democrats.

The proposal calls for requiring "fair representation." That means a district "shall be" more favorable to a political party if that party had a higher percentage of votes in contests for president, senator and governor in the preceding decade.

Republicans say the change would result in Democrats tightening their grip on power. They control 54 seats in the Assembly to Republicans' 26 and 25 Senate posts, compared with 15 for the GOP.