California Gov. Gavin Newsom's redistricting effort took a big step forward with Democratic lawmakers back in session this week to try and get the bill on the November ballot.

Monday, California Democrats and Republicans held dueling press conferences at the California State Capitol. 

Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas laid out the new Democratic legislation, now named Proposition 50, to formally send the California redrawn congressional district maps to voters. 

"These redrawn districts that we are putting before voters are a temporary response," Rivas said.

California Republicans fired back, bringing a large poster into the legislative chamber that accuses the governor and Democrats of creating a "rigged map" in the next round of congressional elections. 

"Let's not replace it with this joke," Assembly Minority Leader James Gallagher said.

The move by California Democrats follows efforts by Texas Republicans to redraw congressional lines to try and gain five more GOP seats in the House of Representatives. 

California's redrawn map, released Friday, outlined the plan to make five of the state's nine current GOP districts more favorable for Democrats. 

"So I think it is pretty damn simple," Senate Pro Tem Mike McGuire said. "California will move if Texas moves." 

Newsom and California Democrats have stated they would pull back their mid-decade redistricting plan if Texas also backed down. 

GOP lawmakers are arguing that California's independent redistricting should not be altered.

"You can run but you cannot hide," Assemblymember Alexandra Macedo (R-Tulare) said. "And we are not backing down from this fight. You are disenfranchising Californians and we are tired of democracy dying here."

Democratic redistricting expert Paul Mitchell worked on the team redrawing the maps. He says they included data on which Californians voted for Kamala Harris in the last presidential race.

"There are more districts that aren't touched in this process that are changed," Mitchell said. "I think we were definitely looking at Kamala Harris numbers and other metrics, like registration and multiple past elections, in their totality."

California law stipulates that an independent commission handles redistricting based on census data every ten years. Newsom has stated that Prop. 50 would only suspend the commission, allowing the independent effort to resume come the 2030 census. 

The bill is scheduled to hit the California legislature's election committee on Tuesday, then the appropriations committee Wednesday. If it passes those committees, a full vote by both houses will need to happen by Thursday to meet California's secretary of state deadline to get the initiative on a Nov. 4 special election ballot.