Interest groups, such as labor unions and business associations, will likely also propose congressional maps in coming weeks, and the independent commission should release draft maps in late November. The final maps for Congress, the Legislature and the Board of Equalization were slated to be completed around Christmas, after the state Supreme Court granted the panel extra time to finish their work. The commission is now requesting the court extend the deadline to Jan. 14.

“It’s an exciting day because we are receiving the much-awaited census data,” said Sara Sadhwani, an assistant professor of politics at Pomona College and one of 14 members of the California Citizens Redistricting Commission.

While the panel must wait for UC Berkeley to format the data, “we can start planning out our process a little bit more clearly,” Sadhwani said.