New Congressional Redistricting Map signed into law Monday

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Governor Hogan has signed the new congressional map drawn and passed by the MGA last week.

"This map is a huge step in the right direction," said Gov. Hogan, adding "It's not perfect."

This after the Governor's office says the defendants, through the Maryland Office of the Attorney General, dropped the appealof the decision declaring the previous map unconstitutional.

There was no public bill signing, the Governor's director of communications announced the bill was signed on Twitter, but the Governor spoke to the press at 2:30pm.

Judge Lynn Battaglia on Friday denied approval for this new map, because it was an advisory opinion, and the map hadn't yet been signed into law.

She noted that in appeals courts, where the case was expected to go next, "advisory opinions are not well regarded."

"I don't know how I'd rule on the merits, because we don't have enough information," said Judge Battaglia during Friday's hearing.

Governor Hogan's Director of Communications says that no further action is needed from the judge.

Delegate Neil Parrott, one of the plaintiff's in the case against the original map, released a statement, that says in part, "by not taking the case to the Maryland Court of Appeals, the State concedes that Judge Battaglia’s decision will stay in effect. Attorney General Frosh and the Democrat Leadership may have been concerned about losing their appeal and that the Court of Appeals would have drawn a map that was more favorable to the citizens of Maryland than the gerrymandered map that the legislature passed last week.”

And just over a half hour before the scheduled bill signing, Senate President Bill Ferguson and Speaker Adrienne Jones released a joint statement.

This story is breaking and will be updated with additional information.