Bill Text: TX HB1610 | 2021-2022 | 87th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to the composition of districts for the election of members of the Texas House of Representatives.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-03-09 - Referred to Redistricting [HB1610 Detail]
Download: Texas-2021-HB1610-Introduced.html
| 87R1872 MAW-D | ||
| By: Davis | H.B. No. 1610 | |
|
|
||
|
|
||
| relating to the composition of districts for the election of | ||
| members of the Texas House of Representatives. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. The purpose of this Act is to fulfill the | ||
| legislature's duty under Section 28, Article III, Texas | ||
| Constitution, to redraw the districts for the election of the | ||
| members of the Texas House of Representatives in compliance with | ||
| the United States and Texas Constitutions and applicable federal | ||
| law following the publication of the 2020 federal decennial census. | ||
| SECTION 2. The districts from which the members of the Texas | ||
| House of Representatives are elected are the districts as provided | ||
| by law and used for the election of the members of the House of | ||
| Representatives of the 87th Legislature except as those districts | ||
| are changed by Section 3 of this Act. | ||
| SECTION 3. (a) San Augustine County is transferred from | ||
| House District 57 to House District 11. | ||
| (b) Hood County is transferred from House District 60 to | ||
| House District 59. | ||
| (c) Sherman County is transferred from House District 87 to | ||
| House District 86. | ||
| (d) Bexar County Precinct 4137 is transferred from House | ||
| District 119 to House District 118. | ||
| SECTION 4. In this Act, "tract," "block group," and "block" | ||
| mean the geographic areas identified by those terms on the 2010 | ||
| Census TIGER/Line Shapefiles, prepared by the federal Bureau of the | ||
| Census for the Twenty-third Decennial Census of the United States, | ||
| enumerated as of April 1, 2010. | ||
| SECTION 5. It is the intent of the legislature that if any | ||
| county, tract, block group, block, or other geographic area has | ||
| erroneously been left out of this Act, a court reviewing this Act | ||
| should include that area in the appropriate district in accordance | ||
| with the intent of the legislature, using any available evidence of | ||
| that intent, including evidence such as that used by the Supreme | ||
| Court of Texas in Smith v. Patterson, 111 Tex. 535, 242 S.W. 749 | ||
| (1922). | ||
| SECTION 6. (a) This Act supersedes all previous enactments | ||
| or orders adopting districts for the Texas House of | ||
| Representatives. All previous acts of the legislature adopting | ||
| districts for the Texas House of Representatives are repealed. | ||
| (b) Chapter 2 (S.B. 3), Acts of the 83rd Legislature, 1st | ||
| Called Session, 2013 (Article 195a-13, Vernon's Texas Civil | ||
| Statutes), is repealed. | ||
| SECTION 7. The districts established in this Act apply to | ||
| the election of the members of the Texas House of Representatives | ||
| beginning with the primary and general elections in 2022 for | ||
| members of the 88th Legislature. This Act does not affect the | ||
| membership or districts of the House of Representatives of the 87th | ||
| Texas Legislature. | ||
| SECTION 8. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives | ||
| a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as | ||
| provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this | ||
| Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this | ||
| Act takes effect September 1, 2021. | ||
