83R22088 BPG-D
	By: Miles	H.C.R. No. 117

	CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
	WHEREAS, The United States Congress passed the Voting Rights
	Act on August 6, 1965, and more than four decades later, this
	legislation continues to play a vital role in preventing and
	addressing real threats to a fundamental right of every American;
	and
	WHEREAS, One of the most effective civil rights laws in
	history, the Voting Rights Act was designed to enforce rights that
	had been granted to minority voters nearly a century earlier by the
	Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution;
	although these amendments had prohibited racial discrimination in
	voting, communities of color continued to face disenfranchisement
	from discriminatory state voting laws; and
	WHEREAS, The Voting Rights Act immediately invalidated the
	worst Jim Crow laws in the South and greatly increased minority
	participation in the electoral process; moreover, the Act opened
	the way for the election of more officials from minority
	backgrounds; in the mid-1960s, there were only about 70 African
	American elected officials in the South, and by the turn of the 21st
	century, there were some 5,000; and
	WHEREAS, In recent years, the Voting Rights Act has helped
	Latinos make similar gains; the number of Latinos serving in
	elected office rose from about 3,700 in 1996 to more than 5,800 in
	2011; and
	WHEREAS, Most provisions in the Voting Rights Act are
	permanent, notably the portions that guarantee that no one may be
	denied the right to vote because of his or her race or color; some
	enforcement-related provisions require periodic reauthorization,
	however, and over the years, Congress has repeatedly extended them
	because many state and local governments have continued to erect
	barriers to minority political participation; these renewals were
	endorsed by Presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and George H. W. Bush,
	and most recently, President George W. Bush, who signed the Voting
	Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006; that
	legislation passed with overwhelming, bipartisan support after
	house and senate hearings exhaustively examined a new generation of
	tactics having discriminatory impact, including at-large
	elections, annexations, last-minute polling place relocations, and
	redistricting; and
	WHEREAS, President Lyndon B. Johnson issued a call for a
	strong voting rights law, and the Voting Rights Act was enacted
	during his presidency; recognizing and upholding the legacy of this
	great Texan will promote equality for all citizens; and
	WHEREAS, In the past, the Supreme Court has consistently
	upheld the authority of Congress over the VRA, including Section 5;
	settled case law supports our historic reliance on Congress to
	develop remedies for discrimination and to create uniform federal
	laws that ensure each citizen can enter the voting booth with the
	certainty that his or her vote will be accurately and fairly
	counted; and
	WHEREAS, Sadly, attempts at voter suppression have not ended,
	as Congress recognized in 2006 when it renewed the landmark Voting
	Rights Act for another 25 years; if the United States is to continue
	to serve as a beacon of democracy in the world, we cannot allow the
	discriminatory practices of the past to resurface; now, therefore,
	be it
	RESOLVED, That the 83rd Legislature of the State of Texas
	hereby express its support for the Voting Rights Act and urge the
	United States Congress to protect every citizen's right to
	participate in the political process by making permanent the
	provisions of Section 5 of that legislation; and, be it further
	RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
	copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
	the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of
	Representatives of the United States Congress, to the United States
	Supreme Court, and to all the members of the Texas delegation to
	Congress with the request that this resolution be officially
	entered in the Congressional Record.