Bill Text: TX HCR2 | 2021 | 87th Legislature 3rd Special Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Urging Congress to restore and strengthen the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-09-27 - Referred to Constitutional Rights & Remedies [HCR2 Detail]
Download: Texas-2021-HCR2-Introduced.html
| 87S30129 JRI-D | ||
| By: Reynolds | H.C.R. No. 2 | |
|
|
||
| WHEREAS, Since the U.S. Supreme Court eviscerated the Voting | ||
| Rights Act of 1965 with its decision in Shelby County v. Holder, | ||
| many citizens have confronted new barriers to participation in our | ||
| democracy; and | ||
| WHEREAS, During the Civil Rights Era, the United States | ||
| Congress passed the Voting Rights Act to prevent government at all | ||
| levels from enacting laws or policies that deny American citizens | ||
| the right to vote based on race or ethnicity; one of the key | ||
| provisions, Section 5, requires jurisdictions with a history of | ||
| discrimination to obtain prior federal approval of changes to | ||
| voting rules that could affect minorities; for nearly five decades, | ||
| this provision, known as preclearance, served as a bulwark against | ||
| disenfranchisement, blocking discrimination before it occurred; | ||
| and | ||
| WHEREAS, On June 25, 2013, in its Shelby County decision, a | ||
| sharply divided Supreme Court rendered Section 5 inoperable by | ||
| invalidating as antiquated Section 4(b), the formula used to | ||
| determine the states and localities covered by preclearance; absent | ||
| congressional resolve to update the formula, lawmakers in many | ||
| states and districts seized the opportunity to revive voting | ||
| changes that had been blocked, to move forward with changes | ||
| previously deterred, and to implement new discriminatory | ||
| restrictions; such measures included draconian voter ID laws, the | ||
| elimination of early voting opportunities, and the closing or | ||
| moving of hundreds and likely thousands of polling sites; all of | ||
| these actions, which disproportionately affected minorities, | ||
| low-income communities, people with disabilities, and students, | ||
| would previously have required federal approval under Section 5; | ||
| moreover, on July 1, 2021, the Supreme Court's decision in | ||
| Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee struck down what was left | ||
| of the Voting Rights Act by making it even more difficult to | ||
| challenge discriminatory voting laws under Section 2 of the law; | ||
| and | ||
| WHEREAS, Court rulings and studies alike have shown that in | ||
| the wake of Shelby County, discrimination is widespread; the | ||
| nonpartisan Election Protection coalition undertook a | ||
| comprehensive review of the 2016 presidential election and found a | ||
| range of barriers to voting, including improper enforcement of | ||
| voter ID laws, dissemination of incorrect or deceptive information, | ||
| failure to provide information, and voter intimidation; the | ||
| organization concluded that without an enforceable Section 5, | ||
| approximately 24 percent of the nonwhite voting-age population is | ||
| more vulnerable to discriminatory election practices; and | ||
| WHEREAS, For more than a half century, the Voting Rights Act | ||
| has been a vital means of quelling discrimination in the form of | ||
| inequitable redistricting plans, onerous voter ID laws, artificial | ||
| barriers to voting, elimination of early voting opportunities, and | ||
| unfair polling place changes; without a functioning Section 5, | ||
| however, expensive litigation is required to fight unjust voting | ||
| laws, and while legal proceedings drag on, countless voters are | ||
| denied the right to cast ballots; the Supreme Court left it to | ||
| Congress to modernize the formula to determine which states and | ||
| jurisdictions are to be covered by Section 5, and new legislation is | ||
| urgently needed to restore and strengthen the Voting Rights Act; | ||
| and | ||
| WHEREAS, The United States was founded on the principle that | ||
| we are all created equal, and as the world's leading democracy, we | ||
| must set the standard for free, fair, and accessible elections in | ||
| which every vote is counted; now, therefore, be it | ||
| RESOLVED, That the 87th Legislature of the State of Texas, | ||
| 3rd Called Session, hereby urge the United States Congress to | ||
| restore and strengthen the Voting Rights Act of 1965; 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, and to all the | ||
| members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that | ||
| this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a | ||
| memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. | ||
