Bill Text: TX HCR23 | 2017 | 85th Legislature 1st Special Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Urging Congress to restore and strengthen the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-07-28 - Referred to State & Federal Power & Responsibility, Select [HCR23 Detail]
Download: Texas-2017-HCR23-Introduced.html
85S10417 KSM-D | ||
By: Reynolds | H.C.R. No. 23 |
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WHEREAS, Since the U.S. Supreme Court eviscerated the Voting | ||
Rights Act of 1965 with its decision in Shelby 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 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; | ||
and | ||
WHEREAS, Court rulings and studies alike have shown that in | ||
the wake of Shelby, discrimination is widespread; in July 2016, the | ||
Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down North Carolina's new | ||
voting rules, noting that they targeted African Americans with | ||
"surgical precision"; 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 squelching 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 that would 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 85th Legislature of the State of Texas, | ||
1st 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. |