Bill Text: TX HJR32 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Proposing a constitutional amendment establishing the Texas Redistricting Commission to redistrict the Texas Legislature and Texas congressional districts and revising procedures for redistricting.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-02-16 - Referred to Redistricting [HJR32 Detail]

Download: Texas-2017-HJR32-Introduced.html

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85R2551 JRJ-D
By: Howard H.J.R. No. 32

A JOINT RESOLUTION
proposing a constitutional amendment establishing the Texas
Redistricting Commission to redistrict the Texas Legislature and
Texas congressional districts and revising procedures for
redistricting.
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Article III, Texas Constitution, is amended by
adding Section 28a to read as follows:
Sec. 28a. (a) The Texas Redistricting Commission exercises
the legislative authority of this state to adopt redistricting
plans for the election of the Texas House of Representatives, the
Texas Senate, and the members of the United States House of
Representatives elected from this state. Districts for those
legislative bodies may not be established or changed except as
provided by this section.
(b) The commission consists of seven members selected as
follows:
(1) one member appointed by the member of the Texas
Senate with the most seniority, as defined by senate rules;
(2) one member appointed by the member of the Texas
Senate with the most seniority, as defined by senate rules, who is
of a different political party than the member described by
Subdivision (1) of this subsection;
(3) one member appointed by the member of the Texas
House of Representatives with the most seniority, as defined by
house rules;
(4) one member appointed by the member of the Texas
House of Representatives with the most seniority, as defined by
house rules, who is of a different political party than the member
described by Subdivision (3) of this subsection;
(5) one member appointed by an affirmative vote of not
fewer than three of the members of the commission selected under
Subdivisions (1) through (4) of this subsection; and
(6) two members appointed by the member appointed
under Subdivision (5) of this subsection, who must be retired
federal judges appointed to the federal bench by presidents of
different political parties.
(c) The member appointed under Subsection (b)(5) of this
section serves as presiding officer of the commission.
(d) Each member of the commission must be a resident of this
state. A person is not eligible to serve on the commission if the
person:
(1) holds an elective or appointive public office,
other than the office of retired federal judge if the member is
appointed under Subsection (b)(6) of this section or an office on
the governing body of a school district;
(2) holds an office in a political party;
(3) is employed by:
(A) an elected or appointed public official;
(B) a candidate for the legislature or the United
States Congress; or
(C) an entity whose principal purpose is to
support or oppose a candidate described by Paragraph (B) of this
subdivision;
(4) has served in a position described by Subdivision
(1), (2), or (3) of this subsection within the three years preceding
the date the person is appointed to the commission;
(5) is required by law to register with the Texas
Ethics Commission on account of the person's communications with
state officers to influence legislation or administrative action,
or was required to register in that capacity in the three years
preceding the date the person was appointed to the commission; or
(6) is related to an elected or appointed public
official within the second degree by consanguinity, as determined
under general law governing consanguinity.
(e) The full term of a member of the commission is a 10-year
term that begins on February 1 of the year ending in 1 in which the
initial appointment to the position is required to be made and
expires on January 31 of the next year ending in 1. A vacancy on the
commission is filled in the same manner as provided by this section
for the original appointment.
(f) A member of the commission may not be a candidate in an
election for the Texas Senate or Texas House of Representatives
before the third anniversary of the date the commission adopts a
redistricting plan or modification of a plan for that body during
the person's service on the commission.
(g) A redistricting plan or modification of a redistricting
plan is adopted by a vote of not less than five members of the
commission.
(h) The members of the commission appointed under
Subsections (b)(1) through (4) of this section shall be appointed
not earlier than January 25 or later than January 31 of each year
ending in 1. The member appointed under Subsection (b)(5) of this
section shall be appointed not later than the 15th day after the
commission convenes under Subsection (i) of this section. The
members appointed under Subsection (b)(6) of this section shall be
appointed not later than the 15th day after the date of an
appointment under Subsection (b)(5) of this section.
(i) The commission shall convene on the first business day
after January 31 of each year ending in 1 and shall adopt a
redistricting plan for the Texas Senate, the Texas House of
Representatives, and the members of the United States House of
Representatives elected from this state not later than July 1 of
that year, unless the federal decennial census is delivered to the
appropriate officials of this state after May 1 of that year, in
which event the commission shall adopt those redistricting plans
not later than the 90th day after the date the census is delivered.
(j) The commission shall reconvene to modify a
redistricting plan if the plan becomes unenforceable by order of a
court or by action of any other appropriate authority. In modifying
a redistricting plan, the commission must comply with all
applicable standards imposed by this section, other provisions of
this constitution, and laws enacted under this section but is not
limited to modifications necessary to correct legal deficiencies.
(k) In a redistricting plan or modification of a plan
adopted under this section:
(1) each district must be composed of contiguous
territory, and for purposes of this subdivision territory that is
adjoining only at a point is not considered contiguous;
(2) each congressional district must contain a
population as nearly equal as possible to the population of any
other district in the plan;
(3) in a legislative redistricting plan the overall
range of population deviation from the district with the largest
population to the district with the smallest population may not
exceed 2.5 percent;
(4) to the extent reasonable, district boundaries must
coincide with the boundaries of political subdivisions of the state
and divide the smallest number of counties, municipalities, and
school districts possible; and
(5) districts must be drawn in accordance with the
federal constitution and all applicable federal laws.
(l) If a political subdivision must be divided, the
commission shall give preference to dividing a more populous
political subdivision before a less populous one. This subsection
does not apply to a boundary drawn along a county line that divides
a municipality.
(m) The commission may not draw a redistricting plan
purposely to favor or discriminate against a political party or any
other group.
(n) The legislature shall enact laws consistent with this
section to implement this section. The laws may include additional
qualifications for commission members and additional standards
applicable to redistricting plans.
(o) The legislature shall appropriate money or otherwise
provide the commission sufficient facilities and personnel to
enable the commission to carry out its duties.
(p) This section takes effect January 1, 2021. On that
date, the Legislative Redistricting Board is abolished and Section
28 of this article is repealed. The Texas Redistricting Commission
shall convene for the first time on the first business day after
January 31, 2021. This subsection expires January 1, 2022.
SECTION 2. Section 7a, Article V, Texas Constitution, is
amended by amending Subsections (e) and (i) and adding Subsection
(j) to read as follows:
(e) Unless the legislature enacts a statewide
reapportionment of the judicial districts following each federal
decennial census, the board shall convene not later than the first
Monday of June of the third year following the year in which the
federal decennial census is taken to make a statewide
reapportionment of the districts. The board shall complete its
work on the reapportionment and file its order with the secretary of
state not later than August 31 of the same year. If the Judicial
Districts Board fails to make a statewide apportionment by that
date, the Texas [Legislative] Redistricting Commission [Board]
established by Article III, Section 28a [28], of this constitution
shall convene on September 1 of the same year to make a statewide
reapportionment of the judicial districts not later than the 90th
[150th] day after the final day for the Judicial Districts Board to
make the reapportionment.
(i) The legislature, the Judicial Districts Board, or the
Texas [Legislative] Redistricting Commission [Board] may not
redistrict the judicial districts to provide for any judicial
district smaller in size than an entire county except as provided by
this section. Judicial districts smaller in size than the entire
county may be created subsequent to a general election where a
majority of the persons voting on the proposition adopt the
proposition "to allow the division of ____________ County into
judicial districts composed of parts of ____________ County." No
redistricting plan may be proposed or adopted by the legislature,
the Judicial Districts Board, or the Texas [Legislative]
Redistricting Commission [Board] in anticipation of a future action
by the voters of any county.
(j) Until January 1, 2021, a reference in this section to
the Texas Redistricting Commission means the Legislative
Redistricting Board established under Article III, Section 28, of
this constitution. This subsection expires January 1, 2021.
SECTION 3. This proposed constitutional amendment shall be
submitted to the voters at an election to be held November 7, 2017.
The ballot shall be printed to permit voting for or against the
following proposition: "The constitutional amendment establishing
the Texas Redistricting Commission to redistrict the Texas
Legislature and Texas congressional districts and revising
procedures for redistricting."