Bill Text: TX SB32 | 2011 | 82nd Legislature 1st Special | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to requirements for reapportionment of congressional districts.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-06-03 - Filed [SB32 Detail]
Download: Texas-2011-SB32-Introduced.html
| By: Rodriguez | S.B. No. 32 | |
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| relating to requirements for reapportionment of congressional | ||
| districts. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Subtitle A, Title 3, Government Code, is amended | ||
| by adding Chapter 307 to read as follows: | ||
| CHAPTER 307. CONGRESSIONAL REDISTRICTING | ||
| PRINCIPLES AND PROCEDURES | ||
| Sec. 307.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter: | ||
| (1) "Census" means the most recent federal decennial | ||
| census. | ||
| (2) "District" means a proposed or enacted | ||
| congressional district. | ||
| (3) "Ideal district population" means the population | ||
| calculated by dividing the total state population according to the | ||
| census by the total number of congressional districts apportioned | ||
| to this state. | ||
| (4) "Plan" means a proposal or enactment that | ||
| establishes or modifies the state's congressional districts. | ||
| Sec. 307.002. REDISTRICTING PLAN REQUIREMENTS. (a) A plan | ||
| must comply with state and federal constitutional and statutory | ||
| requirements, including the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 (42 | ||
| U.S.C. Section 1973 et seq.). | ||
| (b) The districts in a plan must be equal in population as | ||
| nearly as practicable. | ||
| (c) The districts in a plan may not deviate from the ideal | ||
| district population by one percent or more. Any deviation from the | ||
| ideal district population must be in furtherance of a legitimate | ||
| state objective or policy established by this chapter. | ||
| Sec. 307.003. REDISTRICTING PLAN PRINCIPLES. (a) A plan | ||
| must be based on the following principles to the extent practicable | ||
| and authorized or required by law: | ||
| 1. A plan shall avoid unnecessarily dividing counties and | ||
| municipalities in the formation of districts. District lines shall | ||
| be coterminous with the boundaries of these political subdivisions. | ||
| Municipal boundaries, which may be highly irregular, shall not be | ||
| given priority over retaining a community of interest intact. | ||
| 2. A plan shall keep intact any discrete and insular | ||
| communities of interest that are readily identifiable, based on | ||
| actual shared and relevant interests and common concerns. | ||
| Communities of interest shall be defined by social, economic, | ||
| racial, ethnic, cultural, industrial, commercial, and geographic | ||
| commonalities. | ||
| 3. A district shall be composed solely of undivided census | ||
| tracts as the smallest unit of redistricting. | ||
| 4. A district shall be geographically compact, composed of | ||
| convenient contiguous territory, and based on a sense of community | ||
| enabled by reasonable availability and facility of transportation | ||
| and communication between population centers and other inhabited | ||
| areas. A district shall not be considered non-compact due solely to | ||
| irregular natural geographic or political boundaries. A district | ||
| is not contiguous unless all areas are joined by whole census | ||
| tracts; areas that connect only at the points of adjoining corners | ||
| are not contiguous. | ||
| 5. A plan shall be drawn totally and absolutely without | ||
| regard or reference to partisan political effect or consequences of | ||
| any kind. The following data are strictly prohibited and excluded | ||
| from use in establishing districts: partisan data of any type, | ||
| voting history and electoral data, and locations of the residences | ||
| of incumbents, candidates, or any other specific persons. | ||
| (b) These principles are intended to recognize the primacy | ||
| of recognizing communities of interest, from regional to local, in | ||
| redistricting. Although population equality is the primary goal of | ||
| redistricting, adjustments to equalize populations should be made | ||
| with minimal disruption to communities of interest as articulated | ||
| by these principles. | ||
| (c) The principles established by this section are | ||
| interdependent, interrelated, and compatible. A conflict between | ||
| principles when applied must be resolved in favor of the principle | ||
| or set of principles that produces a district that most fairly and | ||
| effectively reflects the affected communities of interest. | ||
| Sec. 307.004. REGIONAL HEARINGS. (a) The legislature | ||
| shall conduct public hearings regarding congressional | ||
| redistricting in the various geographical regions of the state | ||
| beginning in the year in which the census is taken. | ||
| (b) At least one public hearing must be conducted within the | ||
| boundaries of each regional planning commission whose | ||
| participating local governments have a total population equal to or | ||
| greater than the ideal district population. | ||
| (c) Notice of a public hearing must be made in a manner that | ||
| ensures notice to the public. Notice must include the principles | ||
| established by Sections 307.002 and 307.003. | ||
| (d) A public hearing must be designed to promote public | ||
| participation by providing citizens the opportunity to testify, | ||
| especially regarding local and regional communities of interest. | ||
| (e) Each person testifying at a public hearing shall be | ||
| treated equally. A public official or other person may not be given | ||
| special treatment at a hearing because of the person's official | ||
| status, and the testimony of a public official may not be given | ||
| special consideration. Testimony must be received in the order the | ||
| witnesses appeared and registered to testify. | ||
| Sec. 307.005. LEGISLATIVE SESSIONS AND REDISTRICTING. (a) | ||
| A plan must be enacted by the legislature as provided by law, but | ||
| not later than the 120th day before the date a person is required to | ||
| file to be a candidate in a primary election in the year following | ||
| the release of the census. | ||
| (b) A legislative redistricting committee of either house | ||
| must hold public hearings to consider legislation proposing a plan. | ||
| The public must be allowed to provide testimony at a hearing under | ||
| this subsection. A person may submit information to a | ||
| redistricting committee that identifies boundaries of communities | ||
| of interest. A person may submit a plan to a redistricting | ||
| committee at any time if the plan is based on census counts, | ||
| conforms to the requirements of Sections 307.002 and 307.003, and | ||
| provides relevant explanations for why each district is drawn as it | ||
| is. | ||
| Sec. 307.006. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE. (a) The Texas | ||
| Legislative Council shall develop compactness tests based on | ||
| prevailing optimal compactness models to measure relative | ||
| compactness of individual districts and alternative plans. | ||
| (b) The Texas Legislative Council shall establish objective | ||
| models to measure a plan's compliance with Sections 307.002 and | ||
| 307.003. For that purpose, the council shall prepare a comparative | ||
| analysis and establish a qualitative rating for plans considered by | ||
| a legislative redistricting committee or a house of the | ||
| legislature. Each analysis and rating must be made available to the | ||
| public for comment. | ||
| Sec. 307.007. CHALLENGES TO PLAN; COURT-ORDERED PLANS. (a) | ||
| Except as provided by federal law, the Supreme Court of Texas has | ||
| original jurisdiction of a legal challenge to a plan enacted by the | ||
| legislature. | ||
| (b) The Texas Legislative Council shall forward to the | ||
| Supreme Court of Texas the five highest-rated plans presented to or | ||
| considered by the legislature as determined under Section | ||
| 307.006(b), and the highest-rated plan created by an individual who | ||
| is not an employee or officer of the state, if an enacted plan is | ||
| declared by the court to be invalid. The court shall, not later | ||
| than the 30th day after the date the court receives the plans, adopt | ||
| a submitted plan in its entirety as the state's official plan. | ||
| (c) The legislature may not redistrict this state's | ||
| congressional districts more than once following each census except | ||
| to replace a plan ordered by a court with a plan enacted by the | ||
| legislature. | ||
| (d) It is the intent and will of the legislature that any | ||
| plan ordered by a state or federal court comply with the standards | ||
| and principles established by Sections 307.002 and 307.003 to the | ||
| extent practicable. | ||
| SECTION 2. 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, 2011. | ||
