HLS 15RS-1023 ORIGINAL
2015 Regular Session
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 77
BY REPRESENTATIVE JACKSON
CONGRESS: Memorializes congress to amend and reenact Section 4 of the Voting Rights
Act
1 A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
2To memorialize the United States Congress to amend and reenact Section 4 of the Voting
3 Rights Act, so that Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act can be fully enforced to secure
4 and protect the right to vote for millions of Americans.
5 WHEREAS, congress enacted the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to prohibit racial
6discrimination in voting; and
7 WHEREAS, the Voting Rights Act has been immensely successful at redressing
8racial discrimination and protecting the right to vote for minorities and has been used to
9block more than a thousand proposed changes to voting laws; and
10 WHEREAS, the United States Department of Justice considers the Voting Rights Act
11to be the most effective piece of civil rights legislation ever enacted; and
12 WHEREAS, a core provision of the Voting Rights Act is the Section 5 preclearance
13requirement which prohibits certain jurisdictions from implementing any change affecting
14voting without first receiving a determination from the United States attorney general or the
15United States District Court for the District of Columbia that the change does not have a
16discriminatory purpose or effect; and
17 WHEREAS, Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act provided a coverage formula and
18applied the Section 5 preclearance requirements to jurisdictions encompassed by the
19formula; and
20 WHEREAS, in 2013, in Shelby County v. Holder, 133 S. Ct. 2612 (2013), the
21Supreme Court of the United States invalidated Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act
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HCR NO. 77
1finding that the formula was outdated and therefore an impermissible standard by which to
2subject any jurisdiction to the preclearance requirements of Section 5 of the Voting Rights
3Act; and
4 WHEREAS, since Shelby County v. Holder, Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act has
5been enforceable only in jurisdictions covered by a separate court order entered under
6Section 3(c) of the Voting Rights Act; and
7 WHEREAS, until Congress revises the coverage formula contained within Section
84 of the Voting Rights Act to be responsive to current conditions, Section 5 of the Voting
9Rights Act, an important deterrent to discriminatory election procedures, remains largely
10unenforceable.
11 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
12memorialize the United States Congress to amend and reenact Section 4 of the Voting Rights
13Act, so that Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act can be fully enforced to secure and protect
14the right to vote for millions of Americans.
15 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
16presiding officers of the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Congress of the
17United States of America and to each member of the Louisiana congressional delegation.
DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute
part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
HCR 77 Original 2015 Regular Session Jackson
Memorializes the U.S. Congress to amend and reenact Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act,
so that Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act can be enforced to secure and protect the right to
vote for millions of Americans.
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