By: Rodriguez S.B. No. 32
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
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.