87R1872 MAW-D
By: Davis H.B. No. 1610
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the composition of districts for the election of
members of the Texas House of Representatives.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. The purpose of this Act is to fulfill the
legislature's duty under Section 28, Article III, Texas
Constitution, to redraw the districts for the election of the
members of the Texas House of Representatives in compliance with
the United States and Texas Constitutions and applicable federal
law following the publication of the 2020 federal decennial census.
SECTION 2. The districts from which the members of the Texas
House of Representatives are elected are the districts as provided
by law and used for the election of the members of the House of
Representatives of the 87th Legislature except as those districts
are changed by Section 3 of this Act.
SECTION 3. (a) San Augustine County is transferred from
House District 57 to House District 11.
(b) Hood County is transferred from House District 60 to
House District 59.
(c) Sherman County is transferred from House District 87 to
House District 86.
(d) Bexar County Precinct 4137 is transferred from House
District 119 to House District 118.
SECTION 4. In this Act, "tract," "block group," and "block"
mean the geographic areas identified by those terms on the 2010
Census TIGER/Line Shapefiles, prepared by the federal Bureau of the
Census for the Twenty-third Decennial Census of the United States,
enumerated as of April 1, 2010.
SECTION 5. It is the intent of the legislature that if any
county, tract, block group, block, or other geographic area has
erroneously been left out of this Act, a court reviewing this Act
should include that area in the appropriate district in accordance
with the intent of the legislature, using any available evidence of
that intent, including evidence such as that used by the Supreme
Court of Texas in Smith v. Patterson, 111 Tex. 535, 242 S.W. 749
(1922).
SECTION 6. (a) This Act supersedes all previous enactments
or orders adopting districts for the Texas House of
Representatives. All previous acts of the legislature adopting
districts for the Texas House of Representatives are repealed.
(b) Chapter 2 (S.B. 3), Acts of the 83rd Legislature, 1st
Called Session, 2013 (Article 195a-13, Vernon's Texas Civil
Statutes), is repealed.
SECTION 7. The districts established in this Act apply to
the election of the members of the Texas House of Representatives
beginning with the primary and general elections in 2022 for
members of the 88th Legislature. This Act does not affect the
membership or districts of the House of Representatives of the 87th
Texas Legislature.
SECTION 8. 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, 2021.