87R1870 MAW-D
By: Davis H.B. No. 1611
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the composition of districts for the election of
members of the United States 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 to redraw the districts for the election of the
members of the United States House of Representatives elected from
this state in compliance with the United States and Texas
Constitutions and applicable federal law following the publication
of the 2020 federal decennial census and the decennial
reapportionment of representative districts among the states.
SECTION 2. The districts from which the members of the
United States 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 117th Congress of the
United States except as those districts are changed by Section 3 of
this Act.
SECTION 3. (a) Angelina County is transferred from
Congressional District 1 to Congressional District 8.
(b) Gillespie County is transferred from Congressional
District 21 to Congressional District 11.
(c) The portion of Congressional District 19 located in
Floyd County is transferred to Congressional District 13.
(d) Bexar County Precinct 4036 is transferred from
Congressional District 23 to Congressional District 35.
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 intention of the Texas 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 United States House of
Representatives. All previous acts of the legislature adopting
districts for the United States House of Representatives are
repealed.
(b) Chapter 3 (S.B. 4), Acts of the 83rd Legislature, 1st
Called Session, 2013, is repealed.
SECTION 7. The districts established in this Act apply to
the election of the members of the United States House of
Representatives beginning with the primary and general elections in
2022 for members of the 118th Congress of the United States. This
Act does not affect the membership or districts of the United States
House of Representatives for the 117th Congress of the United
States.
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.