87R1871 MAW-D
By: Davis H.B. No. 1612
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the composition of districts for the election of
members of the State Board of Education.
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 State Board of Education in compliance with the
United States and Texas Constitutions and applicable federal law
following the publication of the 2020 federal decennial census.
SECTION 2. (a) The districts from which the members of the
State Board of Education are elected are the districts as provided
by law and used for the election of the members of the State Board of
Education at the 2018 and 2020 general elections except as those
districts are changed by Section 3 of this Act.
(b) One member is elected from each district established by
this Act.
(c) For purposes of Section 7.104, Education Code, this Act
constitutes a decennial reapportionment.
SECTION 3. (a) Glasscock County is transferred from State
Board of Education District 1 to State Board of Education District
15.
(b) Bexar County Precinct 4153 is transferred from State
Board of Education District 5 to State Board of Education District
3.
(c) Caldwell County is transferred from State Board of
Education District 5 to State Board of Education District 10.
(d) San Augustine County is transferred from State Board of
Education District 7 to State Board of Education District 9.
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 State Board of Education. All
previous acts of the legislature adopting districts for the State
Board of Education are repealed.
(b) Chapter 72 (H.B. 600), Acts of the 82nd Legislature,
Regular Session, 2011, is repealed.
SECTION 7. The districts established in this Act apply to
the election of the members of the State Board of Education
beginning with the primary and general elections in 2022 for
members of the board in 2023. This Act does not affect the
membership or districts of the board before January 1, 2023.
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.