Texas 2021 - 87th Regular

Texas Senate Bill SR4 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	By: Huffman S.R. No. 4
2	2
3	3
4	4	SENATE RESOLUTION
5	5	BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the State of Texas, That
6	6	the following rules of procedure shall be observed by the Senate
7	7	for the consideration of redistricting during the 87th
8	8	Legislature:
9	9	SECTION 1. REDISTRICTING COMMITTEE. (a) The Special
10	10	Committee on Redistricting is composed of members appointed by
11	11	the President. The President shall designate the chair and
12	12	vice-chair from the total membership of the committee.
13	13	(b) Bills and resolutions relating to the composition of
14	14	legislative, congressional, and state board of education
15	15	districts shall be referred to the committee by the President.
16	16	Senate rules governing a motion to refer or commit are
17	17	applicable, except that the special committee takes precedence
18	18	over a standing committee when several motions are made.
19	19	(c) The committee shall have the same authority and
20	20	powers granted to standing committees by Senate rules and by
21	21	applicable statutes. Where applicable the rules governing
22	22	standing committees of the Senate apply to the committee's
23	23	proceedings. In case of any conflict, the procedures herein
24	24	shall prevail over a conflicting Senate or committee rule.
25	25	SECTION 2. REGIONAL HEARINGS; VIDEOCONFERENCE
26	26	TESTIMONY. (a) The committee shall hold regional hearings to
27	27	solicit public input on redistricting, including local
28	28	communities of interest.
29	29	(b) The committee may meet to conduct a regional hearing
30	30	in any location in this state that the chair determines
31	31	appropriate to encourage participation from all areas of the
32	32	state. The committee may allow the use of two-way
33	33	videoconferencing to facilitate testimony from the general
34	34	public during a regional hearing held in the Capitol.
35	35	(c) A witness testifying by videoconference must be
36	36	clearly visible and audible to the committee members. A
37	37	committee member questioning a witness by videoconference must
38	38	be clearly visible and audible to the witness and the committee
39	39	members.
40	40	(d) A witness testifying by videoconference must submit a
41	41	witness affirmation form before testifying.
42	42	(e) The chair may provide procedures for the orderly
43	43	participation of witnesses and may reasonably limit the time for
44	44	registration of witnesses, the order of appearance, and the time
45	45	allotted for each witness in order to provide all witnesses the
46	46	opportunity to be heard in a timely manner.
47	47	(f) The committee may not consider or take formal action
48	48	on a specific bill, resolution, or other nonprocedural matter
49	49	during a regional hearing, except for the adoption of permanent
50	50	rules at an initial meeting held in the Capitol.
51	51	SECTION 3. PUBLIC NOTICE OF MEETINGS. (a) The chair
52	52	shall give public notice at least 72 hours in advance of a meeting
53	53	for a regional hearing during the regular session or in the
54	54	interim between sessions, and 48 hours in advance during a called
55	55	session.
56	56	(b) The chair shall give public notice at least 48 hours
57	57	in advance of a meeting for a public hearing on a bill or
58	58	resolution.
59	59	(c) Public notice of the time and place of a meeting shall
60	60	be posted in a public place in the manner required by Senate
61	61	rules.
62	62	SECTION 4. CONSIDERATION OF REDISTRICTING BILLS BY THE
63	63	SENATE. (a) No proposed amendment, amendment to the amendment,
64	64	or substitute amendment changing any district in a legislative,
65	65	congressional, or state board of education redistricting bill is
66	66	eligible for consideration on second or third reading unless 35
67	67	copies of an amendment packet prepared by the Texas Legislative
68	68	Council (TLC) have been filed with the calendar clerk in
69	69	accordance with this section.
70	70	(b) An amendment packet is not required to include a
71	71	textual description of tracts, block groups, and block numbers,
72	72	but must include:
73	73	(1) a general written description of the proposed
74	74	changes, including district numbers if the amendment does not
75	75	propose a statewide substitute plan, the names of counties or
76	76	description of regions affected, and the plan number assigned by
77	77	the redistricting computer system operated by TLC;
78	78	(2) one or more maps prepared by TLC indicating the
79	79	changes made by the amendment; and
80	80	(3) standard reports prepared by TLC that indicate
81	81	population, voter data, and incumbent locations for the
82	82	districts affected by the amendment.
83	83	(c) The calendar clerk shall as soon as practicable make
84	84	filed amendment packets available to the members of the Senate.
85	85	The calendar clerk shall also work with TLC to provide a
86	86	hyperlink for each amendment from the bill webpage on the public
87	87	legislative information website to the appropriate plan in the
88	88	public DistrictViewer application operated by TLC.
89	89	(d) An amendment packet for each original amendment that
90	90	will be offered during second reading consideration of a
91	91	legislative, congressional, or state board of education
92	92	redistricting bill must be filed with the calendar clerk by 9
93	93	a.m. on the third calendar day after the day on which the bill has
94	94	been reported favorably from a committee, not including Sundays.
95	95	(e) A bill with filed amendments subject to Subsection
96	96	(d) is not eligible for consideration on second reading until 24
97	97	hours after amendment packets have been made available to members
98	98	of the Senate.
99	99	(f) Subsections (d) and (e) do not apply after the 122nd
100	100	day of the regular session, or to a bill that originates in the
101	101	house of representatives during a called session.
102	102	SECTION 5. AUTHORITY; CONFLICT OF RULES. (a) The Senate
103	103	adopts these redistricting rules and procedures under the
104	104	authority of Article III, Section 11 of the Texas Constitution.
105	105	All questions of procedure not provided for in this resolution
106	106	shall be subject to the standing rules of the Senate. In case of
107	107	any conflict, the procedures herein shall prevail over a
108	108	conflicting Senate rule or procedure.
109	109	_______________________________
110	110	President of the Senate
111	111	I hereby certify that the
112	112	above Resolution was adopted by
113	113	the Senate on January 13, 2021,
114	114	by the following vote: Yeas 31,
115	115	Nays 0.
116	116	_______________________________
117	117	Secretary of the Senate