88R7438 BEF-F
By: Huffman S.R. No. 2
R E S O L U T I O N
BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the State of Texas, That the
following rules of procedure shall be observed by the Senate for the
consideration of redistricting during the 88th Legislature:
SECTION 1. REDISTRICTING COMMITTEE. (a) The Special
Committee on Redistricting is composed of members appointed by the
President. The President shall designate the chair and vice-chair
from the total membership of the committee.
(b) Bills and resolutions relating to the composition of
legislative, congressional, and State Board of Education districts
shall be referred to the committee by the President. Senate rules
governing a motion to refer or commit are applicable, except that
the special committee takes precedence over a standing committee
when several motions are made.
(c) The committee shall have the same authority and powers
granted to standing committees by Senate rules and by applicable
statutes. Where applicable, the rules governing standing
committees of the Senate apply to the committee's proceedings. In
case of any conflict, the procedures herein shall prevail over a
conflicting Senate or committee rule.
SECTION 2. REGIONAL HEARINGS; VIDEOCONFERENCE TESTIMONY.
(a) The committee shall hold regional hearings to solicit public
input on redistricting, including local communities of interest.
(b) The committee may meet to conduct a regional hearing in
any location in this state that the chair determines appropriate to
encourage participation from all areas of the state. The committee
may allow the use of two-way videoconferencing to facilitate
testimony from the general public during a regional hearing held in
the Capitol.
(c) A witness testifying by videoconference must be clearly
visible and audible to the committee members. A committee member
questioning a witness by videoconference must be clearly visible
and audible to the witness and the committee members.
(d) A witness testifying by videoconference must submit a
witness affirmation form before testifying.
(e) The chair may provide procedures for the orderly
participation of witnesses and may reasonably limit the time for
registration of witnesses, the order of appearance, and the time
allotted for each witness in order to provide all witnesses the
opportunity to be heard in a timely manner.
(f) The committee may not consider or take formal action on
a specific bill, resolution, or other nonprocedural matter during a
regional hearing, except for the adoption of permanent rules at an
initial meeting held in the Capitol.
SECTION 3. PUBLIC NOTICE OF MEETINGS. (a) The chair shall
give public notice at least 72 hours in advance of a meeting for a
regional hearing during the regular session or the interim between
sessions and at least 48 hours in advance during a called session.
(b) The chair shall give public notice at least 48 hours in
advance of a meeting for a public hearing on a bill or resolution.
(c) Public notice of the time and place of a meeting shall be
posted in a public place in the manner required by Senate rules.
SECTION 4. CONSIDERATION OF REDISTRICTING BILLS BY SENATE.
(a) No proposed amendment, amendment to the amendment, or
substitute amendment changing any district in a legislative,
congressional, or State Board of Education redistricting bill is
eligible for consideration on second or third reading unless 35
copies of an amendment packet prepared by the Texas Legislative
Council have been filed with the calendar clerk in accordance with
this section.
(b) An amendment packet is not required to include a
description of geography in the form of counties and census tracts,
block groups, and blocks, but must include:
(1) a general written description of the proposed
changes, including district numbers if the amendment does not
propose a statewide substitute plan, the names of counties or a
description of regions affected, and the plan number assigned by
the redistricting computer system operated by the Texas Legislative
Council;
(2) one or more maps prepared by the Texas Legislative
Council indicating the changes made by the amendment; and
(3) standard reports prepared by the Texas Legislative
Council that include population, voter data, and incumbent
locations for the districts affected by the amendment.
(c) The calendar clerk shall as soon as practicable make
filed amendment packets available to the members of the Senate. The
calendar clerk shall also work with the Texas Legislative Council
to provide hyperlinks from the bill webpage on the public
legislative information website to the appropriate plan for each
amendment in the public DistrictViewer application operated by the
Texas Legislative Council.
(d) An amendment packet for each original amendment that
will be offered during second reading consideration of a
legislative, congressional, or State Board of Education
redistricting bill must be filed with the calendar clerk by 9 a.m.
on the third calendar day after the date the bill is reported
favorably from a committee, excluding Sundays.
(e) A bill with filed amendments subject to Subsection (d)
of this section is not eligible for consideration on second reading
until amendment packets have been made available to members of the
Senate for at least 24 hours.
(f) Subsections (d) and (e) of this section do not apply
after the 122nd day of the regular session, nor to a bill that
originates in the House of Representatives during a called session.
SECTION 5. AUTHORITY; CONFLICT OF RULES. The Senate adopts
these redistricting rules and procedures under the authority of
Section 11, Article III, Texas Constitution. All questions of
procedure not provided for in this resolution shall be subject to
the standing rules of the Senate. In case of any conflict, the
procedures herein shall prevail over a conflicting Senate rule or
procedure.