By:  Shields                                          H.J.R. No. 87
       73R4949 JSA-D
                                  A JOINT RESOLUTION
    1-1  proposing a constitutional amendment relating to redistricting and
    1-2  the creation of a redistricting commission to redistrict the
    1-3  state's congressional, legislative, and other statewide election
    1-4  districts.
    1-5        BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-6        SECTION 1.  Article III, Sections 2, 25, and 28, of the Texas
    1-7  Constitution are amended to read as follows:
    1-8        Sec. 2.  The Senate shall consist of thirty-one members, and
    1-9  the <shall never be increased above this number.  The> House of
   1-10  Representatives shall consist of <ninety-three members until the
   1-11  first apportionment after the adoption of this Constitution, when
   1-12  or at any apportionment thereafter, the number of Representatives
   1-13  may be increased by the Legislature, upon the ratio of not more
   1-14  than one Representative for every fifteen thousand inhabitants;
   1-15  provided, the number of Representatives shall never exceed> one
   1-16  hundred and fifty members.
   1-17        Sec. 25.  The State shall be divided into Senatorial
   1-18  Districts of contiguous territory <according to the number of
   1-19  qualified electors, as nearly as may be>, and each district shall
   1-20  be entitled to elect one Senator<; and no single county shall be
   1-21  entitled to more than one Senator>.
   1-22        Sec. 28.  (a)  The <Legislature shall, at its first regular
   1-23  session after the publication of each United States decennial
   1-24  census, apportion the state into senatorial and representative
    2-1  districts, agreeable to the provisions of Sections 25, 26, and 26-a
    2-2  of this Article.  In the event the Legislature shall at any such
    2-3  first regular session following the publication of a United States
    2-4  decennial census, fail to make such apportionment, same shall be
    2-5  done by the> Legislative Redistricting Board of Texas<, which> is
    2-6  hereby created<,> and consists of three members appointed as
    2-7  provided by Subsection (c) of this section.  A <shall be composed
    2-8  of five (5) members, as follows:  The Lieutenant Governor, the
    2-9  Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Attorney General, the
   2-10  Comptroller of Public Accounts and the Commissioner of the General
   2-11  Land Office, a> majority of the members of the board constitutes
   2-12  <whom shall constitute> a quorum.
   2-13        (b)  To be eligible to serve on the board, a person must be a
   2-14  current or former member of the supreme court or a court of appeals
   2-15  of this state.
   2-16        (c)  Not later than February 1 of each odd-numbered year, the
   2-17  Speaker of the House of Representatives and a person elected to
   2-18  make the appointment by the members of the house of representatives
   2-19  representing the minority party in the house shall each appoint one
   2-20  member of the board.  The two members of the board so appointed
   2-21  jointly shall appoint the third member of the board.
   2-22        (d)  For purposes of Subsection (c) of this section, the
   2-23  minority party in the house of representatives is the political
   2-24  party having the second largest number of members of the house
   2-25  elected at the preceding general election as candidates of that
   2-26  political party.
   2-27        (e)  Each member of the board serves until February 1 of the
    3-1  next odd-numbered year.
    3-2        (f)  The board has exclusive authority to redistrict the
    3-3  districts used to elect the senate and house of representatives of
    3-4  the state Legislature, the members of the United States House of
    3-5  Representatives elected from this state, and the members of any
    3-6  other board, commission, court, or other body elected statewide
    3-7  from districts.  The board shall redistrict all districts for which
    3-8  the board has redistricting responsibility before July 1 of each
    3-9  year in which the federal decennial census is published, unless
   3-10  that census is published later than May 1 of the year, in which
   3-11  event the board shall redistrict all districts before the 90th day
   3-12  after the publication of the census.
   3-13        (g)  The board may change the districts at any time as
   3-14  required to correct a legal or technical error in a previously
   3-15  adopted plan but may not make any other changes to the districts.
   3-16        (h)  The Legislature has no authority to redistrict or
   3-17  otherwise change the districts for which the board has
   3-18  redistricting authority.
   3-19        (i)  A redistricting order of the board must <Said Board
   3-20  shall assemble in the City of Austin within ninety (90) days after
   3-21  the final adjournment of such regular session.  The Board shall,
   3-22  within sixty (60) days after assembling, apportion the state into
   3-23  senatorial and representative districts, or into senatorial or
   3-24  representative districts, as the failure of action of such
   3-25  Legislature may make necessary.  Such apportionment shall> be in
   3-26  writing and signed by two <three (3)> or more of the members of the
   3-27  board <Board> duly acknowledged as the act and deed of the board
    4-1  <such Board>, and, when so executed and filed with the Secretary of
    4-2  State, shall have force and effect of law.
    4-3        (j)  A redistricting order of the board takes effect <Such
    4-4  apportionment shall become effective> at the next succeeding
    4-5  statewide general election unless otherwise provided by the order.
    4-6  <The Supreme Court of Texas shall have jurisdiction to compel such
    4-7  Commission to perform its duties in accordance with the provisions
    4-8  of this section by writ of mandamus or other extraordinary writs
    4-9  conformable to the usages of law.>
   4-10        (k)  The Legislature shall provide necessary funds for
   4-11  clerical and technical aid and for other expenses incidental to the
   4-12  work of the board <Board, and the Lieutenant Governor and the
   4-13  Speaker of the House of Representatives shall be entitled to
   4-14  receive per diem and travel expense during the Board's session in
   4-15  the same manner and amount as they would receive while attending a
   4-16  special session of the Legislature.  This amendment shall become
   4-17  effective January 1, 1951>.
   4-18        SECTION 2.  Article III, Section 26a, of the Texas
   4-19  Constitution is repealed.
   4-20        SECTION 3.  Article III of the Texas Constitution is amended
   4-21  by adding Section 28a to read as follows:
   4-22        Sec. 28a.  (a)  The constitutional amendment proposed by the
   4-23  73rd Legislature, Regular Session, 1993, creating a three-member
   4-24  legislative redistricting board, takes effect January 1, 1995.
   4-25        (b)  This section expires January 1, 1996.
   4-26        SECTION 4.  This proposed constitutional amendment shall be
   4-27  submitted to the voters at an election to be held November 2, 1993.
    5-1  The ballot shall be printed to provide for voting for or against
    5-2  the following proposition:  "The constitutional amendment to create
    5-3  a bipartisan redistricting board of three current or former members
    5-4  of the Texas Supreme Court or Courts of Appeals and to transfer
    5-5  statewide redistricting responsibility to that redistricting
    5-6  board."