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."