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78S10138 JSA-D
By: Puente H.J.R. No. 1
A JOINT RESOLUTION
proposing a constitutional amendment establishing the Texas
Redistricting Commission to establish legislative and
congressional districts and revising constitutional redistricting
procedures.
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Article III, Texas Constitution, is amended by
adding Section 28a to read as follows:
Sec. 28a. (a) The Texas Redistricting Commission exercises
the legislative authority of this state to adopt redistricting
plans for the election of the Texas House of Representatives, the
Texas Senate, and the members of the United States House of
Representatives elected from this state. Districts for those
legislative bodies may not be established or changed except as
provided by this section.
(b) The commission consists of nine members selected as
follows:
(1) two members appointed by a majority vote of the
members of the Texas House of Representatives belonging to the
political party with the most members in the house of
representatives;
(2) two members appointed by a majority vote of the
members of the Texas House of Representatives belonging to the
political party with the second highest number of members in the
house of representatives;
(3) two members appointed by a majority vote of the
members of the Texas Senate belonging to the political party with
the most members in the senate;
(4) two members appointed by a majority vote of the
members of the Texas Senate belonging to the political party with
the second highest number of members in the senate; and
(5) one member appointed by an affirmative vote of not
less than five of the members of the commission selected under
Subdivisions (1) through (4) of this subsection.
(c) The member appointed under Subsection (b)(5) of this
section is a nonvoting member and serves as presiding officer of the
commission.
(d) Each member of the commission must be a resident of this
state. A person is not eligible to serve on the commission if the
person:
(1) holds an elective public office;
(2) holds an office in a political party other than
membership on a precinct committee; or
(3) has served in a position described by Subdivision
(1) or (2) of this subsection within the two years preceding the
date the person is appointed to the commission.
(e) The full term of a member of the commission is a 10-year
term that begins on February 1 of the year ending in 1 in which the
initial appointment to the position is required to be made and
expires on January 31 of the next year ending in 1. A vacancy on the
commission is filled in the same manner as provided by this section
for the original appointment, except that, if the commission is
convened when the vacancy occurs or if the vacancy exists when the
commission reconvenes, the supreme court shall fill the vacancy if
the initial appointing authority fails to fill the vacancy on or
before the 20th day after the date the vacancy occurs or the
commission reconvenes, as applicable. The supreme court shall fill
the vacancy not later than the ninth day after the earliest date on
which the supreme court may fill the vacancy, or as soon after the
ninth day as possible. The members of the Texas House of
Representatives or Texas Senate authorized to appoint a member of
the commission may meet as necessary to make an appointment or to
fill a vacancy.
(f) A member of the commission may not be a candidate in an
election for the Texas Senate or Texas House of Representatives
before the second anniversary of the date the commission adopts a
redistricting plan or modification of a plan for that body during
the person's service on the commission.
(g) A redistricting plan or modification of a redistricting
plan is adopted by a vote of not less than five members of the
commission.
(h) The members of the commission appointed under
Subsections (b)(1) through (4) of this section shall be appointed
not earlier than January 25 or later than January 31 of each year
ending in 1. The member appointed under Subsection (b)(5) of this
section shall be appointed not later than the 30th day after the
commission convenes under Subsection (i) of this section. If a
member is not appointed in the time provided by this subsection, the
supreme court shall make the appointment before the sixth day after
the last date on which the initial appointing authority could have
made the appointment, or as soon after the sixth day as possible.
(i) The commission shall convene on the first business day
after January 31 of each year ending in 1 and shall adopt a
redistricting plan for the Texas Senate, the Texas House of
Representatives, and the members of the United States House of
Representatives elected from this state not later than July 1 of
that year, unless the federal decennial census is delivered to the
appropriate officials of this state after May 1 of that year, in
which event the commission shall adopt those redistricting plans
not later than the 90th day after the date the census is delivered.
(j) If the commission does not adopt a plan within the time
required by Subsection (i) of this section, the commission's
authority to adopt a plan is suspended and the supreme court shall
adopt a plan for the applicable legislative body not later than
September 1 of the year in which the census is delivered, or the
60th day after the last date by which the commission is directed to
adopt a plan under Subsection (i) of this section, whichever date is
later.
(k) The commission may reconvene on the motion of at least
four of its voting members filed with the secretary of state at any
time after the adoption of the initial state senate, state house, or
congressional redistricting plan to modify that plan if the plan
becomes unenforceable by order of a court or by action of any other
appropriate authority or is subject to legal challenge in a court
proceeding. In modifying a redistricting plan, the commission must
comply with all applicable standards imposed by this section, other
provisions of this constitution, and laws enacted under this
section but is not limited to modifications necessary to correct
legal deficiencies.
(l) The commission may reconvene in the manner provided by
Subsection (k) of this section to adopt a redistricting plan if the
supreme court does not adopt a plan for the applicable body in the
time provided by Subsection (j) of this section, if the supreme
court is required to adopt a plan for that body because the
commission did not adopt an initial plan for that body as required
by Subsection (i) of this section.
(m) In a redistricting plan or modification of a plan
adopted under this section:
(1) each district must be composed of contiguous
territory;
(2) each district must contain a population, excluding
nonresident military personnel, as nearly equal as practicable to
the population of any other district in the plan; and
(3) to the extent reasonable, each district must be
compact and convenient and be separated from adjoining districts by
natural geographic barriers, artificial barriers, or political
subdivision boundaries.
(n) The commission or supreme court may not draw a
redistricting plan purposely to favor or discriminate against a
political party or any other group.
(o) The legislature shall enact laws consistent with this
section to implement this section. The laws may include additional
qualifications for commission members and additional standards
applicable to redistricting plans.
(p) The legislature shall appropriate money or otherwise
provide the commission sufficient facilities and personnel to
enable the commission to carry out its duties.
(q) The supreme court has original jurisdiction to hear and
decide cases involving congressional or state legislative
redistricting, including a case involving a redistricting plan
adopted by the supreme court under this section. A member of the
court is not disqualified from participating in a redistricting
case because the member has participated or may participate in the
adoption of a redistricting plan, but may recuse himself or herself
from the case. This subsection supersedes any other law, including
an applicable code of judicial conduct, with regard to conflicts of
interest by or disqualification of a member of the court.
(r) This section takes effect January 1, 2011. On that
date, the Legislative Redistricting Board is abolished and Section
28 of this article is repealed. The Texas Redistricting Commission
shall convene for the first time on the first business day after
January 31, 2011. This subsection expires January 1, 2012.
SECTION 2. Section 7a, Article V, Texas Constitution, is
amended by amending Subsections (e) and (i) and adding Subsection
(j) to read as follows:
(e) Unless the legislature enacts a statewide
reapportionment of the judicial districts following each federal
decennial census, the board shall convene not later than the first
Monday of June of the third year following the year in which the
federal decennial census is taken to make a statewide
reapportionment of the districts. The board shall complete its
work on the reapportionment and file its order with the secretary of
state not later than August 31 of the same year. If the Judicial
Districts Board fails to make a statewide apportionment by that
date, the Texas [Legislative] Redistricting Commission [Board]
established by Article III, Section 28a [28], of this constitution
shall convene on September 1 of the same year to make a statewide
reapportionment of the judicial districts not later than the 90th
[150th] day after the final day for the Judicial Districts Board to
make the reapportionment.
(i) The legislature, the Judicial Districts Board, or the
Texas [Legislative] Redistricting Commission [Board] may not
redistrict the judicial districts to provide for any judicial
district smaller in size than an entire county except as provided by
this section. Judicial districts smaller in size than the entire
county may be created subsequent to a general election where a
majority of the persons voting on the proposition adopt the
proposition "to allow the division of ____________ County into
judicial districts composed of parts of ____________ County." No
redistricting plan may be proposed or adopted by the legislature,
the Judicial Districts Board, or the Texas [Legislative]
Redistricting Commission [Board] in anticipation of a future action
by the voters of any county.
(j) Until January 1, 2011, a reference in this section to
the Texas Redistricting Commission means the Legislative
Redistricting Board established under Section 28, Article III, of
this constitution. This subsection expires January 1, 2011.
SECTION 3. This proposed constitutional amendment shall be
submitted to the voters at an election to be held November 2, 2004.
The ballot shall be printed to permit voting for or against the
proposition: "The constitutional amendment establishing the Texas
Redistricting Commission in 2011 to redistrict the Texas
Legislature and Texas congressional districts and revising
procedures for redistricting."