This website will be unavailable from Friday, April 26, 2024 at 6:00 p.m. through Monday, April 29, 2024 at 7:00 a.m. due to data center maintenance.
By: Hochberg H.J.R. No. 5
A JOINT RESOLUTION
proposing a constitutional amendment establishing the Texas
Congressional Redistricting Commission to redistrict congressional
districts.
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 Congressional Redistricting
Commission exercises the legislative authority of this state to
adopt redistricting plans for the election of the members of the
United States House of Representatives elected from this state
during the period the commission is authorized to act under this
section. Congressional districts may not be established by the
legislature or a court while the commission has authority to act
under 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 two-year
term that begins on February 1 of the year ending in one in which the
initial appointment to the position is required to be made and
expires on January 31 of the following year ending in three. At the
expiration of the members' two-year terms, the authority of the
commission to act under this section expires until the appointment
of new members in the subsequent year ending in one.
(f) 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.
(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 one. 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 one and shall adopt a
redistricting plan for 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) During the terms of the members of the commission
prescribed by Subsection (e) of this section, 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 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 period and in the
manner prescribed 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 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. The Texas
Congressional 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. 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
following proposition: "The constitutional amendment establishing
the Texas Congressional Redistricting Commission in 2011 to
redistrict Texas congressional districts."