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.