On Tuesday, tom 47 posted a comment quoting State Rep. Yvonne Davis’s (HD-111, Dallas) email emphasizing the importance of our participating in the field hearings that have been scheduled during the Texas Legislature’s special session on redistricting:
It is important to note the federal district court repeatedly expressed that these interim redistricting plans are temporary plans. Not only are the interim redistricting plans temporary in nature, the courts only ordered the plans to provide for timely 2012 primary and general elections in Texas.
The interim maps do not go far enough to reflect the minority population in Texas. Therefore, I encourage you to attend any one of the hearings and urge the select committee to draw and adopt fair, nondiscriminatory plans that accurately reflect the population of Texas. […]
So let’s encourage our elected officials to vote for maps that are fair and representative of our state’s diversity. Empower the Vote Texas explains how (my emphasis):
Better – Attend a public hearing and register against HB/SB 1, HB/SB 3, and HB/SB 4 (the bills that would make the interim maps permanent). All you have to do is fill out a card and your position becomes part of the official record of the hearings. A good option if you can attend but are uncomfortable testifying.
AWESOME – Testify at one of the public hearings! There is nothing more compelling than hearing from voters about how legislation impacts you. Come let the committee members know how the current maps don’t fairly represent your community.
Texas House of Representatives
The House Special Select Redistricting Committee has scheduled public hearings in Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston:
Dallas: Thursday, June 6 , 2013 @ 2:00 P.M.
DART Headquarters
Board Room – 1st Floor
1401 Pacific Ave., Dallas, TX 75202
Notice of Public Hearing
San Antonio: Monday, June 10 , 2013 @ 2:00 P.M
VIA Metro Center
Terry Eskridge Community Room
1021 San Pedro Ave, San Antonio, TX 78212
Notice of Public Hearing
Houston: Wednesday, June 12 , 2013 @ 2:00 P.M.
University of Houston – Main Campus
Michael J. Cemo Hall, Room 100 D
4800 Calhoun Rd., Houston, TX 77004
Notice of Public Hearing
If you attend a House hearing, sign in AGAINST HB 1, HB 3, and HB 4.
Public testimony will be limited to 5 minutes. If submitting written testimony, please provide 25 copies to the committee clerk with your name on each.
Texas Senate
The Senate Select Committee on Redistricting has scheduled public hearings in Austin, Corpus Christi, and Houston:
Austin: Thursday, June 06, 2013 @ 9:00 AM
Capitol Extension, Room E1.036
Two overflow rooms will be available in E1.016 and E1.028
Live broadcast
Notice of Public Hearing
Corpus Christi: Friday, June 07, 2013 @ 5:00 PM
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi
University Center, Lone Star Ballroom
6300 Ocean Drive
Corpus Christi, Texas 78412
Notice of Public Hearing
Houston: Saturday, June 08, 2013 @ 11:00 AM
University of Houston
Michael J. Cemo Hall
4800 Calhoun Road
Houston, Texas 77004
Notice of Public Hearing
Austin: Wednesday, June 12, 2013 @ 9:00 AM
E1.036 (Finance Room)
Two overflow rooms will be available in E1.016 and E1.028.
Live broadcast
Notice of Public Hearing
If you attend a Senate hearing, sign in AGAINST SB 1, SB 3, and SB 4.
Note the live broadcasts of the Austin hearings.
Invited and public testimony will be taken. Public testimony may be limited to three minutes. If submitting written testimony, please provide 30 copies to the committee clerk with your name on each.
This is short notice, but our participation in these redistricting field hearings will, at the very least, signal that we’re paying attention as Texas Republicans attempt to rush through adoption of the court-drawn interim maps, which were based on the 2011 Republican-drawn maps that a federal court rejected because they intentionally discriminated.
Here are some helpful recent articles focusing on Texas redistricting issues:
Burnt Orange Report: Texas, TEA Party & Black Voters, Or, Why We Still Need The Voting Rights Act
Currently the State of Texas is arguing that despite historic discrimination it should not be required to obtain federal approval of its voting maps, even though the most recent maps passed by the legislature were struck down as intentionally discriminatory. In fact, of the states and jurisdictions subject to Section 5 of the VRA, Texas is the only one whose maps were denied approval. The egregious nature of these violations, caused the ruling District Court to issue its own interim maps, meant to be temporary, so that the 2012 elections could be held on schedule. Now Gov. Rick Perry wants to take these temporary maps and make them permanent despite complaints from Democrats that, “The interim maps do not go far enough to reflect the minority population in Texas.”
AP’s Chris Tomlinson: Special session on redistricting is damage control
But earlier this year the court in Washington D.C. ruled that Texas Republican lawmakers intentionally discriminated against minorities in drawing their maps. That […] led Gov. Rick Perry to call a special session on redistricting to do damage control.
At Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s urging, Perry ordered lawmakers to pass “legislation which ratifies and adopts the interim redistricting plans” used in the 2012 election. […]
The minority groups that brought the lawsuit in the first place – including the NAACP, the Mexican American Legislative Caucus and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund – heartily disagree. Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, a San Antonio Democrat who chairs the caucus, told his fellow lawmakers on Friday that the court-drawn maps used in 2012 should only be the starting point.
“The interim map does not address any of (our) claims … and it doesn’t address any of the findings by the D.C. court,” he said. He has recommended that during the special session, the Legislature should reopen redistricting completely and consider new census data as well as the detailed ruling by the court in Washington.
Texas Redistricting & Election Law: Backgrounder: Texas’ population growth since the last round of redistricting
The 2010 Census showed that there were 25,145,561 Texans as of April 1 of that year. […]
The Census Bureau’s most recent CVAP estimates calculate that in 2011 there were 15,583,700 Texans who were citizens over the age of 18 – up from 14,896,395 in the prior 2010 estimate.
Of that 687,305 in CVAP growth, 373,410 (or 54.3%) was Hispanic. Another 18.1% of the CVAP increase was African-American, and another 11% was Asian.
Other helpful background sources can be found in Texas Matters: Redistricting.
Quick Links
Both Empower the Vote and Texas Redistricting & Election Law are providing up-to-date coverage and tools to assist us: Empower the Vote’s Redistricting page and Texas Redistricting & Election Law.
Let’s also call and email our state representatives and state senators: Who represents me? (Texas).
Note: Please bring any errors to my attention.
Cross-posted from orange.
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