Texas House passes proposed new map for chamber’s 150 districts, aiming to protect Republicans’ majority for the next decade

Sign up for The Brief, our regular newsletter that keeps readers up to velocity connected the astir indispensable Texas news.

The Texas House connected Wednesday approved projected governmental boundaries for the little chamber’s 150 districts that aims to fortify Republicans’ spot successful the authorities House for the adjacent decade.

House Bill 1, authored by authorities Rep. Todd Hunter, a Corpus Christi Republican who chairs the little chamber’s redistricting committee, volition present caput to the Senate for consideration.

The House’s 83-63 ballot comes arsenic the Legislature rounds retired its 3rd peculiar league of the year, an up to 30-day agelong ordered by Gov. Greg Abbott that has focused connected redrawing the state’s congressional, Senate, House and State Board of Education maps based connected the latest census data. Those numbers, which were delayed mostly due to the fact that of the pandemic, showed that people of colour fueled 95% of the state’s colonisation growth implicit the past decade.

Ad

The peculiar league is slated to extremity Oct. 19, which means lawmakers person a week near to hash retired differences implicit those maps and different items included connected the docket acceptable by Abbott.

Debate implicit the House's representation proposal kicked disconnected Tuesday greeting and went into aboriginal Wednesday morning. Members considered much than 50 amendments to the map, with dozens of those projected changes being added oregon failing mostly on enactment lines.

“I admit everybody trying,” Hunter said arsenic helium laid retired the draught Tuesday morning. “I cognize that successful immoderate redistricting, immoderate person issues and immoderate don’t. That’s the quality of redistricting.”

Some of the largest changes made connected the House level progressive Dallas and Harris counties arsenic members from some delegations rallied astir their respective proposals.

State Rep. Rafael Anchía, a Dallas Democrat who chairs the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, authored a palmy amendment that created 2 further North Texas districts wherever Black residents are a bulk of eligible voters. Anchía’s amendment besides added 1 Dallas-area territory wherever Hispanic residents are the bulk of eligible voters.

Ad

The Harris County change, spearheaded by authorities Rep. Dan Huberty, R-Houston, did not make immoderate further districts successful which residents of colour marque up the bulk of eligible voters, though it did fortify the partisan splits for definite GOP and Democratic districts successful the area.

One of the much tense moments came during statement connected an amendment by authorities Rep. J.M. Lozano, R-Kingsville, that reworks districts successful the Rio Grande Valley to marque House District 37 much competitory for Republicans. State Rep. Alex Dominguez, the Brownsville Democrat who presently represents that district, panned Lozano implicit the projected change, arguing that the delegation had not been notified earlier helium filed the amendment.

Ad

Lozano’s amendment was adopted narrowly, 72-70, with respective members switching their votes erstwhile a verification ballot had been requested.

Earlier Tuesday, members considered an amendment by Anchía that fundamentally would person killed the representation draught by striking the legislation’s enacting clause.

“From a motivation and ineligible perspective, we person nary prime but to wholly hitch the slate cleanable and commencement each over,” helium told members, citing concerns implicit a deficiency of transparency passim the mapmaking process and with a draught that helium argued did not adequately bespeak the state’s colonisation maturation implicit the past decade. His amendment failed on a adjacent party-line vote.

For the archetypal clip successful decades, Texas lawmakers are allowed to gully and enact governmental maps without archetypal getting national approval. That preclearance requirement, for states similar Texas with a past of discriminating against voters of colour successful redistricting, was ended successful 2013 by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Ad

In an effort to code the lack of that requirement, authorities Rep. Toni Rose, a Dallas Democrat who serves arsenic vice seat of the House Redistricting Committee, offered an amendment that would person required a national territory tribunal to motion disconnected connected the representation earlier it could instrumentality effect. The change, Rose said, would person ensured “that Texas is pursuing the rules.” It failed.

Members besides voted down amendments offered by Republican members, including 1 by authorities Rep. Jeff Cason, R-Bedford, that would person returned his spot to a Republican-leaning one. It besides would person made a adjacent unfastened spot much competitory to Democrats. Cason’s amendment failed by an overwhelming margin, 17-119.

Before the statement wrapped up aboriginal Wednesday morning, authorities Rep. Erin Zwiener, D-Driftwood, successfully pushed an amendment that places her backmost into her district. A erstwhile mentation of the representation had drawn the lawmaker into an adjacent, acold much Republican-leaning district.

Ad

As Hunter introduced the draft to footwear disconnected statement Tuesday, helium again pushed backmost against reports that the connection would trim the fig of majority-Black and majority-Hispanic districts based connected eligible voters.

In its investigation of the projected governmental maps, The Texas Tribune uses national voting property colonisation from the census estimates to find whether the proposals summation white-majority districts portion decreasing the fig of districts wherever Black and Hispanic eligible voters volition beryllium the majority.

Hunter has argued that the CVAP metric, which is the census’ estimation of residents who are eligible to vote, is not arsenic close arsenic voting property colonisation data, which is based connected the latest census figures. VAP, however, includes noncitizens who are not eligible to vote.

Ad

Hunter, utilizing VAP, said Tuesday earlier immoderate amendments were added that his projected representation would make 2 further districts wherever Hispanic residents marque up a bulk and 1 with Black residents arsenic the majority. But nether CVAP counts for HB 1 heading into statement Tuesday, the fig of districts with Hispanic-majority electorates successful the draught would driblet from 33 to 30, portion the fig of districts with Black residents arsenic the bulk of eligible voters would shrink from 7 to four.

“We disagree with the allegation that [HB 1] does not execute a bully result,” Hunter said Tuesday. He added that portion CVAP would alteration successful “some majority-minority districts,” specified “reductions were unavoidable” and that “in astir each instances,” those districts would “continue to overwhelmingly elite the minority-preferred candidate.”

For the astir part, the hourslong statement carried connected with small play among members connected the House floor. As the treatment kicked off, though, determination was 1 testy speech betwixt Anchía, the Dallas Democrat, and Lozano, the Kingsville Republican.

Ad

Lozano delivered a spirited defence of the connection portion speaking against Anchía’s amendment that would person rendered the representation useless, pointing to historical predetermination results successful his territory to reason that voters of colour would ballot for some Republicans and Democrats, depending connected the candidate. Lozano besides defended the process and timeline by which the representation was constructed and past made disposable for nationalist input, which Democrats and voting rights groups person heavy criticized.

“As entertaining arsenic this leader code is, does the talker output for a question?” Anchía asked Lozano from the chamber’s backmost microphone.

“Definitely not!” Lozano replied, though helium did instrumentality questions from Anchía erstwhile helium finished his remarks soon after.