Series of hearings set across Texas public input needed
By Rep Ken Paxton
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas The next session of the Texas State Legislature begins January 2011. My colleagues and I are preparing now to act on several important issues one of the most controversial and complex issues that we will act upon as well as one of the most important issues for Texas & Collin County is redistricting.
Texas is facing many challenges. Make no mistake about it there are major issues of substance such as:
- Balancing the State budget
- Tackling our States growing mobility & transportation needs
- Addressing the new federal healthcare mandates and
- Improving our school finance system
Additionally a responsibility that usually receives more attention than virtually any of those crucial issues is that of redistricting.
Redistricting is the revision or replacement of existing districts resulting in new districts with different geographical boundaries. This process is mandated by Section 2 Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution for congressional seats and Section 28 Article III of the Texas constitution for Texas House and Senate seats as well as State Board of Education seats.
Two primary requirements govern all redistricting decisions in the State.
First districts of a given type (Senate House Congressional State Board of Education) must have an equal or nearly equal population after publication of the U.S. Census which demonstrates that there has been an increase decrease or shift in population over the last 10 years.
This requirement is very important to Collin County as our population has grown by an estimated sixty percent since the last U.S. Census was taken in 2000.
Second districts must be drawn in a manner according to federal law so that there is neither a purpose nor an effect of denying or abridging the right of individuals to vote on the basis of race color or language group.
These requirements are based on a series of federal court cases the U.S. Constitution and federal laws.
In order for Texas citizens to provide input into this process and to communicate directly with members of the Legislature the Texas House of Representatives Committee on Redistricting and the House Committee on Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence will be holding a series of joint public hearings at various locations around the state this year.
The redistricting hearing closest to Collin County will be held:
- Wednesday September 22 2010 at 10 A.M.
- at the University of Texas at Dallas Campus in the Conference Center Room CN 1.112
- located at 800 W. Campbell Road; Richardson Texas 75080
The complete hearings schedule is available on the Texas Legislative Councils redistricting website at
www.tlc.state.tx.us/redist/redist.html.
I encourage you to join me on Wednesday September 22 in participating in this important process.
