Measure passes House 92-52 but falls short of addressing adequate Latino opportunity districts for DFW/North Texas
State Rep. Roberto R. Alonzo District 104 of Dallas comments
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas What started mid-afternoon yesterday culminating in the early hours this morning the Texas House of Representatives took the next step in creating the new proposed House district boundary lines for Texas by voting House Bill 150 out of the House on a 92-52 vote. House members argued on the floor until 3:30 am trying to appeal to their fellow colleagues why his/her particular district or area needed to be redrawn.
Among the lawmakers voting against the plan was Texas State Representative Roberto R. Alonzo (Dallas) commenting that he made the nay vote because of HB 150s failure to create more Hispanic opportunity districts in certain regions of the state that warranted more seats because of the growing Hispanic population as evidenced by the latest US census data including the Dallas/Fort Worth North Texas & West Texas regions among others.
If the US census data reflects a growing number of Hispanics in certain regions of the state especially the DFW/North Texas region I feel strongly that our redrawing of House district lines should mirror those same trends said Rep. Alonzo a member of the House Redistricting Committee.
As part of this legislative task the Dallas lawmaker is among a group of lawmakers who traveled the state since last June 21 taking input from constituents groups organizations public officials and other stakeholders on this decennial redistricting matter.
Among the cities on the tour included:
San Antonio- McAllen
- Laredo
- Corpus Christi
- El Paso
- Lubbock
- Beaumont
- Marshall
- Houston
- Austin and
- 3 public hearings in the D-FW area in September in Dallas Richardson & Fort Worth.
As I have stated previously I think this initial plan misses a grand opportunity for inclusiveness and fairness to the shifting demographics and population change of areas like DFW/North Texas the West Texas region the Rio Grande valley and Harris counties - areas that showed the greatest population growth. And it is no secret that growth was attributed primarily to the Latino population.
The plan passed out of the House denies proper representation to people of color - but particularly Hispanics - who drove the population growth in Texas as a whole for the past decade said Alonzo.
Concluded Rep. Alonzo
At the end of the day all that matters is 1) what is fair and 2) what is legal. And since this latest House plan fails at both levels I am certain it will land in the courts to decide.
Redistricting happens every 10 years in conjunction with the US census.
Rep. Alonzo represents House District 104 in the southwest Dallas area. He is a member of the House Higher Education Committee and the House Committee on Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence.
