Our ideal redistricting bill is filed in the Texas House!
I am delighted to report that State Rep. Mike Villarreal (D-San Antonio) yesterday filed redistricting reform legislation containing specific provisions that TCAN proposed.
The constitutional amendment resolution, HJR 101, and its enabling legislation, HB 3389, call for an independent redistricting commission that takes the process out of the hands of the partisan, conflict-ridden legislature and ensures a fairer, smoother, and more timely redrawing of electoral boundaries.
Instead of the highly partisan system that Tom DeLay used to create the most gerrymandered districts in Texas history, the system we devised creates a panel of retired judges who have no personal political stake in the outcome of the process. If passed, this means districts will always represent communities of interest and not 350-mile-long strips of voters.
You may recall that in my congressional race last year, five U.S. House of Representatives districts in Texas were changed only three months before the election. This was a court-ordered restorative change that came as a response to Tom DeLay’s partisan mid-decade muddling in state affairs.
My campaign office received numerous calls from voters who did not know who was, and who would be, representing them. Alienating voters like this does not sit well with me, and I decided to do everything I could to ensure this kind of meddlesome partisan tampering never happens again.
To read the details of Rep. Villarreal’s legislation, click here for the constitutional amendment and here for the enabling bill. For updates on the process and the redistricting issue in general, sign up for our email list and TCAN action updates.
We are pleased that several other redistricting reform bills and constitutional amendment resolutions have been filed in the House and Senate this session, any of which would be an improvement over our current system. While we believe Rep. Villarreal’s legislation has the strongest safeguards against partisan influence, we call upon the House Redistricting Committee and the Senate State Affairs Committee, respectively, to give all of these proposals public hearings and serious consideration.
Posted: March 9th, 2007 under Legislation, Actions, Redistricting.
