by Nancy Sims
Pierpont Communications
For the next couple of weeks, I am going to discuss Redistricting and why it matters to Texas. I initiated this conversation last week and want to go into much more detail.
At the federal level, Texas is expected to pick up at least two, potentially three, additional Congressional seats. Big deal, you say. Just more politicians, you whimper.
It is a big deal. The more representation we have in Congress, the more respect we garner at the federal level, and with that respect comes the potential for more tax dollars returning to our state. These tax dollars help fund education, infrastructure, transportation, public health, disaster relief and more.
After the 2000 Census and Redistricting process, Texas gained two additional seats. We currently have 32 Members of Congress. California has 53 Members of Congress. We are followed by New York with 29 and Florida with 25.
Texas has historically been known to send significantly more dollars to Washington D.C. than we receive in return. Having additional Members of Congress will strengthen the power of the Texas delegation and help to garner more funding for our state. These dollars will then help us provide services to our ever increasing population.
So the question remains: who will draw the Congressional districts? Technically, the Texas Legislature will draw these lines and they often make the first attempt. As you can imagine, this is a tedious process. Partisan strife moves to its most elevated levels as State Representatives and State Senators fight to protect their ground, position themselves for higher office and struggle to understand changing demographics.
The Legislature will most likely struggle with this process and fail to reach a compromise. If one of the political parties is truly dominant, then they may ultimately pass a plan that will increase and strengthen their own party’s power.
If the Legislature fails to reach an agreement, then the process will move to the Legislative Redistricting Board. The following is an excerpt from the State’s website that describes this entity:
Legislative Redistricting Board
The Legislative Redistricting Board, composed of the lieutenant governor, speaker of the house, attorney general, comptroller, and land commissioner, was created by constitutional amendment in 1951, at least in part to provide legislators with an incentive to redistrict after each federal decennial census. If the legislature fails to redistrict house or senate districts during the first regular session following release of the decennial census, Section 28, Article III, of the Texas Constitution requires the board to meet within 90 days of the end of that regular session and, within 60 days of convening, to adopt its own house or senate plan to fill the void left by the legislature’s failure.
The Legislative Redistricting Board’s duty to redistrict is also invoked if a house or senate plan passed by the legislature at that regular session is vetoed or held invalid in court.
This board is the entity that has the power to complete the process. Currently, all of the members of this board are Republicans.
. The House of Representatives currently has a four vote partisan split with 77 Republicans and 73 Democrats. Thus, the fight for control of leadership in Texas for 2010 will be more intense than ever.
In the next column, we’ll discuss Redistricting at the State level.