Redistricting Subcommittee Hearing in Lubbock Witness: - June 26, 2003 Page 1 1 LEGISLATIVE HEARING 2 ON 3 4 JUNE 26, 2003 5 ----------------------------------------------------------- 6 A P P E A R A N C E S 7 REPRESENTATIVE CARL ISETT 8 REPRESENTATIVE KENNY MARCHANT 9 REPRESENTATIVE KENT GRUSENDORF 10 ----------------------------------------------------------- 11 LEGISLATIVE PUBLIC HEARING ON CONGRESSIONAL REDISTRICTING PLAN TAKEN BEFORE LINDI REEVES, CERTIFIED 12 SHORTHAND REPORTER AND NOTARY PUBLIC IN AND FOR THE STATE OF TEXAS, AT 9:00 A.M., ON THE 26TH DAY OF JUNE, 2003. 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Hoffman Reporting & Video Service www.hoffmanreporting.com Redistricting Subcommittee Hearing in Lubbock Witness: - June 26, 2003 Page 2 1 REPRESENTATIVE MARCHANT: WHILE WE'RE 2 BEGINNING TO START THIS MORNING, LET ME GIVE YOU A LITTLE 3 INFORMATION. OUT ON THE FRONT DESK ARE SOME MAPS. WHAT IS 4 OUT FRONT ARE TWO MAPS. ONE OF THEM IS A MAP OF THE 5 CURRENT DISTRICTS AS THEY ARE NOW, AS ORDERED BY THE COURT, 6 AND THEN THERE IS ANOTHER MAP WHICH IS THE MAP THAT WAS 7 VOTED OUT OF THE HOUSE, THE REDISTRICTING COMMITTEE BACK IN 8 THE REGULAR SESSION. THOSE ARE THE TWO MAPS WE FEEL LIKE 9 ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT MAPS TO BE BROUGHT TODAY. 10 THERE ARE MANY, MANY MORE MAPS AVAILABLE ON THE 11 REDISTRICTING ON THE INTERNET, AND MANY OF YOU -- IF YOU 12 ARE INTERESTED IN THAT INFORMATION THE CLERKS WILL BE ABLE 13 TO TELL YOU, AND IT'S OUT FRONT, INFORMATION ON HOW TO GET 14 ON THE INTERNET AND GET INTO THOSE PROGRAMS, IT'S OUT AT 15 THE FRONT DESK. 16 IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO TESTIFY TODAY, WE WOULD 17 LOVE FOR YOU TO DO SO. OUR WITNESS AFFIRMATION FORMS WILL 18 BE DOWN FRONT, HERE, AND IF YOU'LL SEE DAN, DAN WILL HELP 19 YOU FILL ONE OUT, AND WE WOULD LOVE TO HAVE YOU -- WE WOULD 20 LOVE TO HAVE YOU FILL ONE OUT, AND WE'RE GOING TO -- ON THE 21 LEFT, HERE, ON YOUR RIGHT, IS THE MAP OF THE EXISTING 22 DISTRICTS AS THE COURT ORDERED THEM. AND ON THIS SIDE IS A 23 MAP, A BIG MAP OF THE MAP THAT -- THIS WAS THE MAP VOTED 24 OUT OF THE REDISTRICTING COMMITTEE IN THE REGULAR SESSION 25 THIS YEAR. Hoffman Reporting & Video Service www.hoffmanreporting.com Redistricting Subcommittee Hearing in Lubbock Witness: - June 26, 2003 Page 3 1 IF YOU COULD, AS YOU BEGIN TO THINK ABOUT YOUR 2 TESTIMONY, WE WOULD LOVE TO HEAR WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY, WE 3 WANT YOUR OPINIONS, WE WANT TO KNOW WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT 4 EITHER OR BOTH MAPS, OR WHETHER THERE OUGHT TO BE ANOTHER 5 MAP ALTOGETHER; AND IT'S OUR JOB TODAY TO BE HERE TO 6 REPRESENT THE REDISTRICTING COMMITTEE AND TO TAKE 7 TESTIMONY, AND TAKE THAT INFORMATION AND YOUR INPUT BACK TO 8 THE FULL COMMITTEE NEXT WEEK WHEN WE GO INTO SPECIAL 9 SESSION. 10 WE ARE -- HOW IT'S GONE BEFORE HAS BEEN YOU CAN 11 STATE WHETHER YOU'RE FOR THE EXISTING MAP, THE MAP WHERE 12 THE COURT HAD ORDERED, OR YOU'RE FOR A CHANGE IN THE MAPS, 13 YOU CAN SAY THAT YOU'RE FOR THAT OR AGAINST THAT MAP, 14 THAT'S FINE. THAT HELPS US A LOT. IF YOU HAVE OBJECTIONS 15 TO THIS MAP OR THAT MAP, IF YOU WERE TO MAKE SPECIFIC 16 OBJECTIONS TO IT, WITH GEOGRAPHY, AND ANY FACTORS OF THE 17 MAP, WE WOULD APPRECIATE HEARING THOSE SPECIFIC OBJECTIONS, 18 TOO. 19 I WILL LET YOU KNOW TODAY THAT THERE IS A COURT 20 REPORTER IN THE AUDIENCE, AND THE COURT REPORTER WILL BE 21 TAKING ALL TESTIMONY DOWN INTO WRITING. THAT'S VERY 22 DIFFICULT WHEN TWO PEOPLE TRY TO TALK AT THE SAME TIME. I 23 KNOW THAT'S UNAVOIDABLE A LOT OF TIMES, BUT IF YOU WOULD 24 COME TO THE FRONT, SPEAK INTO THE MICROPHONE CLEARLY, THAT 25 WAY SHE CAN GET YOUR TESTIMONY IN THE RECORD, EVERYTHING Hoffman Reporting & Video Service www.hoffmanreporting.com Redistricting Subcommittee Hearing in Lubbock Witness: - June 26, 2003 Page 4 1 YOU SAY WILL GO INTO THE RECORD. IF YOU WANT TO SUBMIT 2 WRITTEN MATERIAL TO THE CLERK OR TO THE COMMITTEE MEMBERS, 3 THAT WILL BE GREAT, WE WOULD LOVE TO HAVE IT AND WE'LL TAKE 4 IT BACK TO AUSTIN, AND THAT WILL BE TURNED OVER TO THE 5 COMMITTEE. 6 THERE IS, ALSO, TODAY AN INTERPRETER, FOR THOSE 7 THAT WANT TO GIVE THEIR TESTIMONY IN SPANISH, AND IF THERE 8 IS A GROUP OR SOMEONE THAT WOULD LIKE TO HAVE OTHER 9 PEOPLES' TESTIMONY INTERPRETED INTO SPANISH, OUR 10 INTERPRETER IS RIGHT DOWN FRONT, IF SHE WOULD STAND, 11 PLEASE. YOU CAN COME DOWN FRONT HERE AND SIT WITH HER AND 12 I THINK THAT SHE WOULD BE WILLING TO HELP WITH INTERPRETING 13 OTHER PEOPLE'S TESTIMONY, AS WELL. AND IF YOU DO NEED 14 TESTIMONY IN SPANISH AND DO NEED AN INTERPRETER, IF YOU 15 WOULD LET DAN, THE CLERK, KNOW JUST BEFORE YOU TESTIFY, 16 THEN WE'LL BE ABLE TO FACILITATE THAT AND WE'LL BE ABLE TO 17 HELP YOU THERE. WE WANT TO HEAR YOUR TESTIMONY, AND THE 18 TESTIMONY WILL BE PUT IN THE COURT RECORD. 19 AS YOU KNOW -- WELL, LET ME GO AHEAD AND CALL 20 THE MEETING TO ORDER. THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON HOUSE 21 REDISTRICTING FOR CONGRESSIONAL REDISTRICTING WILL COME TO 22 ORDER. THE CLERK WILL CALL THE ROLE. 23 THE CLERK: MARCHANT? 24 REPRESENTATIVE MARCHANT: HERE. 25 THE CLERK: GRUSENDORF? Hoffman Reporting & Video Service www.hoffmanreporting.com Redistricting Subcommittee Hearing in Lubbock Witness: - June 26, 2003 Page 5 1 REPRESENTATIVE GRUSENDORF: HERE. 2 THE CLERK: ISETT? 3 REPRESENTATIVE ISETT: HERE. 4 THE CLERK: MCCLENDON? RAYMOND? 5 REPRESENTATIVE MARCHANT: OKAY. THERE IS A 6 QUORUM PRESENT. WE WILL PROCEED. WE HAVE SEVERAL PEOPLE 7 IN THE AUDIENCE TODAY THAT ARE ELECTED OFFICIALS, AND IT'S 8 BEEN THE CUSTOM OF OUR COMMITTEE TO HEAR ELECTED OFFICIALS 9 AT THE FIRST PART OF THE MEETING BECAUSE THEY REPRESENT -- 10 ARE ELECTED TO REPRESENT A GROUP OF PEOPLE, AND WE'RE GOING 11 TO DO THAT TODAY. 12 I WOULD FIRST LIKE TO RECOGNIZE TWO VERY 13 IMPORTANT PEOPLE IN THE AUDIENCE, FIRST OF ALL, MR. PETE 14 LANEY, REPRESENTATIVE LANEY FROM HALE CENTER. IT WAS MY 15 PRIVILEGE TO SERVE UNDER REPRESENTATIVE LANEY WHEN HE WAS 16 SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE, AS ONE OF HIS CHAIRMAN. I COUNT HIM 17 AS ONE OF MY FRIENDS. WE'RE VERY GLAD TO HAVE YOU TODAY 18 HERE. 19 (AUDIENCE APPLAUSE.) 20 REPRESENTATIVE MARCHANT: ALSO, I THINK I 21 SAW DEL -- DELWIN JONES WALK IN. DELWIN JONES HAS BEEN THE 22 CHAIRMAN OF THE REDISTRICTING COMMITTEE TWO DIFFERENT TIMES 23 OVER THE LAST 30 YEARS, AND A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO WE WERE 24 IN THIS SAME BUILDING, I THINK MAYBE ANOTHER PART OF THIS 25 BUILDING, FOR A REDISTRICTING HEARING AND DELWIN WAS THE Hoffman Reporting & Video Service www.hoffmanreporting.com Redistricting Subcommittee Hearing in Lubbock Witness: - June 26, 2003 Page 6 1 CHAIR OF THAT. WE'RE GLAD TO HAVE YOU HERE TODAY, DELWIN. 2 (AUDIENCE APPLAUSE.) 3 REPRESENTATIVE MARCHANT: SO AT THIS TIME, 4 I WOULD LIKE TO JUST MAKE A FEW REMARKS, AND THEN I'M GOING 5 TO ASK EACH OF THE MEMBERS OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE IF THEY 6 WOULD LIKE TO MAKE SOME OPENING REMARKS, AND WE'LL START 7 WITH THE TESTIMONY. 8 FIRST THING, I WOULD LIKE TO READ FOR YOU THE 9 PROCLAMATION THAT WE ALL RECEIVED ON THE 23RD, I BELIEVE IT 10 WAS -- ON THE 21ST, FROM THE GOVERNOR, AND IT, BASICALLY, 11 SAYS, "TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME: WHEREAS 12 FEDERAL LAW REQUIRES STATE LEGISLATORS TO REDRAW 13 CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT LINES DECENNIAL CENSUS; AND WHEREAS, 14 THE TEXAS LEGISLATURE HAS NOT DRAWN NEW DISTRICT LINES TO 15 REFLECT THE CHANGES IN TEXAS POPULATION SINCE THE RESULTS 16 OF THE LAST CENSUS WERE RELEASED; AND WHEREAS, THE PEOPLE 17 HAVE PLACED THE POWER TO CALL AND CONVENE THE LEGISLATURE 18 INTO SPECIAL SESSION IN THE HANDS OF THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE 19 OFFICE OF THE STATE; NOW, THEREFORE, I, RICK PERRY, 20 GOVERNOR OF TEXAS, BY THE AUTHORITY VESTED IN ME BY ARTICLE 21 IV. SECTION 8, OF THE TEXAS CONSTITUTION, DO HEREBY CALL A 22 SPECIAL SESSION OF THE 78TH LEGISLATURE, TO BE CONVENED IN 23 THE CITY OF AUSTIN AND COMMENCING AT 10 A.M., MONDAY, THE 24 30TH DAY OF JUNE, 2003, FOR THE FOLLOWING PURPOSE: TO 25 CONSIDER LEGISLATION RELATING TO CONGRESSIONAL Hoffman Reporting & Video Service www.hoffmanreporting.com Redistricting Subcommittee Hearing in Lubbock Witness: - June 26, 2003 Page 7 1 REDISTRICTING. THE SECRETARY OF STATE WILL TAKE NOTICE OF 2 THIS ACTION AND WILL NOTIFY THE MEMBERS OF THE 3 LEGISLATURE." 4 SHORTLY AFTER THIS NOTICE WAS GIVEN TO THE 5 LEGISLATURE, SPEAKER CRADDOCK AND CHAIRMAN CRABB OF THE 6 REDISTRICTING COMMITTEE INFORMED THE REDISTRICTING 7 COMMITTEE THAT WE WOULD HOLD SIX HEARINGS ACROSS THE STATE 8 DURING THIS WEEK PRECEDING THESE SPECIAL SESSIONS. AND 9 SINCE THEN, THE LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR HAS ANNOUNCED THAT HE 10 WILL CALL THE SENATE REDISTRICTING, AND I THINK IT'S THE 11 JURISPRUDENCE COMMITTEE TOGETHER, AND THERE WILL BE FIVE 12 HEARINGS ACROSS THE STATE BY THE SENATE. THE FIRST ONE 13 WILL BE IN LAREDO NEXT -- WELL, I THINK IT'S THIS SATURDAY.