Monday, May 7, 2001 HOUSE JOURNAL - SUPPLEMENT — 68th Day 1 HOUSE JOURNAL SEVENTY-SEVENTH LEGISLATURE, REGULAR SESSION SUPPLEMENT CSHB 150 - DEBATE REPRESENTATIVE D. JONES: Mr. Speaker, I’ll make an observation that most of the house members can certainly appreciate—I finally got one bill out of the calendar this session. We have before us committee substitute for House Bill 150 (CSHB 150) and, of course, I would mention to you that this document will become an important part of history. It may be altered by legislative action or executive action, Legislative Redistricting Board action or court action from this point forward, but it shall always be the beginning basis for 150 house districts for the next 10 years—districts that will allow all Texans the opportunity to choose their representatives who will sit in the seats in this chamber and cast the votes that make the laws that will govern this great state. This committee substitute is the result of many, many hours and many days of work by members of this house of representatives and this committee. You, Mr. Speaker, asked me to serve as chairman of the redistricting committee. I asked you if you had any specific directions for me as I accepted the assignment. I do not remember your exact words, but I do remember the intent of your words—you told me to develop a plan that would be legal in the terms of our law, respectful to all the citizens of our state, and fair to all members of this house of representatives. I believe our committee has fulfilled your directions. I asked all members, early on, to submit a plan that they felt would best represent the people of their districts. The plans submitted became the basis for developing the document before us today. The plans submitted did not fit together perfectly, as all of us can well imagine. We had the county line rule of our own Texas Constitution to follow; it says that we can’t cut county lines in creating districts. We had U.S. Supreme Court rulings to follow, one of them said that we would cut county lines a minimum number in abiding by the federal law of equal population in the districts, “one person, one vote.” We adhered to the Voting Rights Act in this plan. We respected and preserved the respective strength of all minorities in this plan. We avoided retrogression in this plan. We respected the communities of interest in this plan. We developed compact districts in this plan within the confines of the restrictions that we had to follow. The end result is this: There are nine pairings in this plan: five are Democrat versus Republican; two are Democrat versus Democrat; and two are Republican versus Republican. There are nine open seats in this plan: one in the Valley; three in Central Texas; three in Southeast Texas; and two in North Texas. Had this plan been in effect this last year, Governor Bush would have carried 98 of these districts very comfortably. Using the Republican and Democratic Index (which is the average of all statewide contests in the 2000 election), 97 of the districts in this plan have a Republican Index above 50 percent. I assure you, Mr. Speaker and all members of the house, that every district in this plan was carefully drawn to be legal, to be fair, to be respectful of all the people of Texas. Having said all of this, let me move forward into the work process. 2 77th LEGISLATURE — REGULAR SESSION Members, each of you should have on your desk a list of all amendments filed by you as proposed amendments for CSHB 150. There are 39 amendments to be considered, and each author will be allowed to explain his or her amendment as they are brought up for consideration. We have organized the amendments in a sequence that assures an orderly consideration of them. The incomplete, or less than statewide, amendments are laid out to be considered first, and then the complete statewide substitutes will be the action taken after all individual amendments are considered. One reason for this specific organization is to be assured that if some amendment affecting another amendment were adopted prior to the other amendment, it might prevent that member from having an opportunity to discuss their proposed amendment. We have tried to lay them out so that every person who offered an amendment has adequate time to discuss their amendment and present it to this body. In order to further assist all of us, and me in particular, we organized these amendments in a somewhat geographic regions basis. In other words, the amendment is in that region that they affect, and if you look at that organization, you’ll see the method that we developed. Hopefully, this document will allow you and allow me to keep this process in an orderly manner today. With that, Mr. Speaker, I complete my remarks and I’m prepared to move forward. REPRESENTATIVE GARCIA: Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield? CHAIR (Representative Chisum in the chair): Mr. Jones, do you yield to Mr. Garcia? D. JONES: I yield. CHAIR: Gentleman yields, Mr. Garcia. GARCIA: Mr. Jones, you saw the latest census figures that came out regarding the growth in, Texas’s population growth, is that correct? D. JONES: I have seen them numerous times. GARCIA: And hasn’t most of that growth been due to the Hispanic population increasing throughout the State of Texas? D. JONES: I recognize that, yes, sir. GARCIA: As a matter of fact, that was the fastest-growing ethnic group in the entire state, is that correct? D. JONES: I believe that that’s a correct statement. GARCIA: And can you explain why, under your plan that you’ve laid out today of the new districts, only one district is a majority Hispanic opportunity district? D. JONES: The process of doing a statewide plan is not real simple, and the resulting organization of the 150 districts throughout the state, and making each of them meet the criteria that I outlined initially, developed this plan that we have and it did create an open district in the Valley, which will be an additional Hispanic district. And that would be my answer to your question. GARCIA: But you created, was it, nine new districts? Monday, May 7, 2001 HOUSE JOURNAL - SUPPLEMENT — 68th Day 3 D. JONES: I beg your pardon? GARCIA: How many new districts did you create under your plan? D. JONES: We ended up with nine open seats that were created as a result of following the guidelines that I have outlined. GARCIA: Well let me ask you, in Dallas County, I saw the map, and do you under..., of the 150 districts, do you understand that District 104, the district that I represent, is going to have the largest population of any state house district in the State of Texas? D. JONES: I haven’t looked at that number specifically, but I’ll accept your statement that it’s correct. GARCIA: Let’s assume that’s the statement and I’m the only Mexican- American representative from Dallas County. And are you familiar with the term "packing?" D. JONES: Am I familiar with "packing?" GARCIA: Yes, sir. D. JONES: I’m familiar with it, yes, sir. GARCIA: Okay, do you know that in Dallas County, Hispanics are the largest ethnic group in the city of Dallas? D. JONES: I will accept your statement to that effect. GARCIA: And African-Americans are the smallest ethnic group, and yet they have four African-American districts that represent Dallas County. Can you tell me why your plan only has one majority Hispanic district, which is mine? And that plan has me as the largest-populated district in the entire State of Texas. Can you explain how you arrived at that? D. JONES: It was arrived, Dallas County was developed under the same guideline procedures as the entire state. One of the precedents recognized by the court is that you recognize the prior political lines, I believe I am correct in that statement, and in the process of recognizing those prior lines and recognizing the other guidelines, then your district ended up being the one with the large Hispanic population. GARCIA: In the deliberations by the committee in developing this plan, what had precedence, that the ethnic background and communities of interest have precedence? Because I noticed in Dallas County that language, communities of interest, people who went to church together, people who, neighborhoods, all those districts were divided and... D. JONES: Let me pause... GARCIA: ...it appears to protect incumbents as opposed to protecting communities. D. JONES: Let me pause and ask for order because I’m having difficulty hearing your questions with the roar that’s about. Mr. Speaker, could you call order? 4 77th LEGISLATURE — REGULAR SESSION CHAIR: Members, if you’ll take your seats on the floor and in the gallery and, so Mr. Jones doesn’t have to keep adjusting his hearing aids. GARCIA: Mr. Chairman, again, I’m going to talk about Dallas County. It appears that the way the lines were drawn that communities of interest were divided. People who go to church together, go to the schools, go, have language and cultural things in common, specifically the Hispanic community, that those districts were split. And I’m trying to find out why those districts were split. D. JONES: And my answer to that is that they are the unintended results, but the results, of following other guidelines that we have to follow for the entire state plan.