MINUTES
SENATE COMMITTEE ON REDISTRICTING
Wednesday, May 9, 2001
1:30 p.m. or upon adjournment
Senate Chamber
*****
Pursuant to a notice posted in accordance with Senate
Rule 11.18, a public hearing of the Senate Committee on
Redistricting was held on Wednesday, May 9, 2001, in
the Senate Chamber at Austin, Texas.
*****
MEMBERS PRESENT: MEMBERS ABSENT:
Senator Jeff Wentworth Senator David Cain
Senator Mike Jackson Senator Robert Duncan
Senator Kenneth Armbrister Senator Florence
Shapiro
Senator Rodney Ellis
Senator Judith Zaffirini
*****
The chair called the meeting to order at 1:31 p.m. A
quorum was not present at any time. The following
business was transacted:
The following members arrived after the roll was
called:
Senator Armbrister
Senator Ellis
Senator Jackson
Due to lack of a quorum, committee minutes from the
previous meeting on Monday, May 7, 2001, were not
adopted.
The chair announced SB 500 and SB 501 are Congressional
and State Board of Education bills that were introduced
earlier in the 77th Legislative Session. The chair
explained SB 500 and SB 501 are shell bills, which will
eventually be replaced by the Congressional and State
Board of Education plans the committee decides to
adopt. The chair announced that committee staff have
been working on those plans, but he did not have
proposed Congressional or State Board of Education
plans ready for this meeting.
The chair reported that the Senate and House Committees
on Redistricting held a joint hearing on April 5, 2001.
The primary purpose of that hearing was to hear
testimony about Congressional and State Board of
Education plans from people throughout the state.
While the focus of the most recent committee meetings
has been on Senate districts, committee members
continually received input from people with interest in
Congressional and State Board of Education
redistricting, and this meeting served as another
opportunity for committee members to listen to
testimony about those district lines.
The chair announced that Friday, May 11, 2001, is the
last day for committees to report bills out of
committee.
Public testimony was taken on Congressional and State
Board of Education redistricting, and committee members
questioned the witnesses. The chair directed committee
members' attention to letters sent to the committee
regarding redistricting.
Senator Jackson assumed the chair at 2:04 p.m. Senator
Wentworth resumed the chair at 2:06 p.m.
The chair recognized Senator Armbrister to explain his
Congressional plan, identified as PLAN 1008C on the
Texas Legislative Council's REDAPPL system. Senator
Armbrister stated that in PLAN 1008C, no incumbents are
paired, only 14 counties are split, and two new
Congressional districts were formed, one in Harris
County and one in Dallas County. Senator Armbrister
explained that in PLAN 1008C, all of the incumbents
live in their own districts. Congressman Green lives
on the border of his current Congressional District
(District 19) and the newly created Harris County
Congressional District. Senator Armbrister also noted
that when the Hobby-Rylander race results were applied
to PLAN 1008C, 10-11 safe Republican districts were
created, eight to nine safe Democrat districts were
created, and the remaining districts were swing
districts. Population deviation within each district
ranges from -.04 to .06 in his plan. Committee members
asked Senator Armbrister questions about his plan.
The chair reminded committee members about the
Thursday, May 10, 2001, meeting of the Committee of the
Whole Senate. The chair also announced that the
committee would meet at an undetermined time in the
afternoon on Friday, May 11, 2001, to consider HB 150,
the House redistricting plan.
There being no further business, at 2:41 p.m. Senator
Zaffirini moved that the committee recess until Friday
afternoon, subject to the call of the chair. There
being no objection, the committee recessed.
___________________________
Senator Jeff Wentworth, Chair
___________________________
Erica Sadlon, Clerk