Burnt Orange Report

Map passes Senate Jurisprudence Committee

By Byron LaMasters

On a 4-3, party-line vote, the Senate Jurisprudence Committee passed a new map today. The Dallas Morning News has the story.

Despite opposition from Democrats, a Senate committee on Wednesday approved a bill to redraw congressional districts that would likely give the Texas GOP an advantage in Washington.

The Senate Jurisprudence Committee passed the measure on a 4-3 vote that fell along party lines.

Sen. Todd Staples of Palestine, who chairs the Senate Republican Caucus, sponsored the bill and encouraged his colleagues to work with him as the bill makes its way to the floor.

"My door is open," Staples said. "I want to be completely unambiguous. Come join us."

The map's future after a committee vote is uncertain.

Eleven Senate Democrats and one Republican have said they are opposed to taking up redistricting. Under Senate rules, two-thirds of the chamber, or 21 senators, must support a bill for it to be debated. Opposition from 12 senators is enough to kill the bill in the 31-member chamber.

Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick said Tuesday that he expects Gov. Rick Perry to summon lawmakers back into special session next week, and he predicted quick action on a new congressional map.

"We'll go back into session on Tuesday for a second special session and will wind up passing a congressional redistricting plan," Mr. Craddick told delegates at a national legislative conference in San Francisco.

The Republican House speaker conceded that efforts to redraw congressional lines are stalled in the current special session in Austin. He said Texas lawmakers likely will adjourn by Tuesday, then be called back immediately.

"We are committed to pass a plan that basically makes our congressional delegation reflect the makeup of the population of Texas," Mr. Craddick said.

Mr. Craddick's comments – which came during his appearance on a panel on redistricting at a meeting of the National Conference of States Legislatures – were the clearest indication yet that Republican leaders plan to immediately ram through a GOP-backed map to increase Republican seats in Congress in the probable second special session.
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst has said that in such a session, he would dispense with the Senate's requirement of a two-thirds vote before a bill can be considered – removing the main roadblock to a map in the current special session.

"This whole process can take days, not weeks, not a month," he said Tuesday.

A spokeswoman said Mr. Perry is considering calling lawmakers right back into session if no redistricting bill passes before the House and Senate must adjourn by midnight Tuesday.

"But no decision has been made," Kathy Walt said.

Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, chairwoman of the Senate Democratic Caucus, warned again that abandoning the Senate's two-thirds rule could destroy the chamber's traditions of bipartisan cooperation.

But she said the 12 Democratic senators have not decided whether to boycott the proceedings – their last resort to try to kill redistricting, much as House Democrats blocked it during the regular session that ended June 2 by going to Oklahoma.

"Nobody relishes having to exercise that extreme option," she said, referring to a possible walkout, which would require 11 senators to break a Senate quorum.

"But it's there, and it's there for a purpose," Ms. Van de Putte said.

Ratcheting up the pressure on Mr. Dewhurst, she said, "This is a real test for our presiding officer."

Mr. Dewhurst had said he was inclined not to suspend the traditional two-thirds rule for the first special session.

But Mr. Dewhurst said redistricting "is an issue ... that doesn't fall within our traditional, bipartisan areas of legislation" and may change the rules for the next session. He cited the late Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock's decision not to require a two-thirds vote to bring up a state senatorial redistricting map in a January 1992 special session.

But Sen. Kenneth Armbrister, D-Victoria, a key undecided senator, said that the current situation cannot be compared with what happened in 1992, when lawmakers faced a court order to redraw districts and Republicans did not object to suspending the two-thirds rule.

On July 8, the House passed a new congressional map that could end the political careers of as many as six incumbent Democrats. But several GOP senators object to that plan, and the Senate's remap point man, Todd Staples, R-Palestine, is trying to craft a map that can win approval from 16 Republican senators.

Mr. Staples said he may have a plan ready for a committee vote Wednesday.

Earlier versions he has proposed would likely lead to the ouster of at least five Democratic congressmen, including Martin Frost of Arlington, Chet Edwards of Waco, Max Sandlin of Marshall, Jim Turner of Crockett and Nick Lampson of Beaumont.

Some of Mr. Staples' maps also might finally achieve the GOP goal of toppling U.S. Reps. Charlie Stenholm, D-Abilene, and Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, which would give Republicans a 22-10 edge in the state's delegation.

Under maps drawn by federal judges in 2001, Democrats won 17 of the 32 seats in Congress.

GOP leaders say the current map fails to reflect the state's shift toward Republicans, but Democratic lawmakers argue that it contains at least 20 GOP-friendly districts and that voters should be free to decide whether to oust senior Democrats or pick Republicans who would become junior members of Congress.

Ms. Van de Putte and other Democrats said that at a dinner meeting Monday in Austin, Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, the author of the House's redistricting plan, was seen reviewing maps with Jim Ellis, a political adviser to U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land.

Mr. DeLay has pushed hard for a redrawing of congressional boundaries.

"The process is corrupted when Tom DeLay's guy is sitting there vetting the map," said Rep. Richard Raymond, D-Laredo.

But Mr. King said he and Mr. Ellis were simply "catching up on things." The purpose of the dinner was not to discuss redistricting, Mr. King said.

Posted by Byron LaMasters at July 23, 2003 12:01 PM | TrackBack