Case 2:13-cv-00193 Document 459-8 Fled n TXSD on 08/08/14 Page 1 of 79 Case 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document 1 Fled 07/19/11 Page 1 of 11 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA STATE OF TEXAS, Offce of the Attonery General 209 W. 14th Street Austn, Texas 78701, Plantff, V. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and ERIC H. HOLDER, JR. n hs offcal capacty asattorney General of the Unted States, Defendants. COMPLAINT FOR DECLARATORY JUDGMENT PURSUANT TO SECTION 5 OF THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965 AND REQUEST FOR THREE-JUDGE COURT The State of Texas, by and through ts Attorney General Greg Abbott, seeks a declaratory judgment that ts recently enacted redstrctng plans for the State Board of Educaton (the SBOE Plan), the Texas House of Representatves (the House Plan), the Texas Senate (the Senate Plan), and the Unted States House of Representatves (the Congressonal Plan) fully comply wth Secton 5 of the Votng Rghts Act, 42 U.S.C. 1973c (Secton 5). The State's redstrctng plans have nether the purpose nor wll they have the effect of denyng or abrdgng the rght to vote on account of race, color, or membershp n a language mnorty. Ths complant s fled under the assumpton that Secton 5 comples wth the Unted States Consttuton. The State reserves all applcable legal clams n lght of the U.S. Supreme Court's
Case 2:13-cv-00193 Document 459-8 Fled n TXSD on 08/08/14 Page 2 of 79 Case 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document 1 Fled 07/19/11 Page 2 of 11 decson n Northwest Austn. Mun. Utl. Dst. No. One v. Holder, 129 S.Ct. 2504, 2511-13 (2009) (rasng serous questons regardng the consttutonalty of Secton 5), and pendng ths Court's decsons n Shelby County, Ala. v. Holder, No. 10-00651, (D.D.C.), and Laroque v. Holder, No. 10-00561 (D.D.C.). See Lyng v. Northwest Indan Cemetery Protectve Ass'n, 485 U.S. 439, 445 (1988) ("A fundamental and longstandng prncple of judcal restrant requres that courts avod reachng consttutonal questons n advance of the necessty of decdng them."). PARTIES 1. Plantff, the State of Texas, s a state of the Unted States and brngs ths acton on behalf of tself and ts ctzens. Texas s subject to the preclearance requrements of Secton 5 of the Votng Rghts Act of 1965, as amended and codfed at 42 U.S.C. 1973c. 2. Defendants are the Unted States of Amerca and Erc H. Holder, Jr., n hs offcal capacty as Attorney General of the Unted States. Attorney General Holder s prncpally responsble for admnsterng Secton 5 of the Votng Rghts Act and s a necessary party to these proceedngs. JURISDICTION AND VENUE 3. Ths acton s brought pursuant to Secton 5 of the Votng Rghts Act, under whch ths Court s authorzed to declare Plantffs redstrctng plans complant wth Secton 5. Ths Court has subject matter jursdcton pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 1331. 2
Case Case 2:13-cv-00193 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document 459-8 Document Fled 1 n Fled TXSD 07/19/11 on 08/08/14 Page Page 3 of 11 3 of 79 4. Venue s proper n ths Court pursuant to Secton 5 of the Votng Rghts Act. 42 U.S.C. 1973c. FACTS 5. Accordng to the 2010 Census data, Texas' populaton ncreased to 25, 145, 561, enttlng t to 36 representatves n the Unted States House of Representatves (an ncrease of 4). 6. The populaton growth n Texas resulted n the malapportonment of preexstng electoral dstrcts n the SBOE, the House, the Senate, and the Congressonal Plans. 7. Consequently, the 82nd Texas Legslature recently reapportoned the electoral dstrcts for the SBOE, the House, the Senate, and the Unted States House of Representatves. 8. Ths s a lawsut for judcal preclearance under 42 U.S.C. 1973c (Secton 5 of the Votng Rghts Act) and s enttled to revew by a three-judge court. 9. Smultaneous wth the flng of ths acton, Plantff has made a complete, but nformal, submsson for all four redstrctng plans to the U.S. Department of Justce (DOJ) n order to facltate and expedte dsposton of ths matter (the Submsson). The Submsson tracks and mrrors the DOJ's admnstratve pre-clearance process. A copy of the Submsson s attached. Attachment 1. 3
Case 2:13-cv-00193 Document 459-8 Fled n TXSD on 08/08/14 Page 4 of 79 Case 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document 1 Fled 07/19/11 Page 4 of 11 State Board of Educaton Redstrctng Plan 10. Texas' State Board of Educaton (SBOE) conssts of 15 members, each of whom represents a sngle-member dstrct. 11. After the release of the 2010 Census data, the 82nd Legslature reapportoned the SBOE dstrcts to equalze populaton. 12. The SBOE Plan, H.B. 600, was passed by the Legslature on May 6, 2011 and became law on May 18, 2011. The SBOE Plan wll become effectve on August 29, 2011. Maps depctng the former and revsed SBOE dstrcts are attached. Attachment 2. 13. On July 19, 201I as explaned above Texas provded to the DOJ all of the documents and data necessary for the Attorney General to confrm that the SBOE redstrctng plan comples wth Secton 5 and s enttled to preclearance. A copy of the State's submsson s attached to ths Complant and ncorporated heren for the Court's convenence. 14. The Submsson explans that the SBOE redstrctng plan, as compared to ts prevous benchmark, mantans or ncreases the ablty of mnorty voters to elect ther canddate of choce n each dstrct protected by Secton 5. 15. Specfcally, the benchmark plan (.e., the preexstng SBOE dstrctng plan) ncluded three dstrcts (Dstrcts 1, 2 and 3) where Hspanc voters were able to elect ther canddate of choce and two dstrcts (Dstrcts 4 and 13) where Afrcan-Amercan voters were able to elect ther canddate of choce. The Plan mantans those fve dstrcts whle enhancng the Hspanc 4
Case Case 2:13-cv-00193 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document 459-8 Document Fled 1 n Fled TXSD 07/19/11 on 08/08/14 Page Page 5 of 11 5 of 79 Votng Age Populaton (HVAP), the Hspanc Ctzen Votng Age Populaton (HCVAP and the Spansh Surname Voter Regstraton (SSVR n both Dstrcts 1 and 3. State House of Representatves Redstrctng Plan 16. The Texas House of Representatves (the House) s dvded nto 150 sngle-member dstrcts. 17. After the release of the 2010 Census data, the 82nd Legslature was requred by law, Thx. CONST. art. 3, 26, to reapporton the Texas House dstrcts. 18. The House Plan, H.B. 150, was passed by the Legslature on May 23, 2011 and became law on June 17, 2011. Maps depctng the former and current House dstrcts are attached. Attachment 3. 19. The House Plan wll become effectve on August 29, 2011. 20. On July 19, 2011 as explaned above Texas nformally provded the DOJ all of the documents and data necessary for the Attorney General to confrm that the House redstrctng plan fully comples wth Secton 5 and s enttled to preclearace. A copy of the Submsson s attached to ths Complant and ncorporated heren for the Court's convenence. 21. The Submsson explans that the House Plan, as compared to ts prevous benchmark, mantans or ncreases the ablty of mnorty voters to elect ther canddate of choce n each dstrct protected by Secton 5. 22. Specfcally, as detaled n the chart below, the current House redstrctng plan mantans or ncreases the number of dstrcts at or above 5
Case Case 2:13-cv-00193 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document 459-8 Document Fled 1 n Fled TXSD 07/19/11 on 08/08/14 Page Page 6 of 11 6 of 79 key thresholds for relevant metrcs used to determne whether a mnorty votng populaton s able to elect ts canddate of choce: BENCHMARK HB 150 HVAP1(greater than 60%) 30 30 FICVAP2 (greater than 50%) 30 30 SSVR3 (greater than 50%) 29 30 BVAP4 (greater than 40%) 11 12 State Senate Redstrctng Plan 23. The Texas Senate s dvded nto 31 sngle-member dstrcts. 24. After the release of the 2010 Census data, the 82nd Legslature was requred by law, TEX. CONST. art. 3, 25, to reapporton the Senate dstrcts. 25. The Senate Plan, S.B. 31, was passed by the Legslature on May 23, 2011 and became law on June 17, 2011. Maps depctng the former and current Senate dstrcts are attached. Attachment 4. 26. The Senate Plan wll become effectve on August 29, 2011. 27. On July 19, 2011 as explaned above Texas nformally provded the DOJ all of the documents and data necessary for the Attorney General to confrm that the Senate redstrctng plan fully comples wth Secton 5 and s 1 Hspanc Votng Age Populaton. 2 Hspanc Ctzen Votng Age Populaton. 3 Spansh-Surname Voter Regstraton. 4 Black Votng Age Populaton. 6
Case 2:13-cv-00193 Document 459-8 Fled n TXSD on 08/08/14 Page 7 of 79 Case 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document 1 Fled 07/19/11 Page 7 of 11 enttled to preclearance. A copy of the Submsson s attached to ths Complant and ncorporated heren for the Court's convenence. 28. The Submsson explans that the Senate Plan, as compared wth ts prevous benchmark, mantans or ncreases the ablty of mnorty voters to elect ther canddate of choce n each dstrct protected by Secton 5. 29. Specfcally, there are seven Senate dstrcts (Dstrcts 6, 19, 20, 21, 26, 27 and 29) n the benchmark map and n the Senate Plan wth a Hspanc Votng Age Populaton (EIVAP) greater than 60%. Addtonally, there are two dstrcts (Dstrcts 13 and 23) n the benchmark and the Senate Plan wth a Black Votng Age Populaton (BVAP) of over 40%. All nne of these dstrcts wll contnue to elect the mnorty voters' canddate of choce under the Plan. Congressonal Redstrctng Plan 30. Accordng to the 2010 Census data, Texas' populaton ncreased to 25, 145, 561, enttlng the State to 36 representatves n the U.S. House of Representatves (an ncrease of 4). 31. Due to ths growth n populaton and the apportonment of four addtonal seats to Texas, the State was requred to reapporton ts congressonal dstrcts after the release of the 2010 Census data. 32. The Legslature adjourned ts regular sesson on May 30, 2011 wthout reapportonng Texas' congressonal dstrcts. 33. A specal sesson was convened on May 31, 2011, the Legslature passed the Congressonal Plan, S.B. 4, on June 24, 2011, and the Plan was 7
Case Case 2:13-cv-00193 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document 459-8 Document Fled 1 n Fled TXSD 07/19/11 on 08/08/14 Page Page 8 of 11 8 of 79 sgned nto law on July 18, 2011. Maps depctng the former and current congressonal dstrcts are attached. Attachment 5. 34. On July 19, 2011 as explaned above Texas nformally provded the DOJ all of the documents and data necessary for the Attorney Genral to confrm that the Congressonal Plan fully comples wth Secton 5 and s enttled to preclearance. A copy of the Submsson s attached to ths Complant and ncorporated heren for the Court's convenence. 35. The Submsson explans that the Congressonal Plan, as compared wth ts prevous benchmark, mantans or ncreases the ablty of mnorty voters to elect ther canddate of choce n each dstrct protected by Secton 5. 36. Wth regard to the Afrcan-Amercan communtes, the Congressonal Plan ncreases by one the number of congressonal dstrcts wth a Black Votng Age Populaton (BVAP) of over 40% and also contans one dstrct wth 37.6% BVAP. 37. In addton, there are seven majorty-mnorty dstrcts both n the benchmark map and n the Congressonal Plan wth a Hspanc Votng Age Populaton (HVAP) greater than 60% (and one new seat wth an HVAP over 50%). COUNT I 38. The allegatons n Paragraphs 1-15 are rencorporated here. 39. The SBOE Plan does not retrogress and "nether has the purpose nor wll have the effect of denyng or abrdgng the rght to vote on account of 8
Case Case 2:13-cv-00193 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document 459-8 Document Fled 1 n Fled TXSD 07/19/11 on 08/08/14 Page Page 9 of 11 9 of 79 race or color" or membershp n a language mnorty. 42 U.S.C. 1973c. In all respects, t comples wth Secton 5 of the Votng Rghts Act. 40. Plantff s enttled to a judgment that the SBOE Plan fully comples wth Secton 5 of the Votng Rghts Act and may be mplemented mmedately. COUNT II 41. The allegatons n Paragraphs 1-9 and 16-22 are rencorporated here. 42. The House Plan does not retrogress and "nether has the purpose nor wll have the effect of denyng or abrdgng the rght to vote on account of race or color" or membershp n a language mnorty. 42 U.S.C. 1973c. It therefore comples wth Secton 5 of the Votng Rghts Act. 43. Plantff s enttled to judgment that the House Plan fully comples wth Secton 5 of the Votng Rghts Act and may be mplemented mmedately. COUNT III 44. The allegatons n Paragraphs 1-9 and 23-29 are rencorporated here. 45. The Senate Plan does not retrogress and "nether has the purpose nor wll have the effect of denyng or abrdgng the rght to vote on account of race or color" or membershp n a language mnorty. 42 U.S.C. I973c. It therefore comples wth Secton 5 of the Votng Rghts Act. 46. Plantff s enttled to judgment that the Senate Plan fully comples wth Secton 5 of the Votng Rghts Act and may be mplemented mmedately. 9
Case Case 2:13-cv-00193 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document 459-8 Document Fled 1 n Fled TXSD 07/19/11 on 08/08/14 Page Page 10 of10 11 of 79 r4pit T1%37'11 TT T 47. The allegatons n Paragraphs 1-9 and 30-37 are rencorporated heren. 48. Texas' Congressonal Plan does not retrogress and "nether has the purpose nor wll have the effect of denyng or abrdgng the rght to vote on account of race or color" or membershp n a language mnorty. 42 U.S.C. 1973c. It therefore comples wth Secton 5 of the Votng Rghts Act. 49. Plantff s enttled to judgment that the Congressonal redstrctng plan fully comples wth Secton 5 of the Votng Rghts Act and may be mplemented mmedately. DEMAND FOR JUDGMENT Plantff respectfully requests the followng relef from the Court: A. Convene a three-judge court pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 1973c; B. Enter declaratory judgment that the SBOE, House, Senate, and Congressonal redstrctng plans nether have the purpose nor wll have effect of denyng or abrdgng the rght to vote on account of race, color, or membershp n a language mnorty and otherwse fully comply wth Secton 5 of the Votng Rghts Act. C. Enter a declaratory judgement that the SBOE, House, Senate, and Congressonal redstrctng plans may be mplemented mmedately. 10
Case 2:13-cv-00193 Document 459-8 Fled n TXSD on 08/08/14 Page 11 of 79 Case 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document 1 Fled 07/19/11 Page 11 of 11 D. Grant Plantff such other and further relef as may be proper and approprate. Dated: July 19, 2011 Respectfully Submtted, GREG ABBOTT Attorney General of Texas DANIEL T. HODGE Frst Assstant Attorney General BILL COBB Deputy Attorney General for Cvl Ltgaton DAVID C. MATTAX Drector of Defense Ltgaton DAVID SCHENCK Deputy Attorney General for Legal Counsel J. REED CLAY, JR. Specal Assstant and Senor Counsel to the Attorney General Z6/ L4. /1-0- ec7 gox kls-q 1/4"I*4A)1 (15( 15-11).934 (3qa. 11
Case 2:13-cv-00193 Document 459-8 Fled n TXSD on 08/08/14 Page 12 of 79 Case 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document 1-1 Fled 07/19/11 Page 1 of 54 ATTACHMENT 1
Case 2:13-cv-00193 Document 459-8 Fled n TXSD on 08/08/14 Page 13 of 79 Case 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document 1-1 Fled 07/19/11 Page 2 of 54 State of Texas Informal Submsson Act ofjune 24, 2011, 82nd Leg., 1st C.S., S.B. 4 Unted States Congress Ths document outlnes the nformaton provded n the State of Texas' nformal submsson of S.B. 4 (the "Plan") to the Department of Justce. Whle ths s not a formal submsson, the State of Texas s nonetheless provdng all nformaton whch would normally be contaned n a submsson pursuant to 28 C.F.R. 51.27 and 51.28. Ths document ether provdes the nformaton requested or references the relevant attachment where the nformaton s located. Secton 51.27 (a) Copy of Plan A copy of the Plan may be found onlne at http://gsttc.state.tx.us/download/congress/planc185.pdf and s ncluded as Attachment 1. Secton 51.27(b) Copy of Plan Currently n Effect A copy of Texas' current Unted States House of Representatves dstrcts can be found onlne at http://gsttc.state.tx.us/download/congress/plancloo.pdf and s ncluded as Attachment 2. That plan s referred to heren as "benchmark plan" or "Cloo" n the electronc reports. Secton 51.27(c) Statement of Change Requested The Plan makes changes to all 32 of the State's preexstng congressonal dstrcts, and t also creates the 4 new congressonal dstrcts that were allocated to Texas after the decennal census. Reports and maps have been ncluded n the submsson and detal those changes. The Texas Legslature redrew the State's congressonal dstrcts to accommodate the creaton of new dstrcts and to ensure exstng dstrcts reflect equal representaton n the wake of dvergent populaton growth wthn varous regons of the state over the last ten years. Secton 51.27(d) Person Submttng Change Greg Abbott Texas Attorney General 209 W. 14th Street Austn, Texas 78701 1
Case Case 2:13-cv-00193 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document Document 459-8 Fled 1-1n TXSD Fled 07/19/11 on 08/08/14 Page Page 3 of14 54of 79 (512) 463-2191 offce (512) 936-0545 fax greg.abbottroag.state.tx.us Secton 51.27(e) and (f): Not applcable Secton 51.27(g) Body Responsble for Change The body responsble for passng the Plan was the 82nd Texas Legslature. Secton 51.27(h) Statutory Authorty for Change Redstrctng of the state's congressonal dstrcts has always been and contnues to be a legslatve responsblty under the general legslatve power granted by artcle 3, secton 1 of the Texas Consttuton. Because of an ncrease n the State of Texas' populaton between 2000 and 2010, the State s enttled to four addtonal congressonal dstrcts, ncreasng ts U.S. House of Representatves delegaton from 32 to 36 members. Accordngly, Texas' benchmark plan was malapportoned and n volaton of the U.S. Supreme Court's "one person, one vote" standard. process the Legslature undertook can be found n Secton 51.28(1). A more detaled dscusson of the Secton 51.27() and (j) Date Change Adopted and Effectve Date of Change The Plan became law on July 18, 2011 and wll become effectve on September 28, 2011. Secton 51.27(k) Statement of Nonmplementaton The Plan has not been mplemented. Secton 51.27(1) Affected Jursdcton The Plan affects the entre jursdcton of the State of Texas. Secton 51.27 (m) and (n) Reason for and Effect of Change Background Accordng to the 2010 federal decennal census, the State of Texas has a populaton of 25,145,561. In December 2010, the State was notfed that t wll be allocated 36 U.S. House of Representatves dstrcts, a gan of 4 congressonal seats. Each of those 36 dstrcts s deally populated at 698,488. 2
Case 2:13-cv-00193 Document 459-8 Fled n TXSD on 08/08/14 Page 15 of 79 Case 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document 1-1 Fled 07/19/11 Page 4 of 54 The 82nd Texas Legslature convened ts regular sesson on January 10, 2011 and adjourned on May 30, 2011 wthout enactng legslaton creatng congressonal dstrcts. The Governor called the Legslature nto a specal sesson on May 31, 2011 to address, among other ntatves, congressonal redstrctng. Statewde Impact on Mnorty Voters The Texas Legslature's goals durng the redstrctng process were to equalze populaton as requred by the "one-person, one-vote" prncple, avod parng ncumbents, preserve cty lnes and preserve the cores of pror dstrcts when possble.1 The State's resultng redstrctng plan created an addtonal majorty-mnorty dstrct. The Plan adopted by the Legslature fully comples wth all applcable state and federal laws and nether has the purpose nor wll have the effect of denyng or abrdgng the rght to vote on account of race, color, or membershp n a language mnorty. The Plan does not retrogress racal or language mnortes' ablty to effectvely exercse ther electoral franchse. From a statewde perspectve, the State's congressonal redstrctng plan does not retrogress mnorty votng rghts. All but one of the preexstng congressonal dstrcts were overpopulated, some by as much as 50.6% over the deal populaton. The dstrcts were redrawn to accommodate populaton growth whle also mantanng, to the greatest extent possble, the cores of exstng dstrcts. Both the benchmark map and the Plan contan seven dstrcts where Hspanc Votng Age Populaton (HVAP) exceeds 60%. The Plan also creates a new dstrct wth greater than 50% HVAP. The Texas Legslature's congressonal plan also ncreases from one to two dstrcts the number of congressonal dstrcts wth a Black Votng Age Populaton (BVAP) over 40%. It also ncludes one dstrct whch contans 37.6% BVAP. Electon data ndcate that these three dstrcts (Dstrcts 9, 18 and 30) preserve or ncrease Afrcan-Amercan voters' ablty to elect ther canddate of choce. New Dstrcts. Of the four new congressonal dstrcts, the Legslature created one new dstrct (Dstrct 35) that s very lkely to elect Hspanc voters' canddate of choce. That dstrct jons communtes from Travs and Bexar Countes and results n a dstrct that contans 58.3% HVAP, 51.9% Hspanc Ctzen Votng Age Populaton (HCVAP)2 I See http://www.ournals.house.state.tx.us/hrn1/821/pdfj82cdayo8supplementfinpdf m, 2The Ffth Crcut has unequvocally held that HCVAP s the populaton base that should be consdered to determne whether a mnorty group satsfes the frst Gngles requrement n a vote dluton clam. See Campos v. Cty of Houston, 113 F.3d 544, 548 (5th Cr. 1997) ("We hold that courts evaluatng vote dluton clams under secton 2 of the Votng Rghts Act must consder the ctzen votng-age populaton ofthe group challengng the electoral practce when determnng whether the mnorty group s suffcently large and geographcally compact to consttute a majorty n a sngle-member dstrct."); see also Sesson v. Perry, 298 F. Supp. 2d 451, 4941'1.133 E.D. Tex. 2004) ("Ths crcut, along wth every other crcut to consder the queston, has concluded that the relevant votng populaton for Hspancs s ctzen votng age populaton."), reversed on other grounds, LULAC v. Perry, 548 U.S. 399, 429 (2006) 3
Case Case 2:13-cv-00193 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document Document 459-8 Fled 1-1n TXSD Fled 07/19/11 on 08/08/14 Page Page 5 of16 54of 79 and 45.0% Spansh Surname Voter Regstraton (SSVR).3 As was stated on the record durng publc redstrctng commttee hearngs and the floor debate, the concept of ths dstrct was orgnally presented by the Mexcan Amercan Legal Defense and Educatonal Fund ("MALDEF n Publc Plan C122. In fact, on the day the Legslature passed the Plan, a Hspanc state representatve from San Antono publcly stated that he was consderng runnng for the new congressonal seat. The Democratc State Representatve publcly stated that he beleves the dstrct wll survve legal challenges and that t s a "blessng n dsguse for two ctes that really complement each other, that are ntertwned."4 The other three new congressonal dstrcts, whch were created n hgh growth areas throughout the state, are located n East Texas (Dstrct 36), North Texas (Dstrct 33), and South Texas (Dstrct 34). Dallas County and Tarrant County. Dallas County's populaton grew slower rate than the rest of the state over the last decade. at a much Whle the overall State populaton ncreased at a rate of 20.6%, Dallas County's populaton growth was only 6.7%. In contrast, Tarrant County grew at a hgher rate than the state as a whole. Durng the course of the legslatve process, the Legslature dscussed and debated whether a new majorty-mnorty seat could be created n the Dallas/Fort Worth regon. No plans were publcly submtted for consderaton that successfully created a compact Hspanc-majorty dstrct for Dallas/Fort Worth. The Hspanc populaton n the regon s too scattered to accommodate a compact dstrct. Addtonally, the area's Hspanc populaton suffers from low ctzenshp numbers and low voter regstraton. Ultmately, the newly created Dstrct 33 was drawn to accommodate populaton growth n Tarrant County and thus contans 558, 265 Tarrant County resdents. South and West Texas. Due to the hgh concentraton of Hspanc populaton n South and West Texas, the dstrcts n that regon nevtably have hgh HVAP numbers. (commentng (but not holdng) n dcta that usng HCVAP to determne Hspanc electoral opportunty "fts the language of 2 because only elgble voters affect a group's opportunty to elect canddates"). For nformaton about how the State of Texas calculates HCVAP, please see the Texas Legslatve Councl's webste: http://www.tc.state.tx.us/redst/pdf/ctzenshpaddendurn.pdf. 3 Accordng to the Texas Legslatve Councl: Spansh surname voter regstraton, also reported n the secretary of state's Statewde Voter Database, s generated usng a comparson to the 2000 Census Bureau Lst of Spansh Surnames. Whle most sources agree that the match between people who have Spansh surnames and those who consder themselves Hspanc s relatvely good n Texas (the Census Bureau estmates a go percent correlaton for the state), the reported number of regstered voters wth Spansh surnames s not a precse measure of Hspanc voter regstraton. Some people who consder themselves Hspanc do not have surnames that are ncluded n the Spansh surname fle and wll be mssed by the Spansh surname matchng technque. Others, who have surnames that are ncluded n the Spansh surname fle but do not consder themselves Hspanc, wll be ncorrectly counted as Hspanc regstered voters. http://www.tc.state.tx.us/redst/pdf/data 2011 Redstrctng.pdf. 4 "Castro to Take on Doggett for New Congressonal Seat The Texas Trbune, June 24, 2011, avalable at lttp://www.texastrbune.org/texas-poltcs/2o12-congressonal-electoncastro-to-take-on-doggett-forcongressonal-seat/. 4
Case Case 2:13-cv-00193 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document Document 459-8 Fled 1-1n TXSD Fled 07/19/11 on 08/08/14 Page Page 6 of17 54of 79 The South and West Texas dstrcts Dstrcts 15, 16, 20, 23, 28, and 34 all contan over 60% HVAP. Dstrct 35 contans 58.3% HVAP. One of the state's newly created dstrcts, Dstrct 34, s largely comprsed of former Dstrct 27. Electon data ndcate that Dstrct 34 wll more consstently elect the Hspanc communty's canddate of choce than dd the former Dstrct 27. The newly redrawn Dstrct 27 s made up of excess populaton from surroundng dstrcts and more accurately reflects the electoral hstory of communtes contaned n the dstrct. The Plan ncreases Dstrct 23's HVAP, SSVR and HCVAP. wanted to keep Dstrct 20 wholly contaned wthn Bexar County5 wth the dstrct's hstorcal core Because the Legslature whch s consstent and also wanted to ensure that new Dstrct 35 had adequate populaton to provde the Hspanc communty wth the ablty to elect ts canddate of choce, the Plan results n very small reductons n demographc metrcs from Dstrct 20'S benchmark. However, mnorty voters' ablty to elect ther canddate of choce n Dstrct 20 s not adversely mpacted n the Plan. The followng chart shows the relatve Hspanc populaton metrcs n Dstrcts 20, 23 and 35. HVAP HVAP HCVAP HCVAP SSVR SSVR (Benchmark) (SB 4) (Benchmark) (SR 4) (Benchmark) (SB 4) Dstrct 62.8 63.8 58.4 58.5 52.6 54.8 23 20 71.5 69.3 63.8 62.9 59.2 56.3 35 n/a 58.3 n/a 51.9 n/a 45.0 Harrs County. Over the last decade, Harrs County's populaton grew at a slghtly slower pace than the State's overall populaton. Under the benchmark plan, Harrs County contans two congressonal dstrcts that elect the Afrcan-Amercan communty's canddate of choce and one dstrct that elects the Hspanc communty's canddate of choce. The Plan mantans these dstrcts. Although several demonstraton plans were fled by legslators seekng to create new mnorty dstrcts n Harrs County, none of those plans managed to create new mnorty-controlled dstrcts wthout causng retrogresson n other establshed dstrcts.6 Secton 51.27(o) Pendng Ltgaton The followng ltgaton nvolvng the state's newly enacted redstrctng plans s currently pendng: 5 Ths was a request ofthe ncumbent Congressman. 6 See C168 by Representatve Carol Alvarado, whch attempted to create a new Hspanc congressonal dstrct n Harrs County. However, Rep. Alvarado's plan proposed a new dstrct that only contaned 42.5% SSVR and 41.1% HCVAP. Further, to acheve even these Hspanc populaton statstcs n the proposed new congressonal dstrct, the plan reduced Dstrct 29's SSVR from 52.6% to 35.5% and ts HCVAP from 56% to 38.6%. 5
Case 2:13-cv-00193 Document 459-8 Fled n TXSD on 08/08/14 Page 18 of 79 Case 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document 1-1 Fled 07/19/11 Page 7 of 54 Name Consoldated: Perez, et al. v. State oftexas, et ab Texas Latno Redstrctng Task Force et at v. Perry, et al. MALC v. State of Texas, et al. Teuber v. State of Texas, et at Teuber v. State of Texas, et al. Cause No. & Venue SA-11-CA-360-OLG-JES-XR W.D. Tex. San Antono Three Judge Court: Garca, Smth, Rodrguez SA-11-CA-0572-OLG-JES-XR W.D. Tex. San Antono Three Judge Court: Garca, Smth, Rodrguez CV-11-0270 397th Dstrct Court, Grayson County, Texas No. 7:11-cv-144 MALC v. State oftexas, et al. S.D. Texas McAllen Dvson (Judge Crane) Barton et al. v. State oftexas & Hope Andrade Barton et al. v. State oftexas & Hope Andrade Washburn v. State of Texas & Ho e Andrade Washburn v. State oftexas & Hope Andrade John "Canca" Lmon, et al. v. Rck Perry, et al. 351st Banca Garca, et al. v. Rck Perry, et al. Rodrguez, et al. v. State of Texas, et al. Morrs v. State of Texas, et at Duesada, et al. v. Rck Perry and Hope Andrade 11-20238-CV 13th Dstrct Court, Navarro County, Texas 11-20263-CV 13th Dstrct Court, Navarro County, Texas Cause No. CV 110921 397th Dstrct Court, Grayson County, Texas Cause No. CV 110931 397th Dstrct Court, Grayson County, Texas D-1-GN-11-001611 Judcal Dstrct Court, Travs County, Texas D-1-GN-11-001612 419th Judcal Dstrct Court, Travs County, Texas 1:11-cv-00451 W.D. Tex, Austn Dvson Three Judge Court: Yeakel, Smth, Garca 11-cv-2244 S.D. Tex. Houston Dvson (Judge Rosenthal) 11-cv-592 W.D. Texas. San Antono Dvson (Judge Garca) Secton 51.27(p) Pror Preclearance The State's benchmark congressonal plan was ordered by a three-judge court n the Unted States Dstrct Court for the Eastern Dstrct of Texas on August 4, 2006. The dstrct court's order was predcated on the Unted States Supreme Court's decson n League ofunted Latn Amercan Ctzens v. Perry, 548 U.S. 399 (2006). A copy of the Court's opnon may be found at http://www.tc.state.tx.us/redst/pdf/lulacyperry0pnon.pdf. Secton 51.28 (a) (b) and (d) Demographc Informaton, Maps and Electon Returns (Attachment 3) 6
Case Case 2:13-cv-00193 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document Document 459-8 Fled 1-1n TXSD Fled 07/19/11 on 08/08/14 Page Page 8 of19 54of 79 1. Electon Data folder Same electon data s used for all plan types provded once a. Zpped fles for each of the last fve electon cycles; returns, voter regstraton (VR), and turnout (TO) by County/ VTD. 2002_Electon.zp (1) 2002Democratc Prmary_Electon_Returns.csv (2) 2002_Democratc Prmary_Electon_VRTO.csv (3) 2002_Democratc Runoff Electon Returns.csv (4) 2002_Democratc Runoff Electon VRTO.csv (5) 2002_Republcan Prmary_Electon Returns.csv (6) 2002_Republcan Prmary_Electon VRTO.csv (7) 2002_Republcan_Runoff_Electon Returns.csv (8) 2002_Republcan_Runoff Electon VRTO.csv (9) 2002_General Electon Returns.csv (10) 2002_General Electon VRTO.csv (n) readme.txt 2004_Electon.zp contans same reports as n 2002_Electon.zp 2006_Electon.zp contans same reports as n 2002_Electon.zp; also ncludes the specal general and runoff for the court-ordered congressonal dstrcts. v. 2008_Electon.zp contans same reports as n 2002_Electon.zp v. 2010_Electon.zp contans same reports as n 2002_Electon.zp 2. PlanCloo folder a. PlanCloo Reports folder. 2002_Electon folder () 2002_Democratc Prmary_RED225.pdfand.xls (2) 2002_Democratc Runoff RED225.pdfand.xls (3) 2002_Republcan Prnmry_ RED225.pdfand.xls (4) 2002_Republcan_Runoff RED225.pdfand.xls (5) 2002_General Electon RED225.pdfand.xls 2004_Electon folder- contans same reports as n 2002_Electon folder 2006_Electon folder contans same reports as n 2002_Electon folder; also ncludes the specal general and runoff for the court-ordered congressonal dstrcts. v. 2008_Electon folder contans same reports as n 2002_Electon folder v. 2010_Electon folder contans same reports as n 2002_Electon folder v. v. VTD level VR SSVR TO (RED 216.pdfand.xls) ncludes voter regstraton, Spansh surname voter regstraton, and turnout by dstrct and VTD for the 2010 gubernatoral electon ACS HCVAP Specal Tab(REDo6) Ctzen Votng Age Populaton) (HCVAP) from the 2005-2009 ACS (DOJ Specal Tabulaton) v. Dstrct Populaton Analyss wth Countes (RED loo) contans plan devaton statstcs and verfcaton nformaton and dstrct populaton data x. Populaton and Voter Data (RED 202) x. Incumbents (RED 350) 7
Case Case 2:13-cv-00193 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document Document 459-8 Fled 1-1n TXSD Fled 07/19/11 on 08/08/14 Page Page 9 of20 54of 79 x. Compactness Analyss (RED 315) x. Splt Ctes by Dstrct (RED130) b. PlanCloo Maps folder 28 CFR Sec. 51.28(b)1-6. Maps of state and splt countes wth dstrcts n/a Maps of splt countes wth racal/ethnc shadng by VTD Maps of splt countes wth Spansh Surname voter regstraton by VTD v. Maps of splt countes wth natural boundares and geographc features v. v. n/a v. n/a Maps of splt countes wth ctes 3. PlanC185 folder same as PlanCoo folder 4. Shapefles folder a. Shapefles of all 54 publc Texas Congressonal plans b. blc.zp--block equvalency fle (.csv) for PlanCloo and PlanC185 5. Two Plan Comparson Reports a. Two Plan by Incumbent (RED 335) b. Plan Overlap Analyss (RED 34o) Secton 51.28(1) Publcty and Partcpaton The Texas Legslature began the process of developng and debatng the U.S. House of Representatves plan almost a year before the map was fnally passed and sgned nto law. The Texas House of Representatves and the Texas Senate conducted numerous hearngs throughout the State durng the legslatve nterm perod that preceded the 82nd Legslatve Sesson. In the House of Representatves, hearngs were conducted by both the House Commttee on Redstrctng and the House Commttee on Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence. The date and cty where each publc hearng was held are detaled n the followng lst: 6/2/2010 Jont Hearng: House Redstrctng and House Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence (Austn) 6/21/2010 Jont Hearng: House Redstrctng Subcommttee on San Antono Redstrctng and House Judcary and.cvl Jursprudence 7/19/2010 Jont Hearng: House Redstrctng Subcommttee on McAllen Redstrctng and House Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence 7/20/2010 Jont Hearng: House Redstrctng Subcommttee on Laredo Redstrctng and House Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence 7/21/2010 Jont Hearng: House Redstrctng Subcommttee on Corpus Chrst Redstrctng and House Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence 8
Case Case 2:13-cv-00193 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document Document 459-8 Fled 1-1 n TXSD Fled 07/19/11 on 08/08/14 Page Page 10 of 2154of 79 8/16/2010 Jont Hearng: House Redstrctng Subcommttee on El Paso Redstrctng and House Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence 8/18/2010 Jont Hearng: House Redstrctng Subcommttee on Lubbock Redstrctng and House Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence 9/20/2010 Jont Hearng: House Redstrctng, House Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence Subcommttee on Dallas Redstrctng and Senate Select Commttee on Redstrctng 9/21/2010 Jont Hearng: House Redstrctng Subcommttee on Tarrant County Redstrctng, House Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence 9/22/2010 Jont Hearng: House Redstrctng Subcommttee on Rchardson/UT-Dallas Redstrctng and House Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence 10/18/2010 Jont Hearng: House Redstrctng Subcommttee on Beaumont Redstrctng and House Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence 10/20/2010 Jont Hearng: House Redstrctng Subcommttee on Marshall Redstrctng and House Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence 11/17/2010 House Redstrctng Subcommttee on Austn Redstrctng 11/20/2010 Jont Hearng: Subcommttee of Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence and Senate Select Commttee on Redstrctng (Houston) In the Texas Senate, hearngs were conducted by the Senate Select Commttee on Redstrctng: 9/1/2010 Austn 9/20/2010 Jont Hearng: House Redstrctng, House Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence Subcommttee on Downtown Dallas Redstrctng and Senate Select Commttee on Redstrctng 10/4/2010 Amarllo 10/5/2010 Mdland 10/21/2010 Ednburg 11/4/2010 San Antono 11/20/2010 Jont Hearng: Subcommttee of Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence and Senate Select Commttee on Redstrctng (Houston) Members of the publc were not lmted to speakng on any partcular map durng the nterm hearngs. Pror to each nterm hearng, the Senate Select Commttee on Redstrctng notfed elected offcals n the area and encouraged them to wdely dssemnate nformaton about the hearng. The commttee offce has retaned the notfcaton e-mals that were sent. Once the Texas Legslature began the redstrctng process by holdng nterm hearngs, the House Commttee on Redstrctng created an e-mal contact database to notfy nterested members of the publc about upcomng legslatve hearngs. That database, whch ultmately ncluded over 200 communty leaders, advocacy groups, and electon offcals, fostered publc partcpaton by ensurng nterested partes receved regular communcatons about the redstrctng process throughout the legslatve sesson. 9
Case 2:13-cv-00193 Document 459-8 Fled n TXSD on 08/08/14 Page 22 of 79 Case 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document 1-1 Fled 07/19/11 Page 11 of 54 Durng each House nterm hearng, t was announced that the publc record on the hearngs would reman open untl December, 2010, n order to gve the publc ample tme to provde wrtten comments to the commttees. Pursuant to House and Senate rules, every legslatve hearng notce, redstrctng plan submtted by members of the publc, and proposed amendments to redstrctng maps were posted on the Texas Legslatve Councl's redstrctng webste, www.tc.state.tx.us/redst/redst.html. All publc plans were accessble through DstrctVewer.7 The Texas Legslatve Councl also mantaned two RedAppl8 termnals whch were avalable for publc use durng normal busness hours. The Texas Legslature could not begn the map drawng process untl the U.S. Census Bureau released block-level populaton data to Texas on February 17, 2011. Durng the regular sesson, the House Commttee on Redstrctng conducted a publc hearng to solct nput from the publc on congressonal redstrctng. That hearng was held on Aprl 7, 2011. As explaned above, the 82nd Legslature adjourned on May 30, 2011 wthout passng legslaton reapportonng the Unted States House of Representatves dstrcts. On May 31, 2011, the Governor called a specal sesson. Shortly thereafter, congressonal redstrctng was added to the lst of ntatves elgble for consderaton by the Legslature durng the specal sesson. Senator Kel SeEger and Representatve Burt Solomons jontly released a publc plan (C125) on May 30, 2011. The Senate Select Commttee on Redstrctng held a publc hearng on June 3 to consder congressonal redstrctng plan C125. Later that day, after hearng testmony from nterested members of the publc, the Plan was voted out of commttee. The full Senate consdered the Plan on June 6 and passed t the same day wth 18 ayes and 12 nays. The House Commttee on Redstrctng held a publc hearng on June 2, 2011 to consder C125. After the Senate passed the Plan on June 6, 2011, the House Redstrctng Commttee consdered the Senate Bll on June 9, 2011. Durng that hearng, the House Redstrctng Commttee consdered and adopted amendments to the Senate Bll before votng the State's proposed plan out of commttee. On June 14, 2011, the House of Representatves set the bll on the calendar and passed t to engrossment. The vote on second readng was 93 ayes and 48 nays. The followng day, June 15, 2011, the House of Representatves passed the Plan on thrd readng wth a vote 7 DstrctVewer s the Texas Legslatve Councl's Internet-based applcaton that nteractvely dsplays all publc maps and reports. It s avalable to anyone wth Internet access and ncludes access to all benchmark plans, 8 RedAppl s the Texas Legslatve Councl's dstrct modelng software. It was nstalled n legslators' offces as well as n publc termnals n the Texas Legslatve Councl's offces. as well. 10
Case 2:13-cv-00193 Document 459-8 Fled n TXSD on 08/08/14 Page 23 of 79 Case 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document 1-1 Fled 07/19/11 Page 12 of 54 of 93 ayes and 47 nays. The full Senate voted on June 20, 2011 to concur wth the changes made to the Plan by the House of Representatves and send t to the Governor for sgnature. Notce for all hearngs was provded n complance wth the Rules of the Texas House of Representatves and the Texas Senate. The followng lnks nclude hearng notces, mnutes, and wtness lsts for each of the hearngs on the Plan: Notce House Redstrctng Commttee Hearngs Hearng on Aprl 7 http://www.captol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/82r/schedules/pdf/c08o2o11040709001.pdf Mnutes http://www.captastate.tx.us/tlodocs/82r/mnutes/pdf/c0802011o40709001.pdf Wtness Lst http://www.captastate.tx.us/tlodocs/82r/wtlstmtg/pdf/co8o201104070q001.pdf Notce Hearng on June 2 http://www.captol.state.tx.us/tiodocs/82r/schedules/pdf/c0802011o6o21o451.pdf Mnutes http://www.captol.state.tx.us/todocs/82r/mnutes/pdf/co8o2ono6o21o451.13df Wtness Lst http://www.captol.state.tx.us/tlodoes/82r/wtlstmtg/pdf Co8o2Ono6o2104.PDF Notce Hearng on June 9 hfp://www.captol.state.txxs/tlodoes/82r/schedules/pdf/co8o2ollo6o9o9ool.pdf Mnutes http://www.captol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/82r/mnutes/pdf/co8o2ollo6o9o9oo.pdf Notce Senate Select Commttee on Redstrctng Hearng on June 3 httn://www.captol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/82r/schedules/ndf/c62r201106(mq001.pdf Mnutes http://www.captol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/82r/unnutes/pdf/c6252011060309001.pdf Wtness Lst http://www.captol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/82r/wtlstmtg/pdf/c6252 0110 6 o3o9 ool.pdf 51.28(g)(1) Publc Avalablty of Submsson On July19, 2011, the Attorney General ssued a press release nformng the publc that the State fled a declaratory judgment acton seekng preclearance of the Plan from the Unted States Dstrct Court for the Dstrct of Columba. The State's press release also announced that ths nformal submsson was provded to DOJ. A copy of that press release can be found onlne at www.texasattorneygeneral.gov. Members of the publc 11
Case Case 2:13-cv-00193 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document Document 459-8 Fled 1-1 n TXSD Fled 07/19/11 on 08/08/14 Page Page 13 of 2454of 79 were nformed that they may provde comment by contactng the Offce of the Attorney General va e-mal at redstrctngpoag.state.tx.us or va telephone at (800)252-8011. 51.28(g)(2) Electronc Avalablty of Data The Attorney General has made the data ncluded n ths submsson avalable on the OAG's webste at www.texasattorneygeneral.gov. 51.28(h) Mnorty Group Contacts The followng ndvduals resde n the State of Texas and are famlar wth the proposed change and were actve n the poltcal process by whch the Plan was adopted: Nna Perales Mexcan Amercan Legal Defense and The Honorable Stefane Carter Texas House of Representatves Educaton Fund P.O. Box 2910 110 Broadway, Sute 300 Austn, Texas 78768-2910 San Antono, TX 78205 (512) 463-0454 (210) 224-5476 The Honorable Erc Johnson Lus Fgueroa Texas House of Representatves Mexcan Amercan Legal Defense and P.O. Box 2910 Educaton Fund Austn, Texas 78768-2910 110 Broadway, Sute 300 (512) 463-0586 San Antono, TX 78205 (210) 224-5476 The Honorable Ruth Jones McClendon Texas House of Representatves Gary Bledsoe P.O. Box 2910 Texas NAACP Austn, Texas 78768-2910 1107 E. nth Street, Sute A (512) 463-0708 Austn, Texas 78702 (512) 322-9547 The Honorable Ryan Gullen Texas House of Representatves The Honorable Mke Vllarreal P.O. Box 2910 Texas House of Representatves Austn, Texas 78768-2910 P.O. Box 2910 (512) 463-0416 Austn, Texas 78768-2910 (512) 463-0532 12
Case 2:13-cv-00193 Document 459-8 Fled n TXSD on 08/08/14 Page 25 of 79 Case 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document 1-1 Fled 07/19/11 Page 14 of 54 The Honorable Aaron Pefa Texas House of Representatves The Honorable Maro Gallegos, Jr. Texas Senate P.O. Box 2910 P.O. Box 12068 Austn, Texas 78768-2910 Austn, Texas 78711 (512) 463-0426 (512) 463-0106 The Honorable Carlos Urest Texas Senate P.O. Box 12068 Austn, Texas 78711 (512) 463-0119 13
Case Case 2:13-cv-00193 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document Document 459-8 Fled 1-1 n TXSD Fled 07/19/11 on 08/08/14 Page Page 15 of 2654of 79 State of Texas Informal Submsson Act of May 233201138211d Leg., R.S., S.B. 31 Texas State Senate Ths document outlnes the nformaton provded n the State of Texas' nformal submsson of S.B. 31 (the "Plan") to the Department of Justce. Whle ths s not a formal submsson, the State of Texas s nonetheless provdng all nformaton whch would normally be contaned n a submsson pursuant to 28 C.F.R. 51.27 and 51.28. Ths document ether provdes the nformaton requested or references the relevant attachment where the nformaton s located. Secton 51.27 (a) Copy of Plan A copy ofthe Plan may be found onlne at http://gsttc.state.tx.us/download/senate/plans148.pdf and s ncluded as Attachment 1. Secton 51.27(b) Copy of Plan Currently n Effect A copy of the current State Senate dstrcts can be found onlne at http://gs.tc.state.tx.us/download/senate/plansloo.pdf and s ncluded as Attachment 2. The Texas Senate's preexstng redstrctng plan s referred to heren as "benchmark plan" or "Sloo" n the electronc reports. Secton 51.27(c) Statement of Change Requested The Plan makes changes to all 31 of Texas' state senatoral boundares. Reports and maps have been ncluded n the submsson and detal those changes. Secton 51.27(d) Person Submttng Change Greg Abbott Texas Attorney General 209 W. 14th Street Austn, Texas 78701 (512) 463-2191 offce (512) 936-0545 fax greg.abbott@oag.state.tx.us Secton 51.27(e) and (f): Not applcable
Case Case 2:13-cv-00193 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document Document 459-8 Fled 1-1 n TXSD Fled 07/19/11 on 08/08/14 Page Page 16 of 2754of 79 Secton 51.27(g) Body Responsble for Change The body responsble for passng the Plan was the 8211d Texas Legslature. Secton 51.27(h) Statutory Authorty for Change Artcle 3, secton 28 of the Texas Consttuton drects the Legslature to reapporton the State's senatoral dstrcts n the frst regular sesson that convenes after the U.S. Census Bureau publshes decennal census data. Pursuant to that authorty, the Texas Legslature ntroduced and passed the Plan. A more detaled dscusson of the process the Legslature undertook can be found n Secton 51.28(0 Secton 51.27() and (j) Date Change Adopted and Effectve Date of Change The Plan became law on June 17, 2011 and wll become effectve on August 29, 2011. Secton 51.27(k) Statement Regardng Implementaton The Plan has not been mplemented. Secton 51.27(1) Affected Jursdcton The Plan affects the entre jursdcton of the State of Texas. Secton 51.27 (m) and (n) Reason for and Effect of Change Background The Texas Senate s dvded nto 31 dstrcts. Based on the State's populaton of 25, 145, 561, Senate dstrcts wth perfectly equalzed populaton would each contan 811, 147 resdents. Because of dvergent populaton growth n varous regons of the State, the benchmark plan currently has an overall populaton devaton of 46.1%. The Texas Senate dstrct that experenced the most growth currently exceeds the deal populaton by 203,880, whle the most under populated dstrct s 170,140 under the deal populaton. Ths hgh varaton necesstated the redrawng of the State Senate boundares. The Plan has an overall populaton devaton of 8.04%, whch s less than the 9.71% devaton that occurred after redstrctng n 2001. The most populated state senate dstrct, Dstrct 3, exceeds the deal populaton by 4.00%. The least populated, Dstrct 28, s 4.04% under the deal populaton. 2
Case 2:13-cv-00193 Document 459-8 Fled n TXSD on 08/08/14 Page 28 of 79 Case 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document 1-1 Fled 07/19/11 Page 17 of 54 The Legslature's stated goals durng the redstrctng process were to equalze populaton among dstrcts and produce a far and legal map.1 The Plan adopted by the Legslature fully comples wth all applcable state and federal laws and nether has the purpose nor wll have the effect of denyng or abrdgng the rght to vote on account of race, color, or membershp n a language mnorty. The Plan does not retrogress racal or language mnortes' ablty to effectvely exercse ther electoral franchse. Statewde Impact on Mnorty Voters On a statewde level, the proposed Plan avods retrogresson of mnorty votng rghts. Both the benchmark map and the Plan contan seven Senate dstrcts (Dstrcts 6, 19, 20, 21, 26, 27 and 29) where Hspanc Votng Age Populaton ("HVAP") s greater than 60%. Smlarly, both the benchmark and the newly enacted maps have two Senate dstrcts (Dstrcts 13 and 23) where Black Votng Age Populaton ("BVAP") exceeds 40%. Electon data ndcate that, under the Plan, these dstrcts wll contnue to elect the mnorty voters' canddates of choce. Eght of these nne mnorty dstrcts n the benchmark plan are currently under populated. Only Dstrct 20 s over populated. The combned populaton shortfall of these mnorty Senate dstrcts was 580,252. Despte the dffcultes assocated wth those dstrcts' under populaton, the Texas Legslature managed to largely mantan the demographc metrcs wthn these dstrcts. South Texas. Dstrcts 20 and 27 remaned largely unchanged between the benchmark and the Plan. Dstrct 21 was under populated by almost 6o,o0o resdents and therefore needed addtonal populaton. In order to add the necessary populaton, Dstrct 21 was extended north. In the resultng dstrct, Hspanc voters wll be able to contnue electng ther canddate of choce. In fact, ther votng strength has been ncreased. Harrs County. Under the benchmark plan, Harrs County's Senate dstrcts were both heavly under and over populated. Dstrct 6 had to gan almost 170, 000 new resdents. Ths was accomplshed whle both retanng the dstrct wholly wthn Harrs County and mantanng the Dstrct's Spansh Surname Voter Regstraton ("SSVR")2 at 50.5%. Dstrct 13 was under populated by over 8o,000 resdents. Nonetheless, the Legslature I See http://www.journals.senate.state.tx.us/sjrnl/82r/pdf/82rsjo5-17-fa.pdf. 2 Accordng to the Texas Legslatve Councl's webste: lttpj Spansh surname voter regstraton, also reported n the secretary of state's Statewde Voter Database, s generated usng a comparson to the 2000 Census Bureau Lst of Spansh Surnames. Whle most sources agree that the match between people who have Spansh surnames and those who consder themselves Hspanc s relatvely good n Texas (the Census Bureau estmates a 90 percent correlaton for the state), the reported number ofregstered voters wth Spansh surnames s not a precse measure of Hspanc voter regstraton. Some people who consder themselves Hspanc do not have surnames that are ncluded n the Spansh surname fle and wll be mssed by the Spansh surname matchng technque. Others, who have surnames that are ncluded n the Spansh surname fle but do not consder themselves Hspanc, wll be ncorrectly counted as Hspanc regstered voters. 3
Case Case 2:13-cv-00193 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document Document 459-8 Fled 1-1 n TXSD Fled 07/19/11 on 08/08/14 Page Page 18 of 2954of 79 was able to populate Dstrct 13 wthn.3% of the deal populaton and stll ncrease the BVAP from 43.2% to 44.3%. Secton 51.27(o) Pendng Ltgaton The followng ltgaton nvolvng the state's newly enacted redstrctng plans s currently pendng: Name Cause No. & Venue Consoldated: Perez, et al. v. State of Texas, et al; Texas Latno Redstrctnl Task Force et al. v. Per et almalc v. State of Texas, et al. SA-11-CA-36o-OLG-JES-XR W.D. Tex. Sar Antono Three Judge Court: Garca, Smth, Rodrguez Teuber v. State of Texas, et al. SA-11-CA-o572-OLG-JES-XR W.D. Tex. San Antono Three Judge Court: Garca, Smth, Rodrguez Teuber v. State of Texas, et al. CV-11-0270 397th Dstrct Court, Grayson County, Texas No. 7:11.-cv-144 MALC v. State of Texas, et al. S.D. Texas McAllen Dvson (Judge Crane) Barton et al. v. State of Texas & Hope Andrade 11-2o238-CV 13th Dstrct Court, Navarro County, Texas Barton et al. v. State of Texas & Hope Andrade 11-20263-CV 13th Dstrct Court, Navarro County, Texas Washburn v. State of Texas & Hope Andrade Cause No. CV 110921; 397th Dstrct Court, Grayson County, Texas Washburn v. State oftexas & Hope Andrade Cause No. CV 110931; 397th Dstrct Court, Grayson County, Texas 4
Case Case 2:13-cv-00193 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document Document 459-8 Fled 1-1 n TXSD Fled 07/19/11 on 08/08/14 Page Page 19 of 3054of 79 John "Cance Lmon. et al. v. Rck Perry, et al. 351st D-1-GN-n-oo1611 Judcal Dstrct Court, Travs County, Texas Banca Garca, et al. v. Rck Perry, et al. 419th D-1-GN-11-oo1612 Judcal Dstrct Court, Travs County, Texas Rodrguez, et ai. v. State of Texas, et al. 111-cv-00451 W.D. Tex. Austn Dvson Three Judge Court, Yeakel Smth, Garca Morrs v. State of Texas, et al. 11-cv-2244 S.D. Tex. Houston Dvson (Judge Rosenthal) puesada, et al. v. Rck Perry and Hope Andrade 11-cv-592 W.D. Texas. San Antono Dvson (Judge Garca) Secton 51.27(p) Pror Preclearance The benchmark state senate plan was submtted to the Department of Justce for preclearance n 2001. The DOJ precleared the 2001 State senate map wthout objecton. Secton 51.28 (a) (b) and (d) Demographc Informaton, Maps and Electon Returns (Attachment 3) 1. Electon Data folder Same electon data s used for all plan types provded once a. Zpped fles for each of the last fve electon cycles; returns, voter regstraton (VR), and turnout (TO) by County/ VTD. 200 2_EleCton.zp (1) 2002_Democ7atc Prmary_Electon_Returns.csv (2) 2002_Democratc Prmary_Electon_VRTacsv (3) 2002_Democratc Runoff Electon Returns.csv (4) 2002_Democratc Runoff_Electon_ VRTO.csv (5) 2002_Republcan_Prmary_Electon_Returns.csv (6) 2002_Republcan Prntary_Electon VRTO.csv (7) 2002_Republcan_Runoff_Electon_Returns.csv (8) 2002_Republcan_Runoff_Electon_ VRTO.csv (9) 2002_ General Electon Returns.cs, (to) 2002_General Electon VRTO.csv (a) reachne.txt 5
Case Case 2:13-cv-00193 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document Document 459-8 Fled 1-1 n TXSD Fled 07/19/11 on 08/08/14 Page Page 20 of 3154of 79 2004_Electon.zp contans same reports as n 2002_Electon.zp f. 2006_Electon.zp contans same reports as n 2002_Electon.zp; also ncludes the specal general and runoff for the court-ordered Congressonal dstrcts. v. 2008_Electon.zp contans same reports as n 2002_Electon.zp v. 2010_Electon.zp contans same reports as n 2002_Electon.zp 2. PlanSoo folder a. PlanSoo Reports folder. 2002_Electon folder (1) 2002_Democratc Prmary_RED225.pdfand.xls (2) 2002_Democratc Runoff RED225.pdfand.xls (3) 2002_Republcan Prmary_ RED225.pdfand.xls (4) 2002_Republcan_Runoff_ RED225.pdfand.xls (5) 2002_General Electon RED225.pdfand.xls 2004_Electon folder- contans same reports as n 2002_Electon folder 2006_Electon folder contans same reports as n 2002_Electon folder; also ncludes the specal general and runoff for the court-ordered Congressonal dstrcts. v. 2008_Electon folder contans same reports as n 2002_Electon folder v. 2010_Electon folder contans same reports as n 2002_Electon folder v. v. v. VTD level VR SSVR_TO (RED 216.pdfand.xls) ncludes voter regstraton, Spansh surname voter regstraton, and turnout by dstrct and VTD for the 2010 gubernatoral electon ACS HCVAP Specal Tab(RED1o6) Ctzen Votng Age Populaton) (HCVAP) from the 2005-2009 ACS (DOJ Specal Tabulaton) Dstrct Populaton Analyss wth Countes (REDoo) contans plan devaton statstcs and verfcaton nformaton and dstrct populaton data x. Populaton and Voter Data (RED 202) x. Incumbents (RED 350) x. Compactness Analyss (RED 315) x. Splt Ctes by Dstrct (RED 130) b. PlanSoo Maps folder 28 CFR Sec. 51.28(b)1-6. Maps of state and splt countes wth dstrcts n/a Maps of splt countes wth racal/ethnc shadng by VTD Maps of splt countes wth Spansh Surname voter regstraton by VTD v. Maps of splt countes wth natural boundares and geographc features v. V. n/a v. n/a Maps of splt countes wth ctes 3- PlanS148 folder same as PlanSoo folder 4- Shapefles folder a. Shapefles of all 32 publc Texas Senate plans 6
Case 2:13-cv-00193 Document 459-8 Fled n TXSD on 08/08/14 Page 32 of 79 Case 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document 1-1 Fled 07/19/11 Page 21 of 54 b. blk.zp--block equvalency fle (.csv) for PlanSwo and PlanS148 5- Two Plan Comparson Reports a. Two Plan by Incumbent (RED 335) b. Plan Overlap Analyss (RED 340) Secton 51.28(f) Publcty and Partcpaton The Texas Legslature began the process of developng and debatng the Texas Senate Plan almost a year before the map was fnally passed and sgned nto law. The Texas House of Representatves and the Texas Senate conducted numerous hearngs throughout the state durng the legslatve nterm perod that preceded the 82nd Legslatve Sesson. In the House of Representatves, hearngs were conducted by both the House Commttee on Redstrctng and the House Commttee on Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence. The date and cty where each publc hearng was held are detaled n the followng lst: 6/2/2010 Jont Hearng: House Redstrctng and House Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence (Austn) 6/21/2010 Jont Hearng: House Redstrctng Subcommttee on San Antono Redstrctng and House Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence 7/19/2010 Jont Hearng: House Redstrctng Subcommttee on McAllen Redstrctng and House Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence 7/20/2010 Jont Hearng: House Redstrctng Subcommttee on Laredo Redstrctng and House Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence 7/21/2010 Jont Hearng: House Redstrctng Subcommttee on Corpus Chrst Redstrctng and House Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence 8/16/2010 Jont Hearng: House Redstrctng Subcommttee on El Paso Redstrctng and House Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence 8/18/2010 Jont Hearng: House Redstrctng Subcommttee on Lubbock Redstrctng and House Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence 9/20/2010 Jont Hearng: House Redstrctng, House Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence Subcommttee on Downtown Dallas Redstrctng and Senate Select Commttee on Redstrctng 9/21/2010 Jont Hearng: House Redstrctng Subcommttee on Tarrant County Redstrctng, House Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence 9/22/2010 Jont Hearng: House Redstrctng Subcommttee on Rchardson/UT-Dallas Redstrctng and House Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence 10/18/2010 Jont Hearng: House Redstrctng Subcommttee on Beaumont Redstrctng and House Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence 10/20/2010 Jont Hearng: House Redstrctng Subcommttee on Marshall Redstrctng and House Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence 11/17/2010 House Redstrctng Subcommttee on Austn Redstrctng 7
Case 2:13-cv-00193 Document 459-8 Fled n TXSD on 08/08/14 Page 33 of 79 Case 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document 1-1 Fled 07/19/11 Page 22 of 54 11/20/2010 Jont Hearng: Subcommttee of Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence Commttee on Redstrctng (Houston) and Senate Select In the Texas Senate, hearngs were conducted by the Senate Select Commttee on Redstrctng: 9/1/2010 Austn 9/20/2010 Jont Hearng: House Redstrctng, House Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence Subcommttee on Dallas Redstrctng and Senate Select Commttee on Redstrctng 10/4/2010 Amarllo 10/5/2010 Mdland 10/21/2010 Ednburg 11/4/2010 San Antono 11/20/2010 Jont Hearng: Subcommttee of Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence and Senate Select Commttee on Redstrctng (Houston) Durng the Senate Select Redstrctng Commttee's hearngs n communtes across the state, members of the publc were not lmted to speakng on any partcular map proposal. Pror to each nterm hearng, the Senate Redstrctng Commttee notfed the elected offcals n the area and encouraged them to wdely dssemnate nformaton about the hearng. The commttee offce has retaned e-mals that were sent notfyng local offcals about the nterm hearngs. Every legslatve hearng notce, redstrctng plan submtted by members of the publc, and proposed amendments to redstrctng maps were posted on the Texas Legslatve Councl's redstrctng webste, www.tc.state.tx.us/redst/redst.hlnl, and all publc plans and amendments were accessble through DstrctVewer.3 The Texas Legslatve Councl also mantaned two RedAppl4 termnals, whch were avalable to the publc for ther use durng normal busness hours. The Texas Legslature could not begn the map-drawng process untl the U.S. Census Bureau released block-level populaton data to Texas on February 17, 2011. The Senate Redstrctng Commttee conducted proactve outreach wth nterested partes. Meetngs were held wth members of the senate, ther staff, and outsde groups. Durng the tme that elapsed between the Census Bureau's release of Texas' populaton data and the publc postng of the commttee's proposed Senate map, Commttee Charman Kel Selger released hs statewde proposal on May 11, 2011 (S107). The Redstrctng Commttee held publc hearngs on May 12, 2011 and May 13, 2011. On May 13, 2011, the commttee voted out Plan S125. DstrctVewer s the Texas Legslatve Councl's Internet-based applcaton that nteractvely dsplays all publc maps and reports. It s avalable to anyone wth Internet access and ncludes access to all benchmark plans, as well. 4 RedAppl s the Texas Legslatve Councl's dstrct modelng software. It was nstalled n legslators' offces as well as n publc termnals n the Texas Legslatve Councl's offces. 8
Case Case 2:13-cv-00193 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document Document 459-8 Fled 1-1 n TXSD Fled 07/19/11 on 08/08/14 Page Page 23 of 3454of 79 On May 17, 2011, the Senate took up S125 and passed the map by a vote of 29 to 2. Only Sen. Wendy Davs5 and Sen. Rodney Ells voted aganst the map. Proper notce for all hearngs was provded n complance wth the Rules of the Texas House of Representatves and the Texas Senate. The followng lnks nclude hearng notces, mnutes, and wtness lsts for each of the hearngs on the proposed Plan: Senate Select Commttee on Redstrctng Hearng on May 12, 2011 Notce http://www.captol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/82r/schedules/pdf/c62520110120goot PDF Mnutes http://www,captastate.tx.us/tlodocs/82r/mnutes/pdf/c6252o1105120q ool.pdf Wtness Lst http://www.captastate.tx.us/tlodocs/82r/wtlstmtg/pdf/c625201105120 c)001.13df Hearng on May 13, 2011 Notce http://www.captastate.tx.us/tlodocs/82r/schedules/pdf/c62s2o11051308001, PDF Mnutes http://www.captol.state.tx.us/tlodoes/82r/mnutes/pdf/c6252o11o51ro8 ootpdf: House Redstrctng Commttee Hearngs Hearng on May 18, 2011 Notce http://www.captol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/82r/schedules/pdf/co8o2ollo518llool.pdf Mnutes http://www.captol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/82r/mnutesfpdf/co8o2o11051811001.pdf 51.28(g)(1) Publc Avalablty of Submsson On July 19, 2011, the Attorney General ssued a press release nformng the publc that the State fled a declaratory judgment acton seekng preclearance of the Plan from the Unted States Dstrct Court for the Dstrct of Columba. The State's press release also announced that ths nformal submsson was provded to DOJ. A copy of that press release can be found onlne at www.texasattorneygeneral.gov. Members of the publc 5 Under the benchmark plan, Senate Dstrct 22 was under populated and needed to draw excess populaton from a neghborng county. The northern boundary of Dstrct 22 abuts Dstrct 10, whch s currently represented by Sen. Davs. Because Dstrct 22 was under populated, the Plan shfts populaton from Dstrct 10 nto Dstrct 22. The resultng makeup of Dstrct 10 s consstent wth the dstrct's hstorcal electon performance. When the commttee consdered how to add populaton to Dstrct 22, t worked to keep communtes of nterest whole. As a result, Dstrct 10 s a more Fort Worth-centrc dstrct an addtonal 137,402 Fort Worth resdents were moved to Dstrct o thereby preservng the core of the dstrct wthn the Cty offort Worth.
Case 2:13-cv-00193 Document 459-8 Fled n TXSD on 08/08/14 Page 35 of 79 Case 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document 1-1 Fled 07/19/11 Page 24 of 54 were nformed that they may provde comment by contactng the Offce of the Attorney General va e-mal at redstrctngpoag.state.tx.us or va telephone at (800)252-8011. 51.28(0(2) Electronc Avalablty of Submsson The Attorney General has made the data ncluded n ths submsson avalable on the OAG's webste at www.texasattorneygeneral.gov. 51.28(h) Mnorty Group Contacts The followng ndvduals resde n the State of Texas, are famlar wth the proposed change, and were actve n the pbltcal process by whch the Plan was adopted: Nna Perales Mexcan Amercan Legal Defense and Educaton Fund 110 Broadway, Sute 300 San Antono, TX 78205 The Honorable Stefane Carter (210) 224-5476 Texas House of Representatves P.O. Box 2910 Lus Fgueroa Austn, Texas 78768-2910 Mexcan Amercan Legal Defense and (512) 463-0454 Educaton Fund 110 Broadway, Sute 300 The Honorable Erc Johnson San Antono, TX 78205 Texas House of Representatves (210) 224-5476 P.O. Box 2910 Austn, Texas 78768-2910 Gary Bledsoe (512) 463-0586 Texas NAACP 1107 E. 11th Street, Sute A The Honorable Ruth Jones McClendon Austn, Texas 78702 Texas House of Representatves (512) 322-9547 P.O. Box 2910 Austn, Texas 78768-2910 The Honorable Mke Vllarreal (512) 463-0708 Texas House of Representatves P.O. Box 2910 The Honorable Ryan Gullen Austn, Texas 78768-2910 Texas House of Representatves (512) 463-0532 P.O. Box 2910 Austn, Texas 78768-2910 (512) 463-0416 10
Case Case 2:13-cv-00193 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document Document 459-8 Fled 1-1 n TXSD Fled 07/19/11 on 08/08/14 Page Page 25 of 3654of 79 P.O. Box 12068 The Honorable Aaron Pella Austn, Texas 78711 Texas House of Representatves (512) 463-0106 P.O. Box 2910 Austn, Texas 78768-2910 The Honorable Carlos Urest (512) 463-0426 Texas Senate P.O. Box 12068 Austn, Texas 78711 The Honorable Maro Gallegos, Jr. (512) 463-0119 Texas Senate 11
Case Case 2:13-cv-00193 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document Document 459-8 Fled 1-1 n TXSD Fled 07/19/11 on 08/08/14 Page Page 26 of 3754of 79 State of Texas Informal Submsson Act of May 23, 2011, 82nd Leg., R.S., H.B. 150 Texas House of Representatves Ths document outlnes the nformaton provded n the State of Texas' nformal submsson of H.B. 150(the "Plan") to the Department of Justce. Whle ths s not a formal submsson, the State of Texas s nonetheless provdng all nformaton whch would normally be contaned n a submsson pursuant to 28 C.F.R. 51.27 and 51.28. Ths document ether provdes the nformaton requested or references the relevant attachment where the nformaton s located. Secton 51.27 (a) Copy of Plan A copy of the Plan may be found onlne at http://gsttc.state.tx.us/download/house/planh283.pdf and s ncluded.as Attachment. Secton 51.27(b) Copy of Plan Currently n Effect A copy of the current State House of Representatves dstrcts can be found onlne at latw.sttc.state.bgam-hoo. df and s ncluded as Attachment 2. The Texas House of Representatves' preexstng redstrctng plan s referred to heren as "benchmark plan" or "thoo" n the electronc reports. Secton 51.27(c) Statement of Change Requested The Plan makes changes to all 150 of Texas' State House of Representatves dstrct boundares. Reports and maps have been ncluded n the submsson and detal those changes. Secton 51.27(d) Person Submttng Change Greg Abbott Texas Attorney General 209 W. 14th Street Austn, Texas 78701 (512) 463-2191 offce (512) 936-0545 fax greg.abbottpoag.state.tx.us 1
Case 2:13-cv-00193 Document 459-8 Fled n TXSD on 08/08/14 Page 38 of 79 Case 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document 1-1 Fled 07/19/11 Page 27 of 54 Secton 51.27(e) and (f): Not applcable Secton 51.27(g) Body Responsble for Change The body responsble for passng the Plan was the 82nd Texas Legslature. Secton 51.27(h) Statutory Authorty for Change Artcle 3, secton 28 of the Texas Consttuton drects the Legslature to reapporton the State's House dstrcts n the frst regular sesson that convenes after the U.S. Census Bureau publshes decennal census data. Artcle 3, secton 26 of the Texas Consttuton also requres that when a county contans suffcent populaton to make up one.or more whole dstrcts, those dstrcts shall be created entrely wthn that county. Pursuant to that authorty, the Texas Legslature ntroduced and passed the Plan. A more detaled dscusson of the process the Legslature undertook can be found n Secton 51.28(f). Secton 51.27() and (j) Date Change Adopted and Effectve Date The Plan became law on June 17, 2011 and wll become effectve on August 29, 2011. Secton 51.27(k) Statement Regardng Implementaton The Plan has not been mplemented. Secton 51.27(1) Affected Jursdcton The Plan affects the entre jursdcton of the State of Texas. Secton 51.27 (m) and (n) Reason for and Effect of Change Background The Texas House of Representatves s dvded nto 150 dstrcts. Based on the State's populaton of 25, 145,561, House dstrcts wth perfectly equalzed populaton would each contan 167,637 resdents. Populaton shfts over the last decade have resulted n wde varatons among the House dstrcts n the benchmark plan, wth the largest dstrct, Dstrct 70, at 79.4% over the deal populaton. The smallest dstrct, Dstrct 103, s 30.0% under the deal populaton. The Legslature's stated goals1 were to equalze populaton, abde by the state consttutonal requrement that preserves county lnes, 2 avod parng ncumbents when 1 See h WWW: OurnM hguse. Aate. bc.m 8 2cRD AY6 S fllplem ENT. 2 See TEX. CONST. art. 3, 26. 2
Case Case 2:13-cv-00193 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document Document 459-8 Fled 1-1 n TXSD Fled 07/19/11 on 08/08/14 Page Page 28 of 3954of 79 possble, respond to the publc and advocacy groups when approprate, and mantan communtes of nterest. All of these goals were accomplshed n the Plan that ultmately passed the Legslature and was sgned nto law. The Plan adopted by the Legslature s n complance wth all applcable state and federal laws and nether has the purpose nor wll have the effect of denyng or abrdgng the rght to vote on account of race, color, or membershp n a language mnorty. The Plan does not retrogress racal or language mnortes' ablty to effectvely exercse ther electoral franchse. In the Plan, the dstrcts have an overall populaton devaton of 9.92%, wth the smallest dstrct 4.9% under the deal populaton and the largest dstrct 5.02% over the deal populaton. In response to populaton shfts wthn the state, the Legslature created seven new dstrcts n hgh-growth areas and elmnated seven dstrcts n areas wth slowng or negatve growth. These populaton shfts resulted n the parng of ncumbents. In order to gve each pared member of the House a far chance at re-electon, the unavodable parngs n the Plan all nvolve House members of the same party (.e., 6 parngs were Republcan-Republcan and one was Democrat-Democrat). Throughout the legslatve process, the author of H.B. 150 made numerous comments from the floor of the House of Representatves urgng members from varous regons of the State to work together to produce regonal "member-drven maps, whch could be ncorporated nto the larger statewde map. Statewde Impact on Mnorty Voters The makeup of the Hspanc populaton n Texas complcates the tradtonal analyss of what consttutes a "performng mnorty dstrct." The Amercan Communty Survey's estmates ndcate that roughly t% of the State's resdents are non-ctzens.3 As a result, a majorty-hspanc House dstrct, partcularly n urban areas wth extremely hgh concentratons of non-ctzen Hspancs, wll not necessarly elect the Hspanc communty's canddate of choce on a consstent bass. Ths s the case because a majorty Hspanc Votng Age Populaton n these dstrcts ncludes ndvduals who are not elgble to vote. Lkewse, Hspanc ctzens of votng age wthn a dstrct may not regster to vote n the same concentratons as non-hspanc whte and Afrcan Amercan ctzens. Accordngly, merely populatng a dstrct wth 50% HVAP s an nadequate bass upon whch to expect that the dstrct wll elect the Hspanc communty's canddate of choce. As a result, for the purpose of determnng retrogresson or creatng 3 See http://factfnder.census.gov/servlet/adptable? bm=y&-geo d=o4000us48&-context=acip&- ds name=acs 2009 1YR Goo &-tree d=3o9&- Iangren& ealler=reoselect&-format=, 3
Case Case 2:13-cv-00193 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document Document 459-8 Fled 1-1 n TXSD Fled 07/19/11 on 08/08/14 Page Page 29 of 4054of 79 replacement dstrcts, the Legslature regarded 50% HVAP as an nadequate bass to determne the Hspanc communty's ablty to elect ts canddate of choce. Gudance provded by the Department of Justce ("DOJ" or the "Department") ndcates that "the Attorney General does not rely on any predetermned or fxed demographc percentages at any pont n the assessment."4 Nevertheless, some crtcs of the Plan take an overly smplstc, and frankly ncorrect, vew of the term "retrogresson." These crtcs ncorrectly clam that the fact that the Plan contans two fewer dstrcts at the 50% HVAP level as compared to the benchmark s n and of tself retrogressve. However, due to the hgh percentage of non-ctzens, coupled wth dsparate votng patterns, a hgher, 6o% HVAP threshold dstrct's actual electoral performance revew Texas' dstrcts for complance wth Secton 5. n conjuncton wth revewng HCVAP, 5 SSVR, 6 and the s a more approprate standard under whch to Even f the 50% HVAP threshold were adopted as an nflexble standard, the loss of two dstrcts at the 50% level would not consttute retrogresson when those specfc dstrcts are analyzed. Those dstrcts (Dstrct 144 and Dstrct 33) are specfcally addressed wthn the analyss below. The State's 2001 Secton 5 submsson to DOJ for state House dstrcts noted that the Afrcan Amercan populaton had grown less rapdly than the populaton of other racal and ethnc groups wthn the state. Ths slower-growth trend contnued to hold true over the last decade. In 2011, the Legslature faced a substantal challenge mantanng the Black Votng Age Populaton (BVAP) n the 1.1 benchmark dstrcts. All but 2 of the 4 Gudance Concernng Redstrctng under Secton 5 of the Votng Rghts Act, 76 Fed. Reg. 7470 (Feb. 8, 2011). 5 The Ffth Crcut has unequvocally held that HCVAP s the populaton base that should be consdered to determne whether a mnorty group satsfes the frst Gngles requrement n a vote dluton clam. See Campos v. Cty of Houston, 113 F.3d 544, 548 (5th Cr. 1997) ("We hold that courts evaluatng vote dluton clams under secton 2 of the Votng Rghts Act must consder the ctzen votng-age populaton ofthe group challengng the electoral practce when determnng whether the mnorty group s suffcently large and geographcally compact to consttute a majorty n a sngle-member dstrct."); see also Sesson v. Perry, 298 F. Supp. 2d 451, 494 n.133 (E.D. Tex. 2004) ("Ths crcut, along wth every other crcut to consder the queston, has concluded that the relevant votng populaton for Hspancs s ctzen votng age populaton."), reversed on other grounds, LULAC v. Perry, 548 U.S. 399, 429 (2006) (commentng (but not holdng) n dcta that usng HCVAP to determne Hspanc electoral opportunty "fts the language of 2 because only elgble voters affect a group's opportunty to elect canddates"). For nformaton about how the State of Texas calculates HCVAP, please see the Texas Legslatve Councl's webste: http://www.tc.state.tx.us/redst/pdf/ctzenshpaddendum.pdf. 6 Accordng to the Texas Legslatve Councl: Spansh surname voter regstraton, also reported n the secretary of state's Statewde Voter Database, s generated usng a comparson to the 2000 Census Bureau Lst of Spansh Surnames. Whle most sources agree that the match between people who have Spansh surnames and those who consder themselves Hspanc s relatvely good n Texas (the Census Bureau estmates a go percent correlaton for the state), the reported number of regstered voters wth Spansh surnames s not a precse measure of Hspanc voter regstraton. Some people who consder themselves Hspanc do not have surnames that are ncluded n the Spansh surname fle and wll be mssed by the Spansh surname matchng technque. Others, who have surnames that are ncluded n the Spansh surname fle but do not consder themselves Hspanc, wll be ncorrectly counted as Hspanc regstered voters. http://www.tle.state.tx.us/redst/pdf/data 2011 Redstrctng.pdf. 4
Case Case 2:13-cv-00193 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document Document 459-8 Fled 1-1 n TXSD Fled 07/19/11 on 08/08/14 Page Page 30 of 4154of 79 benchmark dstrcts wth a BVAP over 40% were under populated. The Legslature mantaned those dstrcts and actually ncreased by one the number of dstrcts wth a BVAP over 40%. Statstcal studes demonstrate that the Afrcan Amercan populaton tends to regster to vote n hgher percentages and turn out to vote at a hgher rate than the Hspanc populaton.7 A dstrct wth approxmately 40% BVAP hstorcally wll elect the Afrcan-Amercan communty's canddate of choce. Statewde, the comparson between the benchmark and the Plan shows the followng number of dstrcts: BENCHMARK HB 150 HVAP (greater than 60%) 30 30 HCVAP (greater than 50%) 30 30 SSVR (greater than 50%) 29 30 BVAP (greater than 40%) 11 12 Nether Hspanc nor Black votng strength retrogresses n the Plan. Regonal Impact on Mnorty Communtes South and West Texas. El Paso County s apportoned 5 dstrcts n the Plan. The hgh concentraton of Hspanc resdents results n dstrcts wth unavodably hgh levels of HVAP. All 5 El Paso dstrcts n both the benchmark and the Plan are populated wth over 6o% HVAP. The same stuaton exsts n Hdalgo County. Hdalgo County s enttled to 4+ dstrcts (four dstrcts wholly contaned wthn the county plus excess populaton shared wth a neghborng county). The dstrcts n Hdalgo County all contan over 75% HVAP n both the benchmark and the Plan. HCVAP and SSVR numbers are also generally hgh n that area. 7 "[Me Latno populaton suffers from partcpaton rates lower than those of non-hspanc black and whte populatons, n terms ofboth voter regstraton and electon day turnout. Whle turnout rates among Hspancs are lower than those among whtes and blacks, low regstraton rates among elgble voters pose the bggest problem. Only 58% of elgble Latno voters were regstered to vote n 2004, compared to 75% of whtes and 69% of blacks. Experts attrbute these low partcpaton rates to the fact that, lke Afrcan-Amercans, Hspancs are dsproportonately young, less educated, and less affluent all attrbutes that tradtonally dampen poltcal partcpaton. For Hspancs, these factors are exacerbated by language barrers. The combned effect of low voter elgblty and partcpaton s devastatng: Only 18% of all Hspancs voted n 2004, compared to 51% of whtes and 39% of blacks, and Hspancs only contrbuted 6% of all the ballots cast on electon day." Alvaro Bedoya, Note, The Unforeseen Effects ofgeorga v. Ashcroft on the Latno Communty, 115 YALE L.J. 2112, 2128-29 (2006). 5
Case Case 2:13-cv-00193 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document Document 459-8 Fled 1-1 n TXSD Fled 07/19/11 on 08/08/14 Page Page 31 of 4254of 79 Nueces County. In 2001, Nueces County was apportoned 2 seats wholly contaned wthn the county and a porton of a thrd dstrct. Accordng to the 2010 census, Nueces County grew at a substantally slower rate than the state as a whole, and the county's populaton of 340,223 no longer enttles t to more than 2 dstrcts.8 As a result, the porton of the county contaned n the thrd dstrct needed to be redstrbuted nto the two remanng Nueces County dstrcts. Ths loss of one state representatve seat necessarly caused the parng of two ncumbents. The pared ncumbents are Representatve Raul Torres (R) n Dstrct 33 and Representatve Conne Scott (R) n Dstrct 34. Nueces County now has two dstrcts, both of whch are wholly contaned wthn ts boundares Dstrcts 34 and 32. Pursuant to the requrements n artcle 3, secton 26 of the Texas Consttuton, the Legslature adhered whenever possble to the Texas consttutonal requrement that county lnes should be preserved. In ths case, addng a thrd dstrct to Nueces County would have broken county lnes n volaton of the state consttutonal rule. Under the Plan, the Legslature strengthened Hspanc voters' nfluence n one of Nueces County's two remanng dstrcts. Under the benchmark plan, nether Dstrct 32, Dstrct 33, nor Dstrct 34 was consstently electng Hspanc voters' canddate of choce. Electon data ndcate that Dstrct 34 wll now consstently elect the Hspanc communty's canddate of choce. Nueces County as a whole contans 36.7% Anglo VAP and 56.8% HVAP. No map was publcly submtted to the Legslature that drew two performng Hspanc dstrcts wthout volatng the county lne rule mandated by artcle 3, secton 26 of the Texas Consttuton.9 HVAP HVAP SSVR SSVR HCVAP HCVAP (BENCHMARK) (HB (BENCHMARK) (HB (BENCHMARK) (HB 15o) 150) 150) Former 61.9 55.3 60.5 Dstrct 33 Dstrct 34 61.6 67.7 53-8 60.8 584 64.7 8 Dvdng Nueces County's populaton of 340,233 by the deal dstrct sze (167,637) yelds the number of seats Nueces County s enttled to: 2.0285. Ths number was rounded down to two whole dstrcts snce the remanng populaton could easly be dstrbuted among the two dstrcts and keep them wthn the allowed devaton statewde. 9 Representatve Roberto Alonzo's proposed amendment (Plan H115, H164) acheved two performng dstrcts wthn Nueces County. However, the Alonzo amendment, whch was submtted on behalf of IVIALDEF, was wthdrawn before t was brought to a vote on the House floor. Further, the Alonzo amendment volated the Texas Consttuton's county lne rule, because t splt Nueces County's Anglo populaton nto a thrd dstrct that exceeded the county's geographcal lmts. Representatve Trey Martnez-Fscher presented a plan on behalf ofthe Mexcan Amercan Legslatve Caucus whch splt Nueces County nto 5 legslatve dstrcts, also volatng the state consttutonal county lne rule. 6
Case Case 2:13-cv-00193 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document Document 459-8 Fled 1-1 n TXSD Fled 07/19/11 on 08/08/14 Page Page 32 of 4354of 79 Dstrct 32 37.2 45.9 33.2 37.3 35-3 44.2 Harrs County. Under the benchmark plan, Harrs County had 25 House dstrcts. Although Harrs County dd experence growth between 2000 and 2010, ts growth dd not keep pace wth the rest of the state. Growth n Harrs County was 20.3%, whle the state as a whole grew at a rate of 20.6%. Based on the U.S. Census Bureau's 2010 populaton data, Harrs County s enttled to ether 24 or 25 dstrcts. Dvdng Harrs County's populaton of 4,092,459 by the deal dstrct sze (167,637) yelds the number of dstrcts Harrs County s enttled to: 24.4126. Accordngly, and n complance wth secton 26, Artcle III, of the Texas Consttuton (requrng dstrcts be apportoned to large countes based on the federal census "as nearly as may be"), the Legslature chose to apporton 24 House dstrcts to Harrs County and create a dstrct elsewhere n the state where populaton growth was hgher. Ths elmnaton of a dstrct necesstated the parng of two ncumbents n Harrs County. Harrs County Parng HVAP HVAP SSVR SSVR HCVAP HCVAP (BENCHMARK) (HB (BENCHMARK) (HB (BENCHMARK) (HB 150) 150 so) Dstrct 59.8 55.3 22.0 24.3 25.8 26.4 13710 Former 30.2 15.9 19.0 Dstrct 149" The Texas Legslature proactvely ncreased mnorty votng strength n of Harrs.one County's Hspanc House dstrcts. At the request of the Mexcan Amercan Legal Defense and Educatonal Fund (MALDEF), the Legslature ncreased both SSVR and HCVAP to over 50% from 40.0% and 42.1%, respectvely, n House Dstrct 148.12 After the House Redstrctng Commttee passed a proposed statewde redstrctng plan, the Harrs County delegaton offered an amendment durng the debate on the House floor that mpacted the Afrcan Amercan communtes n Harrs County. Under the amendment, whch receved bpartsan support from mnorty and Anglo House 10 Under the benchmark plan, Dstrct 137 also contaned 13.7% Anglo VAP, 14.6% RVAP, and 13% Other VAP. n Under the benchmark plan, Dstrct 149 also contaned 26.6% Anglo VAP, 16.2% BVAP and 6.2% Other YAP. 11 See Hearng on H.B. 150 Before the House Comm. on Redstrctng, 82nd Leg., KS. (Aprl 15, 2011). http://www.house.state.tx.us/vdeo-audo/commttee-broadcasts/cornmtteearchvespcommttee=o8o8rsesson=82. 7
Case Case 2:13-cv-00193 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document Document 459-8 Fled 1-1 n TXSD Fled 07/19/11 on 08/08/14 Page Page 33 of 4454of 79 members, Black VAP percentage was slghtly reduced n two of four performng dstrcts. However, the members of the Harrs County delegaton agreed to the amendment because t dd not negatvely affect Black voters' ablty to elect ther canddate of choce n any dstrct.13 The followng dstrcts were affected: Dstrct BVAP BVAP (BENCHMARK) (HB 150) 139 47.2 42.1 141 42.8 50.0 142 40.8 42.9 147 39.2 38.2 Fnally, under the Plan, one Harrs County dstrct (Dstrct 144) drops below the 50% HVAP level. Under the benchmark, Dstrct 144, whch s represented by a Republcan, contans 50.3% HVAP. However, the CVAP n the dstrct was 35.1% and the SSVR was 31.5%. The Plan decreases HVAP to 48.5% but does not change the overall characterstcs of the dstrct. Electon data confrm that House Dstrct 144 was not a voters under the benchmark nor s t under the Plan. performng dstrct for Hspanc Dallas County. Between 2000 and 2010, Dallas County's populaton only ncreased by 6.7%, whle the state populaton grew at a rate of 20.6%. Dallas County grew much more slowly than the rest of the state, and equalzng populaton wthn each dstrct requred that two of the County's House Dstrcts be elmnated. As a result, Dallas County was apportoned 14, rather than 16, dstrcts. Under the benchmark plan, every dstrct n Dallas County except for Dstrct log was under populated accordng to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2010 populaton data. Despte ths challenge, the Plan mantans four dstrcts wth a BVAP over 40% and two dstrcts wth an HVAP over 65%. All four benchmark dstrcts that were pared under the Plan are represented by Republcan legslators. Tarrant County. Based on populaton growth, Tarrant County was apportoned an addtonal dstrct. As a result, Tarrant County's House delegaton rose from 10 to 11 legslators. The Plan contans a new dstrct, Dstrct 101, whch contans 32.5% HVAP, 27.0% BVAP and 24.6% Anglo VAP. The House proactvely ncreased mnorty votng strength n one of Tarrant county's performng Hspanc dstrcts. At the request of MALDEF, the SSVR and HCVAP n Dstrct go were ncreased from 47.2% and 48.0%, respectvely, to 50.% SSVR and 49.7% HCVAP. '3 See House Journal Supplement, pages 5206-5208, http://www.journals.house.state.tx.usajrn1/82r/pdf/82rday63supplement.pdf. 8
Case Case 2:13-cv-00193 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document Document 459-8 Fled 1-1 n TXSD Fled 07/19/11 on 08/08/14 Page Page 34 of 4554of 79 Secton 51.27(0) Pendng Ltgaton The followng ltgaton nvolvng the state's newly enacted redstrctng plans s currently pendng: Name Cause No. & Venue Consoldated: Perez, et al. v. State oftexas, et al; Texas Latno Redstrctng Task Force, et al. v. Perry, et al; MALC v. State of Texas, et al. SA-11-CA-36o-OLG-JES-XR W.D. Tex, San Antono Three Judge Court: Garca, Smth, Rodrguez Teuher v. State of Texas, et al. SA-11-CA-0572-OLG-JES-XR W.D. Tex. San Antono Three Judge Court: Garca, Smth, Rodrguez Teuber v. State of Texas, et al. CV-11-0270 397th Dstrct Court, Grayson County, Texas MALC v. State of Texas, et al. No. 7:11-cv-144 S.D. Texas McAllen Dvson (Judge Crane) Barton et al. v. State of Texas & Hope Andrade 11-20238-CV 13th Dstrct Court, Navarro County, Texas Barton et al. v. State of Texas & Hope Andrade 11-20263-CV 13th Dstrct Court, Navarro County, Texas Washburn v. State of Texas & Hope Andrade Cause No. CV 110921; 397th Dstrct Court, Grayson County, Texas Washburn v. State of Texas & Hope Andrade Cause No. CV 110931; 397th Dstrct Court, Grayson County, Texas John "Canca" Lmon, et al. v. Rck Perry, et al. D-1-GN-11-001611 351st Judcal Dstrct Court, Travs County, Texas 9
Case Case 2:13-cv-00193 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document Document 459-8 Fled 1-1 n TXSD Fled 07/19/11 on 08/08/14 Page Page 35 of 4654of 79 Banca Garca, et al. v. Rck Perry, et al. 419th Judcal Dstrct Court, Travs County, Texas Rodrguez, et al. v. State of Texas, et al. 1:11-cv-00451 W.D. Tex. Austn Dvson Three Judge Court: Yeakel, Smth, Garca Morrs v. State of Texas, et al. n-cv-2244 S.D. Tex. Houston Dvson (Judge Rosenthal) Quesada, et al. v. Rck Perry and Hope Andrade n-cv-592 W.D. Texas. San Antono Dvson (Judge Garca) Secton 51.27(p) Pror Preclearance The Texas House of Representatves map that forms the bass of the benchmark plan was submtted to the DOJ for secton 5 preclearance n 2001. The Department objected to three House dstrcts. A three-judge court, convened n the Unted States Dstrct Court for the Eastern Dstrct of Texas, modfed the legslature's state house plan to address DOJ objectons. The resultng plan modfed and approved by the federal court s the benchmark plan. The court's opnon can be found at http://www.tic.state.tx.us/redst/pdf/housepc.pdf and the Fnal Judgment can be found at http://www.t1c.state.tx.us/redst/pdf/fnalorderhouse.pdf. Secton 51.28 (a) (b) and (d) Returns (Attachment :1) Demographc Informaton. Maps and Electon 1. Electon Data folder Same electon data s used for all plan types provded once a. Zpped fles for each of the last fve electon cycles; returns, voter regstraton (VIZ.), and turnout (TO) by County/ VTD. 2002Electon.zp 2002_Democratc Prmary Electon Returns.csv (2) 2002_Democratc Prmary Electon VRTO.csv (3) 2002_Democratc Runoff Electon Returns.csv (4) 2002_Democratc_ Runoff_Electon VRTO.csv (5) 2002_Republcan Prmary_Electon Returns.esv (6) 2002_Republcan Prmary_Electon VRTO.c.su (7) 2002 Republcan_Runoff_Electon_Returns.csv (8) 2002 Republcan_Runoff_Electon_ VRTO.csv (9) 2002 General Electon Returns. csv (10) 2002_General Electon VRTO.csv 10
Case Case 2:13-cv-00193 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document Document 459-8 Fled 1-1 n TXSD Fled 07/19/11 on 08/08/14 Page Page 36 of 4754of 79 (IA) readme.txt 2004_ElectOn.Zp contans same reports as n 2002_Electon.zp 2006Electon.zp contans same reports as n 2002_Electon.zp; also ncludes the specal general and runofffor the court-ordered Congressonal dstrcts. v. 2008_Electon.zp contans same reports as n 2002_Electon.zp V. 2010_Electon.zp contans same reports as n 2.002_Electon.zp 2. PlarMOO folder a. PlanHoo Reports folder 1. 2002Electon folder () 2002_Democratc Prmary_RED225.pdfand.xls (2) 2002 Democratc Runoff RED225.pdfand.xls (3) 2002 Republcan Prmary_ RED225.pdfand..xls (4) 2002 Republcan _Runoff_ RED225.pdfand.xls (5) 2002_General Electon RED225.pdfand.xls 2004_EIeeton folder- contans same reports as n 2002_Electon folder 2006_Electon folder contans same reports as n 2002_Electon folder; also ncludes the specal general and runoff for the court-ordered Congressonal dstrcts. v. 2008_Electon folder contans same reports as n 2002_Electon folder v. 2010_Electon folder contans same reports as n 2002_Electon folder v. VTD level VR_SSVR TO (RED 216.pdf and.xls) ncludes voter regstraton, Spansh surname voter regstraton, and turnout by dstrct and VTD for the 2010 gubernatoral electon v. ACS HCVAP Specal Tab(RED106) Ctzen Votng Age Populaton) (HCVAP) from the 2005-2009 ACS (DOJ Specal Tabulaton) v. Dstrct Populaton Analyss wth Countes (RED 100) contans plan devaton statstcs and verfcaton nformaton and dstrct populaton data x. Populaton and Voter Data (RED 202) x. Incumbents (RED 350) x. Compactness Analyss (RED 315) x. Splt Ctes by Dstrct (RED 130) b. PlanHoo Maps folder 28 CFR Sec. 51.28(b)1-6. Maps of state and splt countes wth dstrcts n/a Maps of splt countes wth racal/ethnc shadng by VTD Maps of splt countes wth Spansh Surname voter regstraton by VTD v. Maps of splt countes wth natural boundares and geographc features v. v. n/a v. n/a Maps of splt countes wth ctes 3. PlanH283 folder same as Planthoo folder 4. Shapefles folder a. Shapefles of all n publc Texas House plans b. blk.zp--block equvalency fle (.csv) for Planthoo and PlanH283 5. Two Plan Comparson Reports a. Two Plan by Incumbent (RED 335) 11
Case Case 2:13-cv-00193 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document Document 459-8 Fled 1-1 n TXSD Fled 07/19/11 on 08/08/14 Page Page 37 of 4854of 79 b. Plan Overlap Analyss (RED 340) Secton 51.28(f) Publcty and Partcpaton The Texas Legslature began the process of developng and debatng the Texas House of Representatves Plan almost a year before the map was fnally passed and sgned nto law. The Texas House of Representatves and the Texas Senate conducted numerous hearngs throughout the State durng the legslatve nterm perod that preceded the 82nd Legslatve Sesson. In the House of Representatves, hearngs were conducted by both the House Commttee on Redstrctng and the House Commttee on Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence. The date and cty where each publc hearng was held are detaled n the followng lst: 6/2/2010 Jont Hearng: House Redstrctng and House Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence (Austn) 6/21/2010 Jont Hearng: House Redstrctng Subcommttee on San Antono Redstrctng and House Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence 7/19/2010 Jont Hearng: House Redstrctng Subcommttee on McAllen Redstrctng and House Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence 7/20/2010 Jont Hearng: House Redstrctng Subcommttee on Laredo Redstrctng and House Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence 7/21/2010 Jont Hearng: House Redstrctng Subcommttee on Corpus Chrst Redstrctng and House Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence 8/16/2010 Jont Hearng: House Redstrctng Subcommttee on El Paso Redstrctng and House Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence 8/18/2010 Jont Hearng: House Redstrctng Subcommttee on Lubbock Redstrctng and House Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence 9/20/2010 Jont Hearng: House Redstrctng, House Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence Subcommttee on Dallas Redstrctng and Senate Select Commttee on Redstrctng 9/21/2010 Jont Hearng: House Redstrctng Subcommttee on Tarrant County Redstrctng, House Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence 9/22/2010 Jont Hearng: House Redstrctng Subcommttee on Rchardson/UT-Dallas Redstrctng and House Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence 10/18/2010 Jont Hearng: House Redstrctng Subcommttee on Beaumont Redstrctng and House Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence 10/20/2010 Jont Hearng: House Redstrctng Subcommttee on Marshall Redstrctng and House Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence 11/17/2010 House Redstrctng Subcommttee on Austn Redstrctng 11/20/ 2010 Jont Hearng: Subcommttee of Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence and Senate Select Commttee on Redstrctng (Houston) In the Texas Senate, hearngs were conducted by Redstrctng: 9/1/2010 Austn the Senate Select Commttee on 12
Case Case 2:13-cv-00193 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document Document 459-8 Fled 1-1 n TXSD Fled 07/19/11 on 08/08/14 Page Page 38 of 4954of 79 9/20/2010 Jont Hearng: House Redstrctng, House Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence Subcommttee on Downtown Dallas Redstrctng and Senate Select Commttee on Redstrctng 10/4/2010 Amarllo 10/5/2010 Mdland 10/21/2010 Ftlnlyurg 11/4/2010 San Antono 11/20/2010 Jont Hearng: Subcommttee of Judcary and Cvl Jursprudence and Senate Select Commttee on Redstrctng (Houston) Pursuant to House and Senate rules, every legslatve hearng notce, redstrctng plan submtted by members of the publc, and proposed amendments to redstrctng maps were posted on the Texas Legslatve Councl's redstrctng webste, www.tc.state.tx.us/redst/redst.html, and all publc plans and amendments were accessble through DstrctVewer.14 The Texas Legslatve Councl also mantaned two RedAppll5 termnals whch were avalable to the publc for ther use durng normal busness hours. Once the Texas Legslature began the redstrctng process by holdng nterm hearngs, the House Commttee on Redstrctng created an e-mal contact database to notfy nterested members of the publc about upcomng legslatve hearngs. That database, whch ultmately ncluded over 200 communty leaders, advocacy groups, and electon offcals, fostered publc partcpaton by ensurng nterested partes receved regular communcatons about the redstrctng process throughout the legslatve sesson. Pror to each nterm hearng, the Senate Commttee on Redstrctng notfed the elected offcals n the area and encouraged them to wdely dssemnate nformaton about the hearng. The commttee offce has retaned the notfcaton e-mals that were sent. Durng each House nterm hearng, t was announced that the publc record on the hearngs would reman open untl December 2010, n order to gve the publc ample tme to provde wrtten comments to the commttees. The Texas Legslature could not begn the map drawng process untl the U.S. Census Bureau released block-level populaton data to Texas on February 17, 2011. On March 24, 2011, the House Commttee on Redstrctng held a publc hearng to solct addtonal nput from the publc about the upcomng reapportonment of Texas House of Representatves dstrcts. On Aprl 13, 2011, Charman Burt Solomons publcly released an ntal plan (H113) for publc and legslatve consderaton. 14 DstrctVewer s the Texas Legslatve Councl's Internet-based applcaton that nteractvely dsplays all publc maps and reports. It s avalable to anyone wth Internet access and ncludes access to all benchmark plans, as well. 15 RedAppl s the Texas Legslatve Councl's dstrct modelng software. It was nstalled n legslators' offces as well as n publc termnals n the Texas Legslatve Councl's offces 13
Case Case 2:13-cv-00193 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document Document 459-8 Fled 1-1 n TXSD Fled 07/19/11 on 08/08/14 Page Page 39 of 5054of 79 In addton to holdng a publc hearng and seekng publc comment before a House plan was ntroduced, the Redstrctng Commttee and the Speaker of the House's staff conducted a proactve outreach effort n order to ensure nterested partes had an opportunty to partcpate n the redstrctng process. Durng the two months that elapsed between the census data's release and the ntroducton of H113, leadershp and staff held several meetngs wth House members from both partes. Multple meetngs were also held wth groups that represent mnortes' nterests such as MALDEF and the Mexcan Amercan Legslatve Caucus (MALC). Several of MALDEF's recommended changes were ncorporated nto the plan that was ultmately passed and sgned nto law. The staff proactvely contacted the NAACP of Texas n an effort to schedule a meetng, but the outreach efforts were unsuccessful. On the House floor, Charman Solomons repeatedly encouraged members from varous regons of the State to work collaboratvely to jontly submt regonal redstrctng proposals. The commttee took all of these regonal proposals nto consderaton when t crafted the new House plan. After H113 was publcly posted on DstrctVewer, two publc hearngs were held by the House Redstrctng Commttee. Charman Solomons lad out a commttee substtute plan (H134) durng the frst hearng, whch was on Frday Aprl 15, 2011. The second hearng convened on Sunday, Aprl 17, 2011. The commttee held one meetng durng the week and one on the weekend so that members of the publc would have opportuntes to partcpate n the process both durng the fve-day work week and durng a weekend. The commttee held a thrd formal meetng on Tuesday, Aprl 19, 2011. Durng that meetng, the commttee consdered several amendments before approvng an amended map and sendng t to the House floor for the entre Chamber's consderaton. On Aprl 19, 2011, the House Calendars Commttee scheduled the commttee-approved plan, H153, for second readng on the House floor.16 H153 was debated on Aprl 27, 2011. The proceedngs were transcrbed.17 A record vote was taken, and the Plan passed wth 92 yeas and 54 nays. Two Democrats voted for the plan Representatve Eland and Representatve Gulllen. The House's engrossed verson, H283, was sent to the Senate for consderaton. The Senate Redstrctng Commttee held a publc hearng on the bll on May 6, 2011, and the bll passed n the Senate, wthout amendments, on May 17, 2011 by a vote of 22 yeas and 9 nays on second readng and 25 yeas and 6 nays on thrd readng. Notce of all hearngs was provded n complance wth the Rules of the Texas House of Representatves and the Texas Senate. The followng lnks nclude hearng notces, mnutes, and wtness lsts for each of the hearngs on the Plan: '6 Pursuant to the Texas Consttuton, a bll must be read on three separate occasons. The frst readng s ntroduced and referred to commttee. The second and thrd readng, as referenced above, consders passage ofthe legslaton. '7 See lapt://www.journals.house.state.tx.us/hjr n1/8 2R/pdf/82RDAY63SUPP1,EMENT.pdf. s when a bll are when the full House 14
Case Case 2:13-cv-00193 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document Document 459-8 Fled 1-1 n TXSD Fled 07/19/11 on 08/08/14 Page Page 40 of 5154of 79 Notce House Redstrctng Commttee Hearngs Hearng on Aprl 15 http://www.captol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/82r/schedules/pdf/co802011o41512oolpdf Mnutes http://www.captastate.tx.us/tlo do cs/ 82R/mnutes/pdf/C0 802o11041s120o1.PDF Wtness Lst http://www.captolstate.tx.us/tlodo es/82r/wtlstrntg/pdf/co802011041512001.pdf Notce Hearng on Aprl 17 http://www.captol.state.tk.us/tlodocs/82r/schedules/pdf/co 802011o41714001.PDF Mnutes http://www.captastate.tx.us/tlodocs/ 82R/ mnutes/pdf/co 8o 2o11041714001.PDF Wtness Lst http://www.captol.state.tx.usftio do cs/ 82R/wtlstmtg/pclf/Co8o 2011041714001.PDF Hearng on Aprl 19 Notce http://www.captol.state.tx.us/tiodocs/82r/schedules/pdf/co8o2ollo419tlool.pdf Mnutes http://www.captol.stat Senate Select Commttee on Redstrctng Hearng on May 6 Notce http://www.captol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/82r/schedules/pdf/c6252ollo5o6oqool.pdf Mnutes http://www.captastate.tx.us/tlodocs/82r/mnutes/pdf/c62520110so6o9001.pdf Wtness Lst http://www.captolstate.tx.us/tlodocs/82r/wtlstntg/pdf/c6252ono5o6ogool.pdf Notce Hearng on May 13 http://www.captol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/82r/schedulespdf C62 2o110 1 Mnutes http://www.captol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/82r/mnutes/pdf/c62520110513o800t.pdf Soo LPDF 51.28(g)(1) Publc Avalablty of the Submsson On July 19, 2011, the Attorney General ssued a press release nformng the publc that the State fled a declaratory judgment acton seekng preclearance of the Plan from the Unted States Dstrct Court for the Dstrct of Columba. The State's press release also announced that ths nformal submsson was provded to DOJ. A copy of that press release can be found onlne at www.texasattorneygeneral.gov. Members of the publc 15
Case 2:13-cv-00193 Document 459-8 Fled n TXSD on 08/08/14 Page 52 of 79 Case 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document 1-1 Fled 07/19/11 Page 41 of 54 were nformed that they may provde comment by contactng the Offce of the Attorney General va e-mal at redstrctngpoag.state.tx.us or va telephone at (800)252-8011. 51.28(g)(2) Electronc Avalablty of Data The Attorney General has made the data ncluded n ths submsson avalable on the OAG's webste at www.texasattorneygeneral.gov. 51.28(h) Mnorty Group Contacts The followng ndvduals resde n the State of Texas, and are famlar wth the proposed change, and were actve n the poltcal process by whch the Plan was adopted: Nna Perales Mexcan Amercan Legal Defense and The Honorable Stefane Carter Texas House of Representatves Educaton Fund P.O. Box 2910 no Broadway, Sute 300 Austn, Texas 78768-2910 San Antono, TX 78205 (512) 463-0454 (210) 224-5476 The Honorable Erc Johnson Lus Fgueroa Texas House of Representatves Mexcan Amercan Legal Defense and P.O. Box 2910 Educaton Fund Austn, Texas 78768-2910 no Broadway, Sute 300 (512) 463-0586 San Antono, TX 78205 (210) 224-5476 The Honorable Ruth Jones McClendon Texas House of Representatves Gary Bledsoe P.O. Box 2910 Texas NAACP Austn, Texas 78768-2910 1107 E. nth Street, Sute A (512) 463-0708 Austn, Texas 78702 (512) 322-9547 The Honorable Ryan Gullen Texas House of Representatves The Honorable Mke Vllarreal P.O. Box 2910 Texas House of Representatves Austn, Texas 78768-2910 P.O. Box 2910 (512) 463-0416 Austn, Texas 78768-2910 (512) 463-0532 16
Case 2:13-cv-00193 Document 459-8 Fled n TXSD on 08/08/14 Page 53 of 79 Case 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document 1-1 Fled 07/19/11 Page 42 of 54 The Honorable Aaron Paha Texas House of Representatves The Honorable Maro Gallegos, Jr. Texas Senate P.O. Box 2910 P.O. Box 12068 Austn, Texas 78768-2910 Austn, Texas 78711 (512) 463-0426 (512) 463-0106 The Honorable Carlos Urest Texas Senate P.O. Box 12068 Austn, Texas 78711 (512) 463-0119 17
Case Case 2:13-cv-00193 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document Document 459-8 Fled 1-1 n TXSD Fled 07/19/11 on 08/08/14 Page Page 43 of 54 54of 79 State of Texas Informal Submsson Act of May 6, 2011, 82nd Leg. R.S., H.B. 600 State Board of Educaton Ths document outlnes the nformaton provded n the State of Texas' nformal submsson of H.B. 600 (the "Plan") to the Department of Justce. Whle ths s not a formal submsson, the State of Texas s nonetheless provdng all nformaton whch would normally be contaned n a submsson pursuant to 28 C.F.R. 51.27 and 51.28. Ths document ether provdes the nformaton requested or references the relevant attachment where the nformaton s located. Secton 51.27 (a) Copy of Plan A copy ofthe Plan may be found onlne at http://gsl.tc.state.tx.us/download/sboe/plane120.pdf and s ncluded as Attachment 1. Secton 51.27(b) CODY of Plan Currently n Effect A copy of the current State Board of Educaton (the "SBOE" or the "Board") dstrcts can be found onlne at http://gs.tle.state.tx.us/download/sboe/planeloo.pdf and s ncluded as Attachment 2. The SBOE's preexstng map s referred to heren as "benchmark plan" or "Eloo" n the electronc reports. Secton 51.27(c) Statement of Change Requested The Plan makes changes to the boundares of all 15 SBOE dstrcts.1 Secton 51.27(d) Person Submttng Change Greg Abbott Texas Attorney General 209 W. 14th Street Austn, Texas 78701 (512) 463-2191 offce (512) 936-0545 fax grpg.abbottpoag.state.tx.us Secton 51.27(e) and (1): Not applcable Seeh: ournalslouse.statelfnl www: 82R html 82 RDAY 6FIN.htrnAL. 1
Case 2:13-cv-00193 Document 459-8 Fled n TXSD on 08/08/14 Page 55 of 79 Case 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document 1-1 Fled 07/19/11 Page 44 of 54 Secton 51.27(g) Body Responsble for Change The body responsble for passng the Plan was the 8211d Texas Legslature Secton 51.27(h) Statutory Authorty for Chanee Whle no state consttutonal provson or state statute requres the reapportonment of SBOE dstrcts at any partcular tme, Texas laws governng the Board assume the dstrcts wll be redrawn after each federal decennal census.2 Lkewse, snce the 2010 federal decennal census revealed sgnfcant populaton devatons among the SBOE dstrcts, the equal protecton clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Consttuton requres that the Board's dstrcts be redrawn. Secton 51.27(1) and (j) Date Change Adopted and Effectve Date of Change The Plan became law on May 18, 2011 and wll become effectve on August 29, 2011. Secton 51.27(k) Statement Regardng Implementaton The Plan has not been mplemented. Secton 51.27(1) Affected Jursdcton The Plan affects the entre jursdcton of the State of Texas. Secton 51.27 (m) and (n) Reason for and Effect of Change Background The SBOE s establshed by the Texas consttuton and Texas statutes and s composed of 15 members elected from sngle-member dstrcts. The Board's members serve for four-year terms, whch are staggered followng the reapportonment of the dstrcts.3 The Board adopts rules and establshes polces that govern a wde range of educatonal programs and servces provded by Texas publc schools. The Commssoner of Educaton, who s apponted by the Governor, serves as chef executve offcer of the Board and supervses the admnstraton of Board rules through the Texas Educaton Agency (TEA). Together the Board, the Commssoner, and the TEA facltate the operaton of a vast publc school system wth 1,237 school dstrcts and charter schools, more than 8,450 more than 640, 000 educators and staff, and more than 4.8 mllon campuses, 2 See Tex. Educaton Code 7.104 (Vernon 2006). 3 See Id. 2
Case Case 2:13-cv-00193 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document Document 459-8 Fled 1-1 n TXSD Fled 07/19/11 on 08/08/14 Page Page 45 of 5654of 79 schoolchldren. The SBOE establshes and promotes goals for the publc school system and adopts and promotes four-year plans for meetng those goals.4 The State of Texas s dvded nto 15 SBOE dstrcts. Based on the state's populaton of 25, 145, 561, SBOE dstrcts wth perfectly equalzed populaton would each contan 1,676,371 resdents. The shfts n populaton among the dstrcts, as evdenced by the release of the U.S. Census Bureau's 2010 populaton data, requred that the Legslature change SBOE dstrcts' preexstng boundary lnes. Under the benchmark plan, the smallest dstrct, Dstrct 15, was 12.4% under the deal sze. The most over populated dstrct was Dstrct 10, whch was 17.2% over the deal populaton. The Legslature's stated goals durng the SBOE redstrctng process were to equalze populaton, mantan communtes of nterest, reduce the number of splt countes, reduce the number of splt school dstrcts, avod parng ncumbents, and respond to the publc testmony and nput that was receved durng the nterm and the legslatve sesson.5 All of these goals were accomplshed n the Plan that ultmately passed the Legslature. Under the State's Plan, SBOE dstrcts have an overall devaton of 5.85%. The largest dstrct (Dstrct 9) s 2.07% over the deal populaton, and the smallest dstrct (Dstrct o) s 3.78% under the deal populaton. The Plan adopted by the Legslature fully comples wth all applcable state and federal laws and nether has the purpose nor wll have the effect of denyng or abrdgng the rght to vote on account of race, color, or membershp n a language mnorty. The Plan does not retrogress racal or language mnortes' ablty to effectvely exercse ther electoral franchse. The Legslature undertook an extensve outreach effort durng the legslatve nterm and also conducted numerous hearngs durng the Legslatve sesson. The detals of those efforts are explaned under Secton 51.28(f) of ths submsson. Statewde Impact on Mnorty Voters The benchmark plan ncluded three dstrcts (Dstrcts 1, 2 and 3) where the Hspanc communty was hstorcally able to elect the canddate of ts choce. It also contaned two dstrcts (Dstrcts 4 and 13) where the Afrcan-Amercan communty was hstorcally able to elect ts canddate of choce. The Plan mantans mnorty votng strength n those fve dstrcts whle ncreasng Hspanc Votng Age Populaton 4 See Tex. Educaton Code 7.102 (Vernon 2006). 5 See ltt:www:om_plouse.strn182rhtn182ay6final.htmr D. 3
Case Case 2:13-cv-00193 1:11-cv-01303-RMC Document Document 459-8 Fled 1-1 n TXSD Fled 07/19/11 on 08/08/14 Page Page 46 of 5754of 79 ("HVAP"), Hspanc Ctzen Votng Age Populaton ("HCVAP")6 and Spansh Surname Voter Regstraton ("SSVR")7 n both Dstrcts 1 and 3. The benchmark plan contaned SBOE dstrcts that splt 161 school dstrcts. Among the Legslature's stated goals durng the SBOE redstrctng process was reducng the number of splt school dstrcts. The proposed Plan contans only 148 school dstrct splts. The Legslature also endeavored to reduce the number of countes and ctes that were unnecessarly dvded by SBOE dstrct lnes. Also, the Plan does not par any ncumbent SBOE members. Regonal Impact. Under the benchmark plan, the Hspanc Votng Age Populaton (HVAP) s above 50% n three South Texas dstrcts (Dstrcts 1, 2 and 3). Electon data ndcate that the mnorty communty n each of those dstrcts was able to elect ts canddate of choce. The Plan passed by the Legslature ncreases varous Hspanc populaton metrcs n Dstrcts 1 and 3. In Dstrct 2, the HVAP, HCVAP and SSVR dp only slghtly. However, a revew of hstorc electon data confrms that ths change wll not affect the mnorty communty's ablty to elect ts canddate of choce. The benchmark plan contans two dstrcts where Afrcan-Amercan communtes hstorcally elect ther canddates of choce (Dstrcts 4 and 13). Dstrct 4 n Harrs County was sgnfcantly under populated and therefore needed an addtonal 150, 000 new resdents. The Legslature was able add the necessary populaton, whle at the same tme only reducng the Black Votng Age Populaton (BVAP) by.2%. A revew of hstorcal electon data confrms that the mnorty communty's canddate of choce wll 6 The Ffth Crcut has unequvocally heid that HCVAP s the populaton base that should be consklered to determne whether a mnorty group satsfes the frst Gngles requrement for a vote dluton clam. See Campos v. Cty of Houston, 113 F.3d 544, 548 (5th Cr. 1997) ("We hold that courts evaluatng vote dluton clams under secton 2 of the Votng Rghts Act must consder the ctzen votng-age populaton of the group challengng the electoral practce when determnng whether the mnorty group s suffcently large and geographcally compact to consttute a majorty n a sngle-member dstrct."); see also Sesson v. Perry, 298 F. Supp. 2d 451, 49411.133 (E.D. Tex. 2004) ("Ths crcut, along wth every other crcut to consder the queston, has concluded that the relevant votng populaton for Hspancs s ctzen votng age populaton."), reversed on other grounds, LULAC v. Perry, 548 U.S. 399, 429 (2006) (commentng (but not holdng) n dcta that usng HCVAP to determne Hspanc electoral opportunty "fts the language of 2 because only elgble voters affect a group's opportunty to elect canddates"). For nformaton about how the State of Texas calculates HCVAP, please see the Texas Legslatve Councl's webste: lttp://www.tc.state.tx.us/redst/pdf/ctzenshpaddendum.ed 7 Accordng to the Texas Legslatve Councl's webste: Spansh surname voter regstraton, also reported n the secretary of state's Statewde Voter Database, s generated usng a comparson to the 2000 Census Bureau Lst of Spansh Surnames. Whle most sources agree that the match between people who have Spansh surnames and those who consder themselves Hspanc s relatvely good n Texas (the Census Bureau estmates a go percent correlaton for the state), the reported number of regstered voters wth Spansh surnames s not a precse measure of Hspanc voter regstraton. Some people who consder themselves Hspanc do not have surnames that are ncluded n the Spansh surname fle and wll be mssed by the Spansh surname matchng teclmclue. Others, who have surnames that are ncluded n the Spansh surname fle but do not consder themselves Hspanc, wll be ncorrectly counted as Hspanc regstered voters." htt1wwww.t1c.state.tx.us/redst/uff/data 2011 Redstrctng.pclf. 4