The Texas House began debate on House Bill 4, with Republicans pushing new maps and Democrats pressing questions before amendments were introduced.
AUSTIN, Texas — The redistricting fight in the Texas Legislature returned to center stage Wednesday as the House reconvened at 10 a.m., setting off a day of debate, questioning, and early amendments on House Bill 4.
House Bill 4 back on the floor
Within 24 minutes of the session starting, Rep. Todd Hunter of Corpus Christi conducted the second reading of the redistricting bill. Hunter noted that three public hearings were held during the first special session, though he added that hearings were not required.
Hunter told lawmakers that redistricting can be done at any time and that his underlying goal was to improve Republican political performance. He said four of the five new districts are majority-minority Hispanic. He also suggested that he chose to move forward alone after Democrats broke quorum earlier this year.
Democrats push back
House Democrats quickly lined up to ask questions. One lawmaker pressed Hunter on whether he conducted any analysis of racially polarized voting in Texas before, during, or after drawing the map.
“The population growth in Texas has been, over the last 20 years has been almost half of that has been Latino, population growth. So, Mr. Chairman, did you do any analysis or review whether voting is racially polarized in Texas before, during or after the drawing of this map?”
Amendments enter the debate
Time expired as one Democratic lawmaker was still questioning Hunter. A vote was taken to extend time, but the motion failed. From there, amendments began to be read, starting with Amendment One, which would effectively kill the bill. Houston-area Rep. Armando Walle asked questions about the amendment as debate continued.
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