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The House Committee on Redistricting met to hear invited and public testimony at Magoffin Auditorium at UTEP in El Paso, TX.  The purpose of the interim field hearings is to solicit public input on the 2021 legislative redistricting process and provide context to the official 2020 Census data that the 87th Legislature will receive by April 2021.

This report is intended to give you an overview and highlight of the discussions on the various topics the committee took up. It is not a verbatim transcript of the hearing but is based upon what was audible or understandable to the observer and the desire to get details out as quickly as possible with few errors or omissions.

Jon Wiebe, UTEP-Administration

  • This is the 2nd House Committee Hearing at UTEP. It’s historic, the most state reps we have had on campus at one time.
  • UTEP is deeply tied to our community and feels privileged to provide community members an opportunity to share ideas for the betterment of our community.

Chairman King

  • Handouts were distributed. One is a timeline of the redistricting and census process.
  • Why we are here and why we are doing this:  
    •  U.S & Texas Constitutions require that every 10 years, after the decennial census, we redraw the maps for the congressional districts, SBOE, House and Senate, and courts
    • Many local cities will do redistricting for council and constable seats
    • The idea is to equalize voting population within districts, so one congressional district doesn’t have significantly higher population than another
    • We have to be careful to not violate Federal Voting Rights Act (VRA) which requires that a district design neither has an affect nor purpose of denying or bridging the right to vote on the basis of race, language, or color group
    • People ask for districts to remain the same based on a road, school district, city, etc. When we do this, we can unintentionally violate the VRA by placing minority groups outside of a group
    • We are asked to keep communities of interest (EPA corridors, historical districts, anything that holds a group of people together in a common community) together
    • We are also asked to try to keep districts geographically compact
    • The job of the committee is to adhere to redistricting law and to have an open and transparent process
    • Transparency: When the map is proposed, it is like proposed legislation. It will go through the same process as every other piece of proposed legislation. Once it is filed, it is available to the public. The public can also follow and testify at hearings. We want everyone to be able to participate to the full degree that they are able.
    • On the timeline handout, the most important day is April 1st, the census day. We want everyone counted because that is in the best interest of Texas. Census count determines federal dollars for Texas, congressional districts, and helps us figure out how to distribute state services and resources, etc.
    • January 12, 2021: the date that the legislature next formally convenes. This is when the committee will be formally organized to put together maps for the next 10 years.
    • The next date is the day the census bureau gets the final data to the legislature. It could be late February or March. We can’t really start drawing the maps until then.
    • May 31, 2021: the day the legislature adjourns. We really only have from March 1-May to draw the maps, take them through House and Senate, bring before the public, and get them passed. It is a short window which is why it is important to have these hearings now.
    • Invited Testimony: State Demographers Office will share about growth in Texas. Legislative Council will give info on tools available to participate in the map drawing process.

Invited Testimony

Lila Valencia, Texas State Demographer

  • Has PowerPoint Presentation with slides available on https://demographics.texas.gov
  • We conduct count to allocate congressional counts, electoral college votes, drawing boundaries for changes in population
  • Shows slide on numbers for 2018:
    •  Texas has added more people than any other state in the country since about 2016.
    • In 2018 we are at about 28.7 million. In 2019 we will be at 28,995,000. We have grown 3.8 million people between 2010 and 2019. Growth rate (GR) is 15.3%. We have one of the highest rates of growth.
    • CA and MN are estimated to be staying the same or losing one congressional seat. Texas is projected to gain 3 congressional seats after the 2020 census.
  • Referring to slide: The Census Bureau and Texas Demographic Center population projections are very close so our 2020 figures should be a good estimate of what we will see in 2020
  • Population 29,677,668 in 2020. 197,851 approximate house district size in 2020
  • Referring to slide: Maps from 2010 and 2020 are fairly similar. Areas of population density from 2010 are where we are projecting to see more population growth in 2020
  • Referring to slide: Population projections from 2010-2020 for El Paso metro area and the 2 counties, El Paso County and Hudspeth County.
  • El Paso is one of the most populated areas outside the population triangle and is the 22nd largest city in the U.S.
  • Referring to slide: Projected numeric change in counties in state of Texas
  • Many counties will experience growth but some will experience decline from 2010-2020. El Paso county growth of about 75,000 people. Hudspeth county is projected to lose 1,000 people
  • Referring to slide: Map shows projected percent change, indicates rate of growth without information about volume
  • Suburban ring areas of Dallas, Austin, etc. are showing higher growth than the actual cities
  • Referring to slide: Same figures stated numerically for the 2 counties (El Paso and Hudspeth) from 2010-2020
  • El Paso County increasing over 75,000 people and 9.5% increase
  • Hudspeth county declining 2.2% and losing 76 people (correction from earlier statement saying it would lose 1,000 people)
  • Referring to slide: chart of population projections produced for Texas
  • We look at mortality, fertility, and migration. 
  • Projecting state will reach population of 29.7 million by 2020.
  • Referring to slide: We do population projections by age, race, and ethnicity
  • These are population projections broken down by race in the state from 2010-2020.
  • Non-Hispanic white will increase to 12M by 2020
  • Hispanic population will have more rapid growth, increasing to 11.8M
  • Non-Hispanic black, increasing to 3.6M
  • Non-Hispanic Asian, to over 1.5M (fastest growing subset of population)
  • Non-Hispanic other increase to 700,000 in 2020.
  • More than half of state’s population growth will come from Hispanic population
  • King- Can I clarify something? The numbers on the printed maps are different that what the Dr. is providing us. The paper maps are 2014-2018 from legislative council. The Demographer is giving projections for what population was at end of 2019. What’s important is that growth patterns are on par with each other. Lila’s presentation is the most current for where we are at today.
  • That is correct.
  • Referring to slide: These are projected values we have for El Paso County and Hudspeth county where El Paso will be increasing and Hudspeth will have a small decline.
  • King- Yale came out with a published paper and it suggests Census Bureau is way undercounting undocumented immigration. They estimate that it is not around 11M, common estimate, but as high as 29M. Best guess would be 16M. We want to have those people accounted for in Texas. Would you mind looking at that study? The whole paper challenges the way the Census Bureau is doing their job.
  • I will look into that because those numbers are shocking. We have been looking at these data for 10 years
  • King- Aren’t you using the Census data for that?
  • Census Bureau doesn’t look at documentation immigration status. The estimates we look at for undocumented populations come from The Department of Homeland Security and The PEW Research Center. The numbers they give are closely aligned.
  • I will reiterate CB doesn’t look at documentation but the DOHS and The PEW used include some of the social characteristics used by the CB.
  • King- As far as drawing maps, the TX Const. for the House says that we count everyone, there is no discounting of citizens and non-citizens. We just want to make sure everyone is accounted for.
  • There is some fear about taking the Census, but the CB doesn’t ask about documentation.
  • King- CB workers are prohibited from sharing information and information from DOHS is redacted. No one is at risk once info is given to CB
  • Referring to slide: We are looking at total population change and contribution to it by race/ethnicity for El Paso
  • The Hispanic population in El Paso contributes 61% of the growth change.
  • Redistricting dates of importance:
  • Apportionment file sent to President on Dec 31, 2020 once data is in.
  • Redistricting data file must go to Governor’s of the states by April 1, 2021. We should receive the data as early as February. At that time, it will become public data

Jared May, Texas Legislative Council

  • At the TLC, we provide resources and technology to the committees and legislature as well as to the public
  • We provided maps with census estimates to the committee to show how population of the districts has changed over time
  • The numbers presented on the maps are different because we have estimate data available at the district level. The numbers aren’t in conflict with each other. We are really trying to highlight trends
  • We prepared maps for the state house districts, for El Paso county, for the state senate districts, and SBOE districts
  • For congressional district map, we are showing rate of growth, not comparison to the state as a whole
  • I want to focus on the resources available to the legislature and public. Website that acts as a hub: https://redistricting.capitol.texas.gov/
  • On the website:
  • Glossary of terms (specific to redistricting terms)
  • Background information showing how process has played out in previous years
  • Legal requirements for drawing maps
  • Provides information about the process
  • Will provide maps created by the public
  • Software for the legislator will be available at the capitol and the public can use that to draw their own maps
  • “Who represents me?” put in address and see list of reps that represent you with a link to their website
  • District Viewer Application: Legislature and public can view every proposed plan for every district type. You can currently see 2010 plans
  • District Viewer will be updated live during the legislative session in 2021; it’s interactive
  • You will be able to see demographic, topographic data associated with each plan
  • Capitol Data Portal: can download data the legislature is using in creating their maps
  • King- Again this is just what we are doing to make the process as transparent as possible.

Public testimony

Hannah Hollandbyrd, Hope Border Institute

  • Our work is informed by Catholic social teaching and by the lived experience of being members of a binational border community.
  • Last year provided devastating examples of disenfranchisement and how an unfair political process can harm a community
  • El Paso has been a lab for policy like migrant family separation, border wall, implementation of third country agreements with countries like Guatemala, ports of entry, etc. These policies have occurred without consent of the community and have created human suffering
  • We deserve to build a community in our own image. Obstacles include:
  • Practices which chill voter participation and lead to undercounting in the census
  • Supreme court decision to invalidate preclearance process under VRA means TX residents of color are vulnerable to redistricting changes without best interest at heart
  • A non-partisan redistricting process will lead to a fair outcome
  • All members of community need to be accounted for in census. A citizenship question is unnecessary as it creates fear in the people
  • Intimidation efforts to keep undocumented immigrants from being counted in the census should be fiercely condemned
  • TX should refuse requests from the Census Bureau regarding sharing of DPS data such as Driver’s License information. It is not applicable data for the census

Carol Westin, Self

  • Wants all people to be counted, whether they are eligible to vote or not
  • DHS and USCIS have made a deal to give data directly to Census Bureau, evading failure Trump had to add citizenship question to census. The data is now going to be given to CB whether it is accurate or not
  • This will keep immigrants and non-citizens from having fair representation
  • Gerrymandering should not remove representation from immigrants
  • Concern of transparency: There should be time for public to testify with proposed maps that come from legislator.
  • King- If we don’t draw maps before the end of the session, it defaults to a 5 person committee to draw the map. It is inappropriate to delegate a legislative task to a small committee of elected officials. We don’t want to give up that authority. We do have a bipartisan committee.

Diana Stillman, Self

  • I ask RD be done to non-partisan standards
  • Maps must be made public and explained well in advance to ratification
  • Shows pie chart: Over 600,000 M registered TX voters chose not to go to the polls.
  • Many people don’t like their choices and think their vote doesn’t count
  • Majority party in Austin gets to draw lines to get incumbent candidates into office and ensure party maintains majority
  • It is unfair that elected officials get to choose their voters rather than the other way around
  • Lived 15 yrs in Corpus Christi in US district 27. In 2010, Tea Party elected Blake Farenthold over democratic incumbent. He was selected 3 more times, and was forced to resign in disgrace from US House in 2018

Karen Powers, Self

  • Public citizens have very limited time to view maps
  • District 78 is a case of gerrymandering, manipulation of data in a partisan way
  • Franklin Mountains are a geographic and cultural divide. Concerns are affordable housing, water issues, and infrastructure which have different priorities one side versus the other
  • Maps drawn with dissimilar populations are often drawn with purpose of political ambition. District 78 is an example of this
  • Legislators sometimes use legislative privilege to hide communications
  • Texas has history of discriminatory redistricting. Even with VRA, Texas still has voter discrimination
  • Engage in fair process by including request from any politician that wants to influence the drawing of a map. They should justify openly the how and why of that request
  • If you show work in progress, we will also be better able to map school and county district

Marilyn Guida, Self

  • Lives in Texas house district 77 in El Paso
  • RD bills with maps are drafted in legislature, they should be made public and given 5 days notice before hearings regarding maps
  • District boundaries should not be drawn to either advantage or disadvantage one party over another
  • Gave maps of TX house district 77 and 78 and map of Franklin Mt. State park with testimony
  • Those districts straddle both sides of the mountains. NE more ethnically diverse, lower income, more apartments. They are both growing for a variety of reasons.
  • Draw fair districts by looking at common ethnicity, various commonalities, age, income, topographic characteristics, existing city plans, development proposals, new and expanded highways, access to utilities, etc. You must look at local information for this
  • Moody- For clarification, for those people outside of El Paso, the two communities you’re referring to are NE and NW and West.
  • That is correct

Julia Beechinor, Self

  • Often there are geographical features that separate people in the area
  • Central TX: Colorado River and Ladybird Lake separate uber North from eclectic South Austin, Galveston Bay separates laid back Galveston from Houston metro area
  • El Paso is separated by Franklin Mountains. They divide and separate West from NE El Paso. They separate different communities of interest
  • Designate all of El Paso west of Franklin mountains as District 78. This allows different districts to maintain different interest

Richard Dayoub, Self

  • Member of the Complete Count Committee, represents the business community to them
  • Consider engaging with leadership in Austin to ensure adequate funding is available to get message out to residents during the process
  • It is essential for us to receive our fair share of funding. Some of our funding from federal government comes from undocumented individuals and we need to have them counted
  • Moody- Do you agree with the characterization of the communities on either side of the mountain and communities of interest that we had previously discussed?
  • No, I don’t agree. There are some aspects of those thoughts I think are accurate. What matters is how well represented we are by the individual who serves the district, regardless of if you are on the NE or W side of the mountain.
  • King- Thank you for your comments. Unfortunately, Texas at the state level has not made the decision to invest money into complete count efforts. Legislation has been filed but not passed

Judy Ackerman, Self

  • Represented by Texas state house district 78 in El Paso
  • Our city is segmented geographically, “central,” “south central,” “northeast”
  • State house district 78 ignores the mountains in the middle of it. The NE does not share transportation corriders or shopping centers with the W side. There is no logical way any state house district should cross over the Franklin mountains
  • Keep State house district 78 on the west side

Jesus Valdez, Self

  • Our democracy has been corrupted by gerrymandering
  • VRA guides you to do your job to prevent you from favoring a certain property
  • El Paso is geographically bound by New Mexico and Mexico and segmented by I-10 and the Franklin Mountains which form barriers between communities of interest
  • Provided map that shows what he believes are communities of interest:
  • NE and W of Franklin Mountains and Central South and Central North divided by 1-10 are two distinct communities of interest
  • Far East fastest growing area of El Paso, forsee it to include Culberson County to match population limits
  • Districts should mirror historical growth patterns of El Paso. They grew organically and have created easily identifiable and compact communities
  • Reps should focus on unique needs of each community and maps need to be redrawn

Stephanie Swanson, Self

  • Judy Ackerman turned in a new map to you
  • We (Judy and I) have been collaborating with Princeton Gerrymandering Project. They provide a tool to define a community of interest on a map and to define what makes your community of interest unique
  • https://representable.org/

Robert Heyman, Self

  • There have been significant criticisms of the Yale study mentioned earlier by Chair King by many think tanks. They disagree with the analysis presented and put the estimate of the undocumented population between 11M-12M
  • Work with the best and most real numbers that you can
  • Recommend to the legislature that the size of the legislature is too small. State senate district is larger than congressional districts; state house districts represent 200,000 people making job of representatives harder
  • Cube Root Rule: An approximation of the number of representatives a state should have; should have 63 state senators with remainder to increase state house

Gil Jones, Valley Gin Company

  • Serve all cotton growers south of El Paso with growers in Culberson County as well
  • Ag industry has impact on rural communities:
  • Sourcing supplies, frequenting businesses to meet needs
  • Rural rep is crucial to agriculture and the communities we serve
  • Need to understand water management, supply of labor, quality of public infrastructure
  • Valley Gin and cotton industry have positive impact on El Paso and the nation
  • We have 1 of 2 gins in the country capable of producing pima cotton and we produce 80%
  • Advocate for maintaining 5 positions and continuing to identify as a community of interest
  • Gonzalez- Communities of interest have been talked about in previous testimony. We have a significant rural and ag community in El Paso. Would you agree that people living in this part of the county are part of a specific community of interest, different than the rest of the county?
  • I agree with that. I employ 42 people and consume $50,000 electricity a month when running cotton gin. People up and down the valley and El Paso depend on our organization and we depend on suppliers and businesses in the area. Because of that, we are a specific community of interest and need to be represented as such.
  • King- One of the struggles in my district is a heavy rural and ag. If you look at I-35 corridor, everything W is 14.5% of Texas pop and E of the I-45 corridor, 8.5% of Texas pop. That’s putting a lot of stress on us in regard to drawing maps. The rural growth is not growing at the rate of the rest of the state. We will need your assistance and the rest of El Paso’s assistance to find enough people to keep your communities of interest together
  • We have challenges that face the rural communities that are unique.
  • We provide an important role in the state of Texas and the U.S.
  • We generate jobs and business activity
  • We depend on the people around us to work in partnership to be successful
  • King- The most important thing that El Paso can do is make sure everyone gets counted in the census, that’s going to be the difference

Peter Svarzbein, Self

  • City rep representing district 1 for W side of El Paso. Large amount of people I represent are part of HD 77 and 78 on west side of Franklin Mt. State park. It does separate NE from W side and it is a unique cultural asset that we really celebrate here
  • 1,000 acres of land recently approved by voters to preserve in perpetuity for all time as open space
  • Open space and Franklin Mt. State Park are important to our city and we need those topographic realities of our city considered in redistricting
  • District 16 and 23: 
  • It should be apparent that small rural communities like Clint and Tornillo are not going to be fairly represented
  • They need to all be included in District 16
  • It isn’t fair to our community to be represented by a congressman that also represents Bexar County
  • I don’t at all agree with Richard Dayoub

Kenneth Bell, Self

  • I live on the E side of El Paso, district 79
  • Gerrymandering is a concern. RD should be open and transparent and open hearings should be conducted before a map is approved
  • We should have to power to elect out leaders, not have leaders elect voters

James Ivey, Self

  • Lower valley farmer, rural eastside
  • Very diverse culture, wide open expanses, water rights lands which culturally separate us
  • We have been lucky to have the rep we have in District 75, one that has grown up on the farms, and to speak on our behalf in Austin
  • We don’t want a representative that caters more to the urban areas
  • Wants to keep the 5 districts, important to have representation based on unique culture down in the valley
  • Gonzalez-The population challenge in El Paso county is that it hasn’t grown as fast as the rest of Texas. Would you agree that we have more in common with Hudspeth county than with the urban area?
  • We are more often with people in Hudspeth county at co-op meetings than with people in city limits of El Paso
  • Gonzalez- Recommendation would be to move district further East?
  • Yes, to maintain current representation in our current area and add like-minded constituents

Jennifer Ivey, Self

  • Farmers in lower valley
  • Unique area completely separated from El Paso
  • Important for representation to remain the same or expand to have more representation

Kevin Ivey, Self & West Texas Pecan Association

  • Pecan farmer and President of Western Pecan Grower’s Assoc. and President of West Texas Pecan Growers Assoc.
  • Testified on HB 32 with pecan theft in El Paso valley
  • Texas is number 3 in U.S. in pecan production
  • Need representation that understands rural ways and communities

Carol Wallace, League of Women Voters of El Paso

  • Mother from Mexico and father from mixed heritage
  • From the zip code where the Wal-Mart shooting took place
  • Voices must be considered as equal, one person and one vote
  • No one party has the right to redraw district lines to favor their party

Jean Wigle, Self

  • Adamant about non-partisan RD standards
  • From Austin, where districts encompassed city and country together, felt misrepresented because both sides were not represented
  • It has to be about the people who are represented

Ana Reza, Self

  • In district 76, wants citizens to draw maps instead of lawmakers
  • RD determines the power of our vote
  • Many have given up on voting because of gerrymandering and corruption
  • District 8 (78) is an example of gerrymandering

Dr. John Bretting, Self

  • Dissertation is on RD looking at VRA sections 2 and 5, preclearance mandate as it relates to voter dilution as it relates to Hispanic and Latinex populations
  • There is no more preclearance
  • Recommends committee to refer to work of Dr. Henry Flores, Dr. Susan McMannis, Keith Gatti, Dr. Andrea Simpson

Perla Galindo, Self

  • Works for Planned Parenthood locally
  • Grew up in Far East El Paso, Horizon city
  • There was no high school in Horizon when she moved there, so she had to bus 2 hours to school
  • Had no hospital and limited clinics in Horizon and Soccoro, bad transportation infrastructure
  • Horizon City is part of lower valley which is part of El Paso
  • District 23 runs all the way to San Antonio and the maps are not indicative of the resources in Horizon City
  • Consider having local representation for District 23
  • Gonzalez- My district is between 23 and 16. I always thought it was a benefit to have 2 congressional districts. If everyone wants to be in 16, we may lose 2 congressional people. What is your preference?
  • I would prefer it to be 1 person because the district splits the largely Latino population of both districts. There are a lot of colonias in my district and they don’t have basic commodities. I think they suffer from having 2 people from 2 districts fight and therefore not having any representation
  • Moody- 10 years ago we had a hearing just like this getting ready for redistricting. 3 years after that this community was wrapped in litigation because of the discriminatory maps produced. I hope the path we are on now is a different one than the one we were on 10 years ago