Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 (Agenda)
Item 30
>> 30, consider and take appropriate action on redistricting plans for the following Travis County precincts: a, county Commissioners, b, justice of the peace and constables, and c, elections, voter tabulation districts.
>> thank you, judge.
as the members of the court know, a three judge panel in san antonio has now ordered interim redistricting plans for the u.s.
congress, the Texas house of representatives, and the Texas senate.
as a result of those plans, we will have changes to the boundary lines of our voting precincts.
and if the court members, on October 4th you adopted v.t.d.
boundary lines, as I informed the court today that these voting precincts have been pre-cleared by the department of justice as have the Commissioner precincts which the court adopted in August and then slightly revised in October.
so those have been pre-cleared by the court.
however, the voting districts have to be changed now in order to conform them to the new congressional statehouse and state senate lines.
we have already begun to process of working on that and hope to have those to the court by sometime next week towards the end of next week so that the court can take action on December 13th.
the court scheduling order that governs this whole process right now requires new v.t.d.s by December 13 so it allows the court to do that on that day.
I should mention while that is all going on, that the orders by the three judge panel in san antonio have been appealed to the united states supreme court.
justice scalia, who is the responsible member of the court too whom the stay request was directed, as asked for a briefing on the issues, which is all due by 4:00 p.m.
on this Thursday.
so we anticipate that the supreme court will rule sometime within the next week, perhaps, on whether or not to leave those plans in place for the 2012 election.
I think if the court refuses to -- to grant a stay, then there is probably just one other possibility that the state has in terms of trying to change the maps.
so this is a somewhat fluid situation, but it is -- the concrete is hardening slowly but surely, so we will keep the court apprised of those changes, but the court should be aware there could be another round of changes out there.
>> should we expect a further update on item 37 in executive session today?
>> I believe so.
I believe that the --
>> outside counsel is coming on that.
>> outside counsel and the county attorney.
>> what action do you need on item 30?
>> just the court's encouragement to go forth and draw lines.
>> and should we help determine who does that work?
>> what we have done, we have contracted, we have coordinating that through the tax office and the g.i.s.
and voter registration office.
they have got a consultant who did some of that work for us when we did our lines in October and so they have contracted with that consultant to do those lines.
and he is already working on it.
>> and we have budgeted $5,000 already to get that work done?
>> that's correct.
last week the court approved a supplemental budget for that work.
>> move that you proceed as requested and be authorized to spend up to the $5,000 budgeted.
>> second.
>> up to is another way of saying not to exceed.
seconded by Commissioner Davis.
discussion on the motion?
all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
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