Texas Democrats relent on boycott

Session to debate redistricting plan

By Jim Abrams, Associated Press, 9/10/2003

AUSTIN, Texas - Governor Rick Perry, a Republican, called a third special session of the Legislature yesterday to take up a congressional redistricting plan that has twice been thwarted by walkouts by the Democrats.

Perry said the session would begin Monday.

During two previous GOP attempts to redraw Texas'

congressional districts, Democratic lawmakers fled the state, depriving the Republicans of the quorum needed to conduct business.

The governor made his announcement after 10 Senate Democrats who have been in New Mexico relented and announced that they would return to Texas and take part in an expected third special session.

In all, 11 Democrats slipped across state lines July 28 and boycotted the legislative sessions for about six weeks to block a vote on redistricting.

But one of the 11, Senator John Whitmire of Houston, defected last week and said he would attend another special session if the governor called one.

That left the 10 remaining Democrats without the numbers to block a quorum.

``If [Whitmire] makes a quorum, then we need to be on the Senate floor,'' Senator Judith Zaffirini said.

Twenty-one of the Senate's 31 members must be present for business to be conducted.

The senators who remained out of state said they would attend a federal court hearing in Laredo tomorrow on the lawsuit they filed.

They have alleged that Republican legislative leaders have violated the Voting Rights Act and the Democrats' rights to free speech.

Democrats have a 17-15 majority in the current Texas congressional delegation.

The GOP is pushing plans that would give them as many as 21 seats.

The push to redraw congressional districts during an off-census year has brought cries from the Democrats that the Republicans are not playing fair.

US House majority leader Tom DeLay of Texas has played a major role in pushing for redistricting in his home state.

Efforts to address redistricting have failed three times this year, during the Legislature's regular session and during two special sessions.

During the regular session, the bill failed when more than 50 Democratic House members fled to Oklahoma and prevented a quorum.

Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst, a Republican who

presides over the Senate, has said that he expects the upcoming session to last about two to three weeks.