Proposing a constitutional amendment establishing the Independent Citizen Redistricting Commission to redistrict the Texas Legislature, Texas congressional districts, and State Board of Education districts and revising procedures for redistricting.

89th Legislature, 1st Called Session (2025) Introduced by James Talarico

Constitutional amendment proposes replacing legislature-controlled redistricting with independent citizen commission to redraw Texas legislative, congressional, and State Board of Education districts.

Filed

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Legislative bill overview

HJR 28 proposes a constitutional amendment that would create an Independent Citizen Redistricting Commission to handle the redrawing of Texas legislative districts, congressional districts, and State Board of Education districts. This would transfer redistricting authority from the Texas Legislature to a new independent commission with procedures designed to reduce partisan influence in the map-drawing process.

Why is this important

Redistricting—the redrawing of electoral districts every 10 years after the census—directly affects which party wins elections and whose political interests are represented. Currently, the party in power controls this process in Texas, potentially allowing them to draw maps favoring their candidates. An independent commission could alter the competitive landscape and increase representation of minority populations, but would represent a significant shift in political power from elected legislators to appointed citizens.

Potential points of contention

Power shift: Removing redistricting authority from the Legislature represents a dramatic transfer of power that some argue should remain with elected representatives accountable to voters, while others view it as necessary to reduce gerrymandering

Commission composition and bias: Questions about how commission members would be selected, whether the selection process itself could introduce different partisan biases, and whether truly "independent" citizens exist on politically charged issues

Implementation complexity: Establishing clear, neutral criteria for redistricting is technically difficult; different legitimate approaches (compactness, preserving communities of interest, etc.) can produce very different maps with different political outcomes