Texas Attorney General Opinion: JM-284 Page: 2 of 3
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Honorable James S. McGrath - Page 2 (Jlt-284)
purposes, a quorusn for doing business shall
consist of a majority of the Commission.
(Emphasis added).
You indicate that interp retation is necessary because two of the
municipalities that formerly existed within the district have now
merged so that there now exist only four municipalities within the
district rather than five. TLhe provision was last amended in 1977 and
the terms of the commiss ioners who were then the "present
commissioners" have since expired. Water Code 1556.061 - 56.064.
Section 5 of the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965, 42 U.S.C.
5973c (1982), as amended, prohibits a state or political subdivision
subject to the Act from enforcing "any voting qualification or
prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice, or procedure with
respect to voting different from that in force and effect on November
1, 1964," unless one of two conditions has occurred. The political
subdivision is required either to secure a declaratory judgment from
the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia that such change
"does not have the purpose and will not have the effect of denying or
abridging the right to vote on account of race or color" or to obtain
clearance for the change from the Attorney General of the United
States. See Beer v. United States, 425 U.S. 130 (1976). As the
Supreme Court declared in Beer,
S. . the purpose of section 5 has always been to
assure that no vot Lng-procedure changes would be
made that would lead to a retrogression in the
position of racia'L minorities with respect to
their effective exercise of the electoral
franchise.
425 U.S., at 141. Texas and[ its political subdivisions fall within
the scope of section 5.
Any change in the present procedure for selection of
commissioners, i.e., any deviation from the present geographical basis
for selection in order to conform to new political boundaries,
including the selectioi of all commissioners on an at-large basis,
might lead to the kind of retrogression which the Court condemned in
Beer. Selection on an at-large basis would remove entirely any
residency requirement for Di):strict commissioners and subject the
electoral scheme to a challenge that it dilutes minority voting
strength, White v. Regester, 412 U.S. 755 (1973). In our opinion,
section 5 of the Voting Rights Act could invalidate any election
result based on any deviation from the current scheme of apportionment
unless approval for change is obtained from federal authorities.
Accordingly, unless and until the District complies with the
requirements of that statute -- by obtaining either a declaratory
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Texas. Attorney-General's Office. Texas Attorney General Opinion: JM-284, text, December 28, 1984; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth272724/m1/2/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.