San Marcos - Buda - Kyle Edition | January 2022

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REDRAWING THE BOUNDARIES

seeing those comments made during the public process for this redistrict- ing. So I thought that trying to main- tain those cities to not be split up into more than two precincts was a good goal, and that was one of the goals of my map,” he said. Chen said the RAC approach “really looked like it could be a model for how other counties approach what normally is a very politically fraught issue of redistricting.” Both maps are still available on the Hays County website. “It felt like there was a less polar- ized approach by the RAC to a certain extent, and then the rug was pulled from under the RAC’s feet and the public’s feet at the very last minute,” Chen said. Changes at the state and federal level Statewide, altered Texas House of Representatives seats will change representation in Hays County as well as in Congress under new maps approved during the third special session of the 87th Texas Legisla- ture and signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott on Oct. 25. Hays County will now be divided into state House Districts 73 and 45. Most of San Marcos, Buda and Kyle stay within District 45 boundaries, currently represented by Rep. Erin Zwiener, DDriftwood, who will run for re-election. District 73 includes the west- ern half of Hays County and all of Comal County. Current state Rep. Kyle Biedermann, RFredericksburg, declined to run for re-election, leav- ing an open seat. Many local leaders testied at the Texas Capitol to advocate for keeping their communities together. “On redistricting, I testied twice, once regarding the House and once regarding Senate districts, and I asked the redistricting committee please do not split our community,” San Marcos Mayor Jane Hughson said. Hughson said she was concerned that some of the splits within cities on the congressional and state representa- tive maps could mean some residents would jump between constituencies by just moving across town. “The point that I was making is 70% of our people are renters. That means they move a lot and therefore … you can’t establish relationships with some folks,” Hughson said. Hughsonwasnot alone inadvocating

To accommodate for population growth across the state and in Hays County, Texas House seats and congressional seats representing San Marcos, Buda and Kyle now have altered boundaries.

District 44 District 45 District 49 District 73

FORMER STATE REP. DISTRICTS

NEW STATE REP. DISTRICTS

BLANCO COUNTY

290

HAYS COUNTY

BUDA

HAYS COUNTY

281

KYLE

KENDALL COUNTY

SANMARCOS

COMAL COUNTY

GUADALUPE COUNTY

SOURCES: TEXAS LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL, TEXAS SECRETARY OF STATE’S OFFICECOMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER

options to present to the court dubbed Map M9 and Map SM2. They were displayed on the Hays County website along with U.S. census demographic information and a pub- lic comment section. Neither map received a vote on its own, however. Commissioner Lon Shell presented a dierent map he claimed to be informed by the RAC just a few days prior to the nal Nov. 9 court meeting, a claim con- tested by others. “It’s purely for a recommenda-

process was inclusive and engaged the community in a way that would inform the court how to best balance voter interests. He did not agree that another map be drawn outside of the RAC’s purview. “Instead, we had the old cliche pol- iticians picking their voters, instead of voters picking their politicians. … It’s an old philosophy that’s been running through this county government for many years,” Becerra said. “And they

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Rearranging the county lines Beginning in early 2021, the League of Women Voters of Hays County and other groups launched a campaign to petition the Commissioners Court to allow an independent redistricting commission, Chen said. “The goal was to have redistrict- ing taken out of the hands of elected ocials to draw their own precincts instead to empower independent members of the community to draw those lines,” Chen said. What the county did was a kind of compromise, Chen said. The court created a redistricting advisory com- mission, or RAC, that the Hays County chairs of the Democratic Party and Republican Party led, and also had members appointed by each member of the Commissioners Court. “So it was still certainly quite political, and it only had the ability to advise the Commissioners Court about the ultimate maps. That being said, this [RAC] in its charter included having public hearings in each of the four precincts and having public mapping sessions,” Chen said. “There was this kind of commitment to some level of public input and transparency that I personally found laudable.” The RAC came up with two map

shamelessly pro- duced the same results.” Shell said the map he drew took about three days of work and he thought the map he drew—the one that was ulti- mately voted on and passed into law—solved prob- lems of represen- tation compared to the 2010 map. “The map that was adopted [in

IT FELT LIKE THERE WAS A LESS POLAR IZED APPROACH BY THE RAC REDISTRICTING ADVISORY COMMISSION TO A CERTAIN EXTENT, AND THEN THE RUGWAS PULLED FROMUNDER THE RAC’S FEET AND THE PUBLIC’S FEET AT THE VERY LAST MINUTE. SARAH CHEN, LEGAL FELLOWWITH THE TEXAS CIVIL RIGHTS PROJECT

tion. There is no requirement that the court adopt a map or any other maps that are cre- ated by that advi- sory commission. It was just a body that was created by the Commis- sioners Court for the process,” Shell said. “I think the court’s idea is that we would be able

to have a body that could have some public meetings, take public input and then provide recommendations to the court.” Becerra said he thought the RAC

2010] was not very popular amongst many because it split up the city of Kyle and San Marcos into three commissioner precincts. And I felt that that was still very important in

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