Redistricting work gets under way in TX

AUSTIN, TX The House redistricting committee and judiciary and civil jurisprudence committee will hold joint meetings on the subject that will occupy much of the 2011 legislative session. The first hearing outside of Austin is June 21 in San Antonio.

House Speaker Joe Straus' office said Friday the two committees will work together on the issue. Each decade, lawmakers draw new boundary lines for state legislative and congressional districts based on new census data.

A legislative memo says other hearings are planned for McAllen, Laredo and Corpus Christi in July; El Paso and Lubbock in August; Dallas, Richardson and Fort Worth in September; Beaumont and Marshall in October; and Houston and Austin in November.

The committees met this week in Austin.