House Bill 4, introduced by Chairman Todd Hunter, proposes new congressional district boundaries for electing members of the United States House of Representatives from the State of Texas. Under the proposal, each representative would continue to be elected from a single-member district. The specific boundaries for these districts are outlined in PLANC2308. The bill defines key geographic terms, such as “tract,” “block group,” and “block”, based on the 2020 Census TIGER/Line Shapefiles, prepared by the U.S. Census Bureau for the 2020 decennial census.
If any area, such as a county, tract, or block, is found to have been erroneously omitted from the district descriptions, the bill states that a court reviewing the Act should include that area in the appropriate district. Courts are instructed to rely on legislative intent, referencing prior legal interpretations such as the Texas Supreme Court’s 1922 ruling in Smith v. Patterson.
The bill also seeks to repeal all previous congressional redistricting laws, including Chapter 7 (S.B. 6), passed during the 87th Legislature, 3rd Called Session (2021).
If enacted, the new districts would take effect beginning with the 2026 primary and general elections, which will determine Texas’s representation in the 120th U.S. Congress. The proposal does not affect the current congressional representation for the 119th Congress.
According to the bill, it would take immediate effect if it receives a two-thirds majority vote in both chambers of the Legislature. Otherwise, it would become effective 91 days after the close of the legislative session, as specified by the Texas Constitution. While HB 4 anticipates and provides a mechanism to correct potential mapping errors, it also entrusts courts with interpreting legislative intent, a process that may lack clear standards and be influenced by political or legal ambiguity.
