Legislators Murmuring About US Census Delay Causing Redistricting Special Session

[#TexasPolitics365] 

Call this one "analysis" on this blog's part, informed by confidential sources that we are going to call "Armadillos."

The Texas state legislature was already pressed for time, given that they meet only once every two years, and legislators are handling well over 1,500 pieces of legislation as well as a multi-billion-dollar budget. Legislators have also been sent home early already due to the risk of exposure to covid-19.

But this year, the year after a US Census, they also are tasked with the often complicated, highly political task of redistricting the state.

With a heavy workload as well as delayed data from the US Census Department in Washington, legislators are already murmuring about a special session being  this summer.

Here's why:

In early December, the Census Bureau reported to Congress that it had discovered some processing anomalies, causing delays in reporting the census results to Congress at the end of the year, as was expected.

Details on the anomalies have not been publicly released, but the bureau says it is working to resolve the issues, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. While the bureau has not officially announced any data delays, news reports indicate that additional time to process the census data will be needed, perhaps as late as mid-February.

In all states, a delay in the release of data would compress legislator's timeline for redistricting, says the legislative Association.

In Texas, it was already going to be tight scheduling redistricting, which would come late in the 140-day, once-in-two-years session, which began less than two weeks ago.

We have been unable to confirm thus far if a special session will be necessary, but given that serious delays from Washington are all but certain, we can deduce that Gov. Abbott will be compelled to call one.

State representatives and state senators would probably be well-advised to delay their vacations.

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