?l3msAmRNEy GENERAL 

GERALD C. MANN * ----- 11. - 

, 

Honorable Reuhen E. Senterfitt, Chairman 

Congressional and Legislative Districts Committee 

House of Representatives 

Austin, Texans 

Dear Mr. Centerfitt: Opinion No. O-4899 

Re: Authority of the Legislature to 

redistrict the State into- representative districts. 

We acknowledge receipt of your letter, asking for an opinion 

from this department, as follows: 

"Several bills have been before the Committee 

on Congressional and Legislative Districts, redistricting the State in so far as the House of Representatives 

is concerned. A point of order has been raised that 

any such bill is unconstitutional. 

"According to the following Section of the Constitution, has the Legislature, at this session, the 

power to redistrict the State into Representative Districts? 

"Art. 3, Section 28. REAPPORTIONMENT AT EACH 

CENSUS. .The Legislature shall, at its first session 

after the publication of each United States decennial 

census, apportion the State into Senatorial and Representative districts, agreeably to the provisions of Set's 

25 and 26 of this Article; and until the next decennial 

census, when the first apportionment shall be made by the 

Legislature, the State shall be, and it is hereby divided 

into Senatorial and Representative districts as prgvided 

by an Ordinance of the Convention of that subject. 

We 'construe your request to Involve the constitutional power 

of the Legislature ~to redistrict the State into Representative districts, 

wlthout at the same 'time redistrlcting'the'state into. Senatorial districts. 

The answer to your inquiry requires a construction of Section 

28, Article III, of the Constitution, quoted by you. 

This Section makes it thee duty of the,,Le 

publication of each United States decennial census 

into Senatorial and RepPsentative districts. It t&efore contemplates 

that the ~gis1atur.e will redis,trict the State at such times, not Only as 

to Representative districts but also as to Senatorial districts. The mandat 

is applicable,alike to.b+?th Representative a.& Senatorial.redistricting. 
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Honorable Reuben E. Senterfitt = Rage 2 o-4899 

It is not contemplated, however, (if It could be) that the 

redistricting for both the Senatorial and the Representative districts 

should be embodied in one bill. This might itself be violative of Article 

III, Section 35, of the Constitution, forbidding any bill to contain more 

than one subject, which shall be expressed in its title. This has long 

been the legislative construction of the Constitution, as, witness the 

present Senatorial districts were defined by H.B. No. 8, General Laws, 

37th Legislature (1921) page 230, while the present Representative districts were defined by H.B. No. I of the same session. (Laws 1921, p. 264) 

See, also: Sub. H.B. No. 6, 7, 9, 25 and 

22d Leg. (1892), 

29, 1st. 

Laws of Tex. 

C.S., 

3?, 1st. C.S., 22d Leg. (1892) 

vol. X, p. 412; sub. H.~B. 6 7, 9, 25 and 

Laws of Texas, Vol. X, p. 414; Sub. H.B. 

No. 7, 27th Leg. (1901) 1st. C.S. p. 9, and Free Conf. Corn. Sub. for 

H.B. No. 4, Ibid p. 12. 

Earlier, however, the matter of redistricting the State as 

to both Senators and Representatives was accomplished by a single bill. 

See Chap. XII, 17th Leg. C.S. (1832) Laws of Texas, vol. Ix, p. 269; 

Chap. 45, 8th Leg. (18601 Laws of Texas Vol. IV, p. 1402; Chap. IV, 4th 

(1853) Laws of Texas Vol. 111: p. 1289; and Chap. XLIV, 3d Leg. 

of Texas, Vol. III, p. 478. 

If we should be wrong in our intimation that the redistricting as to Senatorial and Representative districts could not be accomplished 

by one bill, nevertheless, we think it clear that it may be done by 

separate bills, and this of necessity, we think, would be valid as to each 

such redistricting bill unaffected by the other. There is no constitution 

forbidding such separate redistricting, or, in other words,, redistricting 

as to one purpose alone. There is nothing incongruous, or that is incompatible with any law in such redist%icting for one purpose only. The 

Legislature might well find that the present Senatorial districts were 

fair, reasonable and adequate, whereas thee present apportionment with 

respect to Representative districts was not satisfactory, or vice versa. 

The Legislature may pass any bill that is not clearly -- beyond a reasonable doubt -- forbidden by the Constitution. Your inquiry 

does not present such a situation. The measure mentioned by you would be 

a valid exercise of the Legislative power. 

The 

not in point for 

and may possibly 

"So 

opinion of this department, of date July 18, 1921, while 

the precise question you propound, is yet interesting, 

be helpful. It is there said: 

that the situation is simply this: the _ _ purpose,.intent and splrit of the Constitution would 

not be complied with by passing an apportionment act 

at this time with a proviso that It shall not take 

effect until a certain time In 1924; but as there is 

no power to compel the Legislature to enact a law at 

a particular time or to enact one at all, and there 

being no inhibition against the passage of laws to 

take effect in the future, it ca~nnot be said that an 

act reapportioning the State into senatoria,l districts 

effective some time in 1924 would be invalid. The 

apportionment now existing would continue to exist 
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Honorable Reuben E. Senterfitt - Page 3 o-4899 

until a reapportionment is made, and as above shown, 

the new apportionment is not made until the reapportionment act takes effect." 

General 1920-22, p. 188. 

-- Opinions Attorney 

It was further said: 

I'* * * * * since the Legislature did not apportion the.Sfate~lnto senatorial districts at the 

Regular Session of the Thirty-seventh Legislature it 

is still authorized and In duty abound to do so at this 

time." 

We trust that what we have said sufficiently answers your 

inquiry 

Very truly yours 

ATTORNEY G-m OF TEXAS 

By s/Ocie Speer 

Ocie Speer 

Assistant 

OS-MR-WC 

APPROVED MARCH 6, 1943 

s/ Gerald C. Mann 

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

Approved Opinion Committee By s/BWB Chairman