I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 151 
To require any State which, after enacting a Congressional redistricting 
plan after a decennial census and apportionment of Representatives, 
enacts a subsequent Congressional redistricting plan prior to the next 
decennial census and apportionment of Representatives, to obtain a de-
claratory judgment or preclearance in the manner provided under section 
5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in order for the subsequent plan 
to take effect. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 3, 2017 
Mr. AL GREEN of Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
the Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To require any State which, after enacting a Congressional 
redistricting plan after a decennial census and apportion-
ment of Representatives, enacts a subsequent Congres-
sional redistricting plan prior to the next decennial cen-
sus and apportionment of Representatives, to obtain a 
declaratory judgment or preclearance in the manner pro-
vided under section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 
in order for the subsequent plan to take effect. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Redistricting and 
Voter Protection Act of 2017’’. 
SEC. 
2. 
REQUIRING 
DECLARATORY 
JUDGMENT 
OR 
PRECLEARANCE AS PREREQUISITE FOR MUL-
TIPLE 
CONGRESSIONAL 
REDISTRICTING 
PLANS ENACTED PURSUANT TO SAME DE-
CENNIAL CENSUS AND APPORTIONMENT OF 
REPRESENTATIVES. 
(a) DECLARATORY JUDGMENT THAT PLAN DOES 
NOT DENY OR ABRIDGE RIGHT TO VOTE ON ACCOUNT 
OF RACE OR COLOR.—Except as provided in subsection 
(b), after a State enacts a Congressional redistricting plan 
in the manner provided by law after an apportionment of 
Representatives under section 22(a) of the Act entitled 
‘‘An Act to provide for the fifteenth and subsequent decen-
nial censuses and to provide for an apportionment of Rep-
resentatives in Congress’’, approved June 18, 1929 (2 
U.S.C. 2a), any subsequent Congressional redistricting 
plan enacted by the State prior to the next apportionment 
of Representatives under such section shall not take effect 
unless and until— 
(1) the State commences a civil action in the 
United States District Court for the District of Co-
lumbia for a declaratory judgment that such subse-
quent plan neither has the purpose nor will have the 
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effect of denying or abridging the right to vote on 
account of race or color, or in contravention of the 
guarantees set forth in section 4(f)(2) of the Voting 
Rights Act of 1965 (52 U.S.C. 10303(f)(2)); and 
(2) the court enters such a declaratory judg-
ment. 
(b) PRECLEARANCE.—A subsequent Congressional 
redistricting plan described in subsection (a) may take ef-
fect if— 
(1) the chief legal officer or other appropriate 
official of the State involved submits the plan to the 
Attorney General and the Attorney General has not 
interposed an objection within 60 days of such sub-
mission; or 
(2) upon good cause shown, to facilitate an ex-
pedited approval within 60 days of such submission, 
the Attorney General has affirmatively indicated 
that such objection will not be made. 
(c) APPLICATION
OF
VOTING
RIGHTS
ACT
OF 
1965.—For purposes of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, 
a declaratory judgment under subsection (a) or a 
preclearance under subsection (b), and the proceedings re-
lated to such judgment or preclearance, shall be treated 
as a declaratory judgment or preclearance under section 
5 of such Act (52 U.S.C. 10304). 
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SEC. 3. NO EFFECT ON REDISTRICTING PLANS ENACTED 
PURSUANT TO COURT ORDER. 
Section 1 does not apply with respect to any subse-
quent Congressional redistricting plan described in section 
1(a) if the plan is enacted by a State pursuant to a court 
order in order to comply with the Constitution or to en-
force the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (52 U.S.C. 10301 
et seq.). 
Æ 
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