Redistricting may ignore Army influx

Zahira Torres
El Paso Times
August 15, 2010

AUSTIN -- State lawmakers will start redrawing political boundary lines next year, but they will not consider about 21,000 Fort Bliss soldiers and family members who will arrive in El Paso by 2013.

The divisive issue of redistricting mixes politics with Census Bureau numbers to determine how many state and national lawmakers will represent each county. But the census counts only the people who are actually in an area at the time of the survey.

That means El Paso's future military growth will not be factored in as lawmakers make their decisions, and the county will probably keep its five state representatives and two state senators.

But El Paso-area leaders hope that after a meeting Monday in El Paso of the House subcommittees on redistricting and judiciary and civil jurisprudence, lawmakers will keep the county's projected growth in mind when making decisions.

The city's population is not dwindling as in most of rural West Texas. Recent projections from the state demographer estimate that El Paso will have more than 804,000 people when census numbers are tabulated. The city's population 10 years ago was 679,622.

If population estimates fall short, one or two of the county's five House members may also have to represent the area that includes Hudspeth County.

No matter what happens, boundary lines will change within the city. That means some in El Paso will get a different state representative.

Richard Dayoub, the president and CEO of the Greater El Paso Chamber of Commerce, said he hoped to impress upon lawmakers that El Paso cannot afford to lose representation. In fact, Dayoub said, the city hopes to gain a seat.

"The worrisome part of this process is that we are not in control of our own destiny in this regard," Dayoub said. "The census is what it is. It reflects what it reflects."

State Rep. Joe Pickett, D-El Paso, will be chairman of the subcommittee on redistricting. He also is concerned about the population that El Paso will not be able to count in the census because it means less money from the federal government and has potential effects on redistricting.

But Pickett said projections are tricky because areas such as Dallas and Houston could argue that their populations would increase just from people moving in from California over the coming years.

Those cities will see more shuffling as political parties look to gain control. They will also probably benefit from the additional three or four expected U.S. congressional seats Texas stands to gain.

"We can't count (military families) because they are not actually here, but I still think it is something that is not speculative," Pickett said. "People moving to Dallas or San Antonio from other states is still speculative."

Pickett has requested projections for population growth at all military bases in the state in hopes that the numbers will at least help the Texas gain an additional congressional seat.