Breaking News: House Rules Committee Issues Rule on VRA Debate in House

You can find it here. There will be four amendments offered:

1. Norwood (GA) #8:
Updates the formula in section 4 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) that determines which states and jurisdictions will be covered under Section 5 of the VRA. This updated formula would be a rolling test based off of the last three presidential elections. Any state would be subject to Section 5 if it currently has a discriminatory test in place or voter turnout of less than 50% in any of the three most recent presidential elections. (40 minutes)

2. Gohmert (TX) #14
Makes the reauthorization period 10 years, rather than the 25 years proposed in H.R. 9. (40 minutes)

3. King, Steve (IA)/Istook (OK)/Miller, Candice (MI)/Brown-Waite (FL)/Bachus (AL) #7:
Strikes sections 7 and 8 of the bill. These sections relate to multilingual ballots and use of American Community Survey census data, and they would automatically expire in 2007. (40 minutes)

4. Westmoreland (GA) #4:
Provides for an expedited, proactive procedure to bail out from coverage under the preclearance portions of the Voting Rights Act, by requiring the Department of Justice to assemble a list of all jurisdictions eligible for bailout and to notify the jurisdictions. The Department of Justice is then required to consent to the entry of a declaratory judgment allowing bailout if a jurisdiction appears on the list. Adds a three-year initial time period (and annually thereafter) for assembly of the bailout list by the Department of Justice. (40 minutes)

It should be an interesting debate.

Posted by Rick Hasen at July 12, 2006 01:18 PM