Hearings in Texas on flooding response and redistricting are underway as the special session continues
The special session continues for Texas lawmakers. Two of the biggest topics include the response to deadly floods that occurred in Central Texas on July 4 and redistricting to change the state's congressional maps. Hearings have been underway for both topics, with the public making their voices heard.
Deadly flooding in Central Texas
Nearly a month after the devastating Hill Country floods killed at least 135 people and left a trail of destruction, state lawmakers question Kerr County leaders about the emergency response.
Hundreds of people packed a convention center on Thursday to hear from Kerr County officials on how the emergency response to the devastating and deadly floods went wrong. The public hearing lasted more than 12 hours. CBS News Texas reporter Marissa Armas attended the hearing and reports that several lawmakers, including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, grilled Kerr County's sheriff. The emergency management director and the Kerr County judge on their whereabouts as the floods unfolded.
"Three people responsible for sounding the alarm were unavailable, am I getting that right?" asked Rep. Ann Johnson of Houston (D). In the initial hours of the flooding, two of the county leaders were asleep, and a third was out of town at the time of the floods.
Lawmakers also heard emotional and heartbreaking testimony from survivors.
"My daughter was not identified until Thursday the tenth," one mother said during her testimony. "And the only thing that identified her at all was her charm bracelet."
Redistricting Texas
Texas Republicans have unveiled their proposed changes to the state's congressional map.
Democrats have blasted the justification for the unusually timed redrawing, which typically happens only once every 10 years to coincide with demographic shifts from the U.S. census. When Gov. Greg Abbott called the special session, he said the current congressional maps needed to be changed because of constitutional concerns raised by the U.S. Department of Justice.
The DOJ sent a letter to the governor earlier this month, saying four of the state's Democratic-controlled districts, including District 33, which covers parents of Tarrant and Dallas counties and is currently represented by Marc Veasey, are illegal because of racial gerrymandering.
Texas Republicans are facing pressure from President Donald Trump to help maintain the GOP's control of the U.S House. He has said he wants five more representatives from Texas ahead of next year's midterm elections.
North Texans turned out in large numbers to make their voices heard at a redistricting hearing at UT Arlington earlier last week.
Critics of the special session called by Abbott cheered each speaker who echoed their outrage over plans to come up with new district maps that they believe will isolate minority communities and leave them with Republican representation that doesn't support their needs.
At one point, the crowd turned on a speaker from the Frederick Douglass Republicans of Tarrant County who spoke in support of redistricting.
"I strongly support the Republican redistricting," said Rich Stoglin, with the Frederick Douglass Republicans of Tarrant County.
This was ahead of the release of maps showing the proposed changes.
If approved, the redrawn map would give the GOP a path to win up to 30 of the state's 38 congressional seats, which is five more than they currently hold.
To achieve that goal, Republican lawmakers propose significantly altering several districts in North Texas, targeting Democratic members of Congress and shifting boundaries to favor conservative-leaning areas.
"This map is so aggressive and changes African-American representation in the state so dramatically, it's very likely to trigger a negative reaction by Texas House Democrats," said Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University. "That could lead to another quorum break, ending the current special session and forcing a second one. Then it becomes a question of who can wait the longest."
The proposed map is still subject to change before lawmakers vote on it.