AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - A judge ruled for a second time Monday that Texas’ strict voter ID law was intentionally crafted to discriminate against minorities, which follows another court finding evidence of racial gerrymandering in how Republican lawmakers drew the state’s election maps.
The latest ruling by U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos of Corpus Christi comes more than two years after she likened the ballot-box rules in Texas, known as SB 14, to a “poll tax” meant to suppress minority voters. She is still holding to that conclusion after an appeals court asked her to go back and re-examine her findings.
“Proponents touted SB 14 as a remedy for voter fraud, consistent with efforts of other states. As previously demonstrated, the evidence shows a tenuous relationship between those rationales and the actual terms of the bill,” Gonzales Ramos wrote.
The Texas law requires voters to show one of seven forms of identification at the ballot box. That list includes concealed handgun licenses but not college student IDs. A court forced Texas last year to provide more flexibility under the law for the November elections.
State officials did not immediately react to the ruling, although Texas could once again appeal.
Gonzales Ramos’ decision follows a ruling from a separate three-judge panel in San Antonio last month that found problems in Texas’ voting rights laws. The panel found that Republicans racially gerrymandered some congressional districts to weaken the growing electoral power of minorities. The GOP-controlled Texas Legislature approved the maps in 2011, the same year then-Gov. Rick Perry signed a voter ID law.
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ABBOTT SEES NO CLASH BETWEEN IMMIGRATION CRACKDOWN, ANTI-GANG EFFORT
A new effort to reduce gang violence in Houston won’t be affected by reports of rising fear among Latinos of being detained by immigration authorities, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Monday.
Abbott announced that he would direct $500,000 in grant money and additional resources from the Texas Rangers and state law enforcement to fight gang violence in Houston. He singled out MS-13, a gang linked to drug trafficking and violence in the U.S. and Latin America that’s believed to have been founded by immigrants fleeing civil war in El Salvador.
Houston police said last week that the percentages of Hispanics reporting rape and violent crimes have sharply fallen this year.
But Abbott says authorities won’t be “relying upon a tip of some person out there who may be here illegally,” though he added that state agents won’t target potential witnesses over their immigration status.
“This doesn’t really have anything to do with regard to whether or not any one person is here legally or illegally,” the Republican governor said, adding that the state hoped to offer new “resources and information” to disrupt gang activity.
Abbott is a strong supporter of tougher immigration laws. He’s previously targeted Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez and Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez over their denial of “detainer” requests issued by federal immigration authorities seeking to have local jails hold those who don’t have legal permission to be in the U.S.
Abbott said Harris County, where Houston is located, has more convicted gang members than any other county in Texas.
Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo has said he’s concerned crime victims might avoid calling the police due to their immigration status.
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PARENTAL PERMISSION REQUIRED FOR UNION MEMBERSHIP
The Texas Senate has given preliminary approval to a bill requiring children under 18 to get their parents’ permission before joining labor unions.
The proposal by Republican Sen. Jane Nelson of Flower Mound passed 20-11 along party lines in the Republican-controlled chamber Monday. It needs a third and final vote that could come Tuesday before heading to the Texas House.
Houston Democratic Sen. John Whitmire objected, saying teens will be forced to endure unnecessary logistical hurdles if they want to join a union while working a summer job at a grocery store or lumber yard. He asked if the bill isn’t “just more government.”
Nelson said she’s defending parental rights.
The Senate has already approved another bill ending voluntary payroll deductions of union dues from state and public employee paychecks.
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CAMPUS SEXUAL ASSUALT BILLS CLEAR SENATE
The Texas Senate also approved bills exempting victims and witnesses of sexual assaults from being punished under university code of conduct rules and making it easier to report such assaults anonymously and online.
The bills by Democratic Sen. Kirk Watson of Austin are designed to encourage reporting of sexual assaults on campus. Both were approved 30-1 on Monday and now head to the Texas House.
One exempts victims and witnesses from punishment for school code violations like underage drinking. The other mandates placing online links to anonymously report assaults on school websites.
Watson has proposed a series of bills designed to prevent a repeat of the events at Baylor University, which was found to have mishandled reports of assault for years.
The fallout led to football coach Art Briles’ firing.
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ON DECK
The House reconvenes at 10 a.m. and is scheduled to vote on a bill seeking to create a statewide electronic tracking system for evidence collected in sex offense cases. The Senate is back in an hour later.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“This court holds, again, that SB-14 was passed with a discriminatory purpose in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act,” - U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos in her Monday ruling against SB-14, the voter ID law that Texas’ Legislature approved in 2011.
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