Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that congressional redistricting should be reformed to remove political gerrymandering.

IV 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. RES. 36 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that congressional redistricting should be reformed to remove political gerrymandering. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 10, 2019 Mr. LOWENTHAL (for himself and Mr. FITZPATRICK) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary RESOLUTION Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that congressional redistricting should be reformed to remove political gerrymandering. Whereas political gerrymandering occurs when politicians draw their own congressional district lines to protect their self-interest at the expense of creating districts that reflect communities of interest; Whereas political gerrymandering can result in decreased electoral competition between congressional candidates, and in turn decreased responsiveness by Members of Congress to their voters’ interests; Whereas political gerrymandering can be used to split or pack certain demographic and political groups into congres- sional districts in order to disproportionately diminish their representation in Congress; VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:22 Jan 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR36.IH HR36 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HRES 36 IH Whereas political gerrymandering can be used to protect the majority party and punish the minority party; Whereas political gerrymandering can decrease Americans’ faith and trust in congressional elections; Whereas political gerrymandering is generally harmful to our democracy; Whereas many States have taken great strides to ameliorate political gerrymandering, ranging from Hawaii and Cali- fornia to Arizona and Ohio; Whereas the United States Constitution provides the author- ity for Congress to regulate elections and redistricting; and Whereas the Supreme Court has affirmed Congress’ authority provided in the United States Constitution to regulate elections and redistricting: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep- 1 resentatives that congressional redistricting should be re- 2 formed to remove political gerrymandering. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:22 Jan 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\HR36.IH HR36 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS