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)

-- 
Rick Hasen 
William H. Hannon Distinguished Professor of Law
Loyola Law School 
919 Albany Street 
Los Angeles, CA  90015-1211 
(213)736-1466 - voice 
(213)380-3769 - fax 
rick.hasen@lls.edu 
http://www.lls.edu/academics/faculty/hasen.html 
http://electionlawblog.org