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Legislative Redistricting

This week the U.S. Census Bureau released the 2010 Census population totals and demographic characteristics for communities in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. This data is used by the states to reconfigure congressional and state legislative districts due to population shifts since the 2000 Census. The Census website provides a Redistricting Data section including a guide to the data, redistricting maps, and redistricting data files for every state.

According to the data brief, Texas was the fifth fastest-growing state with a 20.6 percent population increase. In addition, Houston remains the fourth most populous incorporated place with 2,099,451 residents (an increase of 7.5 percent) and Harris County is the third largest county with 4,092,459 residents (an increase of 20.3 percent). The Texas Legislative Council’s Texas Redistricting website has more information about redistricting in Texas including information about its history, the legal requirements, the process, a timeline for the current redistricting cycle, and recent news and developments.

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