HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 2 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVE THOMAS.
3409H.01I JOSEPH ENGLER, Chief Clerk
WHEREAS, the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. 2 Constitution guarantees that the government cannot "deny to any person within its jurisdiction 3 the equal protection of the laws"; and 4 5 WHEREAS, in the context of voting rights and elections, this has often been 6 interpreted to mean "one person, one vote"; and 7 8 WHEREAS, the state of Missouri cannot stand by as the President of the United 9 States and legislators in other states manipulate elections in the middle of the decade in order 10 to sway the outcome of federal elections and control the U.S. House of Representatives; and 11 12 WHEREAS, leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives impacts the life, 13 wellbeing, and prosperity of all Americans, and the election manipulation being undertaken 14 impacts not only citizens in those states but every citizen across the country; and 15 16 WHEREAS, it is incumbent on all states, which have the ability to do so, to counter 17 this election manipulation; and 18 19 WHEREAS, eleven states, including both red and blue states, have adopted 20 commissions to take away primary responsibility from their state legislatures for drawing 21 maps for congressional districts, as state legislatures have historically drawn partisan maps 22 that favor one political party and diluted the power of voters; and 23 24 WHEREAS, states with redistricting commissions have taken critical steps towards 25 ensuring fair representation, and states that have not followed suit continue to have overt HCR 2 2
26 political influence in the outcome of the U.S. House of Representatives elections and the 27 balance of political power in the U.S. House of Representatives; and 28 29 WHEREAS, because of this, it is impossible to have fairness in representation until 30 all states are held to the same standards: 31 32 NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the members of the House of 33 Representatives of the One Hundred Third General Assembly, Second Extraordinary Session 34 of the First Regular Session, the Senate concurring therein, hereby declare that the state of 35 Missouri upholds that all Americans have a right to fair and equal representation; and 36 37 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the state of Missouri upholds that 38 Congressional intervention is necessary for fair and equal representation for all Americans; 39 and 40 41 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED in response to the mid-decade redistricting of 42 certain states in an effort to expressly sway control of the U.S. House of Representatives 43 following the 2026 midterm elections, Missouri asserts that all states that have the power to, 44 should conduct a mid-decade redistricting in 2025, or earliest year legally possible, in order to 45 ensure that the outcome of the balance of power in the U.S. House of Representatives for the 46 120th Congress and subsequent congresses cannot be unduly swayed by the partisan or racial 47 gerrymandering of one or more states acting in bad faith; and 48 49 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED the state of Missouri calls on Congress to act 50 expeditiously and before the redistricting cycle following the 2030 decennial census is 51 undertaken and pass federal redistricting standards with quantitative measures for fairness and 52 representation; and 53 54 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED in order to be most effective, the quantitative 55 measures for fairness should ensure that the statewide proportion of districts in each 56 redistricting plan correspond as closely as possible to the statewide partisan preference of 57 voters to help prevent voter power from being diluted; and 58 59 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED Congress must put in place protections to ensure 60 communities of interest, including communities of color, are not divided in ways that dilute 61 their political power; and 62 HCR 2 3
63 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED only Congressional action for fair redistricting 64 standards will ensure that a redistricting arms race cannot occur again, and only quantitative 65 measures will ensure that the people and the courts can truly hold states accountable; and 66 67 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED in the event that Congress enacts federal 68 redistricting standards with quantitative measures for fairness prior to the beginning of the 69 redistricting cycle following the 2030 decennial census, the state of Missouri shall abide by 70 those fair standards in accordance with federal and state law; and 71 72 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED in the absence of Congressional action prior to the 73 2030 decennial census, it is likely that states which worked to gerrymander at the behest of 74 the President will continue to draw similarly partisan and racially gerrymandered maps that 75 dilute the political power of the American people. In order to ensure that all states are able to 76 fight fair and have their say in the balance of power in the U.S. House of Representatives, the 77 state of Missouri calls on all states with redistricting commissions to bypass their redistricting 78 commissions for the drawing of congressional maps until Congress passes federal 79 redistricting standards. Only this will ensure that the thirty-nine states without 80 redistricting commissions do not have an outsized influence on the balance of power in the 81 U.S. House of Representatives; and 82 83 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Chief Clerk of the Missouri House of 84 Representatives be instructed to prepare a properly inscribed copy of this resolution for the 85 members of the Missouri congressional delegation. ✔