Florida Senate - 2014                                     SM 464
       
       
        
       By Senator Thompson
       
       
       
       
       
       12-00071-14                                            2014464__
    1                           Senate Memorial                         
    2         A memorial to the Congress of the United States,
    3         urging Congress to revise the preclearance coverage
    4         formula contained in Section 4 of the Voting Rights
    5         Act of 1965.
    6  
    7         WHEREAS, the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States
    8  Constitution provides that the right to vote shall not be denied
    9  or abridged on account of race or color, and specifically
   10  furnishes Congress the power to enforce that command through
   11  legislation, and
   12         WHEREAS, Congress enacted the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to
   13  prevent certain states and political subdivisions from employing
   14  tests and devices designed to prevent racial minorities from
   15  registering to vote and participating in the electoral process,
   16  and
   17         WHEREAS, Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 has
   18  required covered jurisdictions, including Collier, Hardee,
   19  Hendry, Hillsborough, and Monroe Counties in Florida, to submit
   20  new or modified voting practices for federal review before they
   21  can be enforced, and
   22         WHEREAS, by overwhelming margins, members of Congress have
   23  reauthorized Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 multiple
   24  times, most recently in 2006, after compiling an extensive
   25  legislative record demonstrating continued racial voting
   26  discrimination within the covered jurisdictions, and
   27         WHEREAS, the Supreme Court of the United States has
   28  previously upheld provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965
   29  against constitutional challenges in South Carolina v.
   30  Katzenbach, 383 U.S. 301 (1966) and City of Rome v. United
   31  States, 446 U.S. 156 (1980), and
   32         WHEREAS, on June 25, 2013, the Supreme Court of the United
   33  States decided in Shelby County v. Holder, Case No. 12-96, that
   34  the preclearance coverage formula contained in Section 4 of the
   35  Voting Rights Act of 1965 is unconstitutional, rendering the
   36  Section 5 federal review inoperable without further
   37  congressional action, and
   38         WHEREAS, Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 remains
   39  necessary to protect increased minority participation in the
   40  electoral process against the imposition of new discriminatory
   41  voting practices in covered jurisdictions, and
   42         WHEREAS, the enactment of legislation revising the Section
   43  4 preclearance coverage formula to conform to the Supreme
   44  Court’s ruling in Shelby County v. Holder will ensure that the
   45  federal review of new or modified voting practices in covered
   46  jurisdictions will continue, NOW, THEREFORE,
   47  
   48  Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   49  
   50         That the Congress of the United States is urged to revise
   51  the Section 4 preclearance coverage formula in the Voting Rights
   52  Act of 1965 to ensure continued protection of minority electoral
   53  participation.
   54         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
   55  dispatched to the President of the United States, to the
   56  President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the
   57  United States House of Representatives, and to each member of
   58  the Florida delegation to the United States Congress.