Texas Constitution

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The Constitution of the State of Texas is the document that describes the structure and function of the government of the U.S. State of Texas.

Texas has had seven constitutions: the constitution of Coahuila y Tejas, the 1836 Constitution of the Republic of Texas, the state constitutions of 1845, 1861, 1866, and 1869, and the current constitution, which took effect on February 15, 1876.

The current 1876 Constitution is one of the longest state constitutions in the United States. Since its initial adoption, as of November 2009 a total of 643 amendments have been proposed, of which 467 were approved by voters and 176 were rejected. Most of the amendments are due to the document's highly restrictive nature – the Texas Constitution states that the State of Texas has only those powers explicitly granted to it; there is no state equivalent of the Necessary and Proper Clause contained within. Thus, the Texas Constitution functions as a limiting document.

Although a somewhat chaotic document, it is not nearly as long and chaotic as the Alabama Constitution (which has been amended almost 800 times despite having been adopted 25 years after Texas' current constitution) nor the California Constitution (which, due to provisions allowing amendments via the initiative, is subject to frequent revision as well).

Contents

[edit] Articles of the Texas Constitution

[edit] Article 1: "Bill of Rights"

Article One is the Texas Constitution's bill of rights. The article originally contained 29 sections; five sections have since been added. Most of the article's provisions concern specific fundamental limitations on the power of the state government and certain rights granted to citizens that cannot be ignored under any circumstances.

The provisions of the Texas constitution apply only against the government of Texas. However, a number of the provisions of the federal constitution are held to apply both to the states as well under the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment to the federal constitution. This means that the Texas courts must interpret a duplicated state provision, such as the freedom of speech, at least as broadly as the federal courts do its federal counterpart. The Texas courts may (but are not required to) interpret the state provision more broadly, ruling that it limits government power more than its federal counterpart (Braden, 1972).

Section 4 prohibits office holders from the requirements of any religious test, provided they "acknowledge the existence of a Supreme Being". The latter requirement, as well as similar provisions in several other state constitutions, appears to violate the First Amendment prohibition on establishment of religion and the free exercise thereof (which includes the right to not hold a religious belief), as well as the prohibition on any kind of religious test located in Article 6 of the federal constitution. Since it would almost certainly be struck down by the federal courts if challenged, it has not been enforced in modern times.

Section 32 denies state recognition to same-sex unions. It was adopted in November 2005.

[edit] Article 2: "The Powers of Government"

Provides for the separation of the powers of the government.

[edit] Article 3: "Legislative Department"

Article 3 vests the legislative power of the state in the "Legislature of the State of Texas", and establishes that the legislature consists of the state Senate and House of Representatives. It also lists the qualifications required of senators and representatives and regulates the details of the legislative process. Finally, the article contains many substantive limitations on the power of the legislature and a large number of exceptions to those limitations. In particular, Section 49 limits the power of the legislature to incur debt, while numerous other sections following Section 49 (including two sections both curiously numbered as "49-n") permit the legislature to issue bonds for specific purposes. Section 66 created the state's "Rainy Day Fund".

As with the United States Constitution, either house may originate bills (Section 31), but bills to raise revenue must originate in the House of Representatives (Section 33).

In addition, Section 49a requires the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts to certify the amount of available cash on hand and anticipated revenues for the next biennium; no appropriation may exceed this amount (except in cases of emergency and then only with a 4/5ths vote of both chambers), and the Comptroller is permitted to reject and return to the Legislature any appropriation in violation of this requirement.

[edit] Article 4: "Executive Department"

Describes the powers and duties of the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, comptroller of public accounts, commissioner of the general land office, and attorney general. With the exception of the secretary of state the above officials are directly elected in what is known as a plural executive system; the lieutenant governor is elected separately from the governor (not as a team), as are the comptroller of public accounts, commissioner of the general land office, and attorney general.

Under section 16 of this article, the Lieutenant-Governor automatically assumes the power of Governor if and when the Governor travels outside of the state of Texas, for whatever reason.

[edit] Article 5: "Judicial Department"

Describes the composition, powers, and jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, the Court of Criminal Appeals, the Court of Appeals, the District, County, and Commissioners Courts, and the Justice of the Peace Courts. See Texas judicial system for comments regarding the complicated structure of the Texas court system.

[edit] Article 6: "Suffrage"

Denies voting rights to minors, felons, and people who are deemed mentally incompetent by a court (though the Legislature may make exceptions in the latter two cases). Describes rules for elections.

[edit] Article 7: "Education"

Establishes provisions for public schools, asylums, and universities. ". . . it shall be DUTY OF THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE to establish and make suitable provision for the support and maintenance of an efficient system of public free schools" (Article 7, Texas Constitution). This issue has surfaced in recent lawsuits involving the State's funding of education and restrictions it has placed on local school districts. This Article also discusses the creation and maintenance of the Permanent University Fund and mandates the establishment of the University of Texas as well as an agricultural and mechanical college (which later became Texas A&M University).

[edit] Article 8: "Taxation and Revenue"

Article 8 places various restrictions on the ability of the Legislature and local governments to impose taxes. Most of these restriction concern local property taxes (Section 1-e prohibits statewide property taxes).

Texas does not have a personal income tax. Section 24 of the article, added by an amendment adopted in 1993, restricts the ability of the Legislature to impose such a tax. Under the section, a law imposing a personal income tax must be ratified in a state-wide referendum to take effect; any further change in the tax must also be ratified to take effect, if it would increase the "collective liability" of all persons subject to the tax. The proceeds from the tax must first be used reduce local school property taxes, with any remainder being used for the support of education.

No such restriction exists on imposition of a corporate income tax or similar tax; in May 2006 the Legislature replaced the existing franchise tax with a gross receipts tax.

[edit] Article 9: "Counties"

Provides rules for the creation of counties and determining the location of county seats. It also includes several provisions regarding the creation of county-wide hospital districts in specified counties, as well as other miscellaneous provisions regarding airports and mental health.

[edit] Article 10: "Railroads"

Main article: Article X of the Texas Constitution

Contains a single section declaring that railroads are considered "public highways" and railroad carriers "common carriers". (This section may not have much force of law, as railroad operations, even those where a railroad physically exists in only one state, are governed by the Surface Transportation Board, a federal agency.) Eight other sections were repealed in 1969.

[edit] Article 11: "Municipal Corporations"

Recognizes counties as legal political subunits of the State, grants certain powers to cities and counties, empowers the legislature to form school districts.

[edit] Article 12: "Private Corporations"

Article 12 contains two sections directing the legislature to enact general laws for the creation of private corporations and prohibiting the creation of private corporations by special law. Four other sections were repealed in 1969 and a fifth section in 1993.

[edit] Article 13: "Spanish and Mexican Land Titles"

Established provisions for Spanish and Mexican land titles; These titles were from the Mexican War Era as a way of trying to please the Mexican government. This article was repealed in its entirety in 1969.

[edit] Article 14: "Public Lands and Land Office"

Article 14 contains a single section establishing the General Land Office and the office of commissioner of the General Land Office. 10 other sections were repealed in 1969.

[edit] Article 15: "Impeachment"

Describes the process of impeachment and lists grounds on which to impeach judges. The House of Representatives is granted the power of impeachment.

[edit] Article 16: "General Provisions"

Contains miscellaneous provisions, including limits on interest rates, civil penalties for murder, and the punishment for bribery.

Section 15 provides that Texas is a community property state.

Section 28 prohibits garnishment of wages, except for spousal maintenance and child support payments (however, this does not limit Federal garnishment for items such as student loan payments or income taxes).

Section 37 provides for the constitutional protection of the mechanic's lien.

Although Texas is a right-to-work state, such protections are governed by law; Texas does not have a constitutional provision related to right-to-work.

[edit] Article 17: "Mode of amending the Constitution of this State"

Notwithstanding the large number of amendments (and proposed amendments) that the constitution has had since its inception, the only method of amending the constitution prescribed by Article 17 is via the legislature, subject to voter approval. The constitution does not provide for amendment by initiative, constitutional convention, or any other means. A 1974 constitutional convention required the voters to amend the Constitution to add a separate section to this Article; the section was later repealed in 1999.

The section also prescribes specific details for notifying the public of elections to approve amendment. It requires that the legislature publish a notice in officially approved newspapers that briefly summarizes each amendment and shows how each amendment will be described on the ballot. It also requires that the full text of each amendment be posted at each county courthouse at least 50 days (but no sooner than 60 days) before the election date.

Once an amendment passes it is compiled into the existing framework (i.e., text is either added or deleted), unlike the United States Constitution.

[edit] Attempts at Revision

Because of the unwieldiness of the state constitution, there have been attempts to draft a new constitution or to significantly revise the existing one:

  • The most successful of the attempts took place in 1969, when 56 separate obsolete provisions (including the entirety of Article 13 and 22 entire sections from Articles 10, 12, and 14) were successfully repealed.[1]
  • In 1971 the Texas Legislature placed on the November 1972 ballot an Amendment which called for the Legislature to meet in January 1974 for 90 days as a constitutional convention, for purposes of drafting a new state Constitution. The measure passed (thus adding Section 2 to Article 17; the section was later repealed in November 1999) and the Legislature met. However, even with an additional 60 days added to the session, the convention failed by a mere three votes to propose a new constitution.[1]
  • In 1975, the Legislature, meeting in regular session, revived much of the work of the 1974 convention and proposed it as a set of eight amendments to the existing constitution. All eight of the amendments were overwhelmingly rejected by the voters (in 250 of the state's 254 counties, all eight amendments were defeated; only in Duval and Webb counties did all eight amendments pass.[1]
  • In 1979 the Legislature placed on the ballot four amendments which had their origins in the 1974 convention; of which three were approved by the voters:[2]
    • One amendment created a single property tax "appraisal district" in each county (for purposes of providing a single appraised value for all property in a county; previously, each taxing authority could assess property at dissimilar values)
    • Another amendment gave to the Texas Court of Appeals criminal appellate jurisdiction (previously, the Courts had jurisdiction over civil matters only; though death penalty cases still bypass this level)
    • The last amendment gave the Governor of Texas limited authority to remove appointed statewide officials
  • In 1995, Senator John Montford drafted a streamlined constitution similar to the 1974 version. However, Montford resigned his seat to become chancellor of the Texas Tech University System, and his initiative subsequently died.[2] Later that year, though, voters approved an amendment abolishing the office of State Treasurer and moving its duties to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts office.
  • In 1998, a bipartisan effort (led by Republican Senator Bill Ratliff and Democratic Representative Rob Junell) produced a rewritten constitution, with the help of students from Angelo State University (Junell's district included the San Angelo area). The second draft was submitted to the 76th Legislature, but failed to gain support in committee.[2]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

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 This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (November 2009)
  • Braden, George (1972). Citizens' guide to the Texas Constitution. Austin: Texas Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations. 
  • Hill, John L., ed. (1976). Constitution of the State of Texas. Austin: [Office of the Attorney General of Texas].
    • Includes the text of the constitution as of November 2, 1976, along with a brief informational introduction.
  1. ^ a b c Constitutional Revision, 1971-1975, from Texas Politics
  2. ^ a b c Recent Attempts at Constitutional Revision, from Texas Politics

[edit] External links

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