State Constitutional Amendments

Proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution.

By ANDY TEAS, CAE, HAA Staff

Texas adopted its first state constitution in 1845 when it joined the Union, changing from an independent nation to one of the United States. As with most other state constitutions written before the Civil War, the Texas Constitution was modeled after the U.S. Constitution: A short, vague list of general guiding principles for state government.

Texas adopted several more constitutions just before, during and after the Civil War. After being re-admitted to the United States, Texas found itself governed by a 1869 Constitution that created a powerful state government with most judges and executive officials appointed by the governor.

Many Texans considered the constitution of 1869 to be a document imposed on Texas by the federal government and set out to replace it with a new one. In the fall of 1875, 83 Texans gathered in Austin to draft the constitution that is still in effect today. The delegates included both Republicans and Democrats, including several African Americans.

The largest group of votes among the delegates belonged to the Texas Patrons of Husbandry, better known as the Grange. The Grangers’ vision of a weak central state government, with direct election of most judges and executive officials by the people to brief terms of office, became the focus of the new constitution. As distrustful of big business interests as they were of big government, the Grangers also placed severe restrictions on banks and railroads in the new constitution, some of which remain in the document today. Texans adopted our current constitution on February 15, 1876, by a vote of 136,606 to 56,652.

The Texas Constitution contains a Bill of Rights that, in some respects, grants greater individual liberty to citizens than the Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution. The Texas Constitution also provides that a two-thirds vote of the legislature and a majority vote of the people may amend it.

Over the years, legislators have used the constitution for “super-legislation,” making the document less a blueprint for government than a collection of statutes that are hard to repeal. Since its adoption in 1876, the Texas Legislature has proposed 690 amendments to voters, who have approved 507 of them. Several attempts to enact a new constitution, most recently in 1972, have not been successful.

Without a new constitutional convention, the job of revising and updating our state’s principal governing document falls squarely on the voters. This year, the Texas Legislature has voted to recommend eight specific changes for your consideration. If you’re not already registered, the last day to register to vote in this election is October 4, with early voting beginning on October 18. Let’s take a look at the eight specific changes the legislature is recommending.

Eight Proposed Changes

Proposition 1 – Gambling is generally prohibited in Texas. As a Bible Belt state with a long, conservative history of political opposition to drinking and gambling, Texas was the last state to legalize parimutuel horse racing and it is one of the only remaining states to not allow casino gambling at all. Texas does, however, make certain exceptions. If you’ve ever seen the men and women in bright green shirts with “Share to Care” signs at an Astros game, they’re selling tickets for a raffle that splits the pot between the winner and a charitable foundation. An amendment to the state constitution in 2015 was required to allow professional sports teams to do that. Proposition 1 would expand that authority to cover major rodeo events like the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

Proposition 2 – Cities in Texas have access to an interesting tool called a tax increment finance zone to help improve blighted areas. In such a zone, the city agrees to freeze the amount of revenue it collects in property taxes for a certain period of time, with the remaining “increment” going into a fund for projects to improve that specific area – a fund created initially by the city issuing bonds. In theory, those improvements will create higher taxable values, allowing the city to collect more revenue than it otherwise would have when the zone expires. The city would be able to use the extra tax money from the increased value to pay back the bondholders, so everybody wins. Proposition 2 would expand this power to county governments, which could be particularly important in Harris County, where nearly half the population lives in the unincorporated area.

Proposition 3 – In the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic, many jurisdictions enacted public safety measures to slow the spread of the disease, such as temporarily ordering the closure of restaurants, movie theaters, retails stores and other places where groups of people could expose each other to the virus. Some jurisdictions made exceptions for religious gatherings, but others did not. Proposition 3 would prohibit the state and local governments from prohibiting or limiting religious services, even in a public health crisis.

Proposition 4 – To serve on one of Texas’ statewide courts, a court of appeals or as a district judge, the Texas Constitution imposes some basic minimum qualifications. You must be a licensed attorney in all cases. To serve on an appellate court, you must have served as an attorney or judge in Texas for at least 10 years. Practicing for four years is enough to qualify to serve as a district judge. Proposition 4 would increase the minimum qualifications for both offices and add a provision that the person’s law license cannot have been suspended or revoked during the qualification period.

Proposition 5 – The State Commission on Judicial Conduct is responsible for ensuring that Texas judges conduct themselves legally and ethically in the performance of their duties. Proposition 5 would extend the commission’s jurisdiction, giving them the authority to investigate and take action against candidates for judicial office, even if those candidates have not yet been elected.

Proposition 6 – During the pandemic, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission prohibited nursing facilities from allowing non-essential visitors from entering. Proposition 6 would give residents of certain nursing facilities the right to designate an “essential caregiver” whose visitation could not be prevented by the facility.

Proposition 7 – The Texas Constitution requires taxation to be “equal and uniform,” but goes on to provide for a long list of exemptions for various property taxpayers for various reasons. One of these provides for a $10,000 homestead exemption from taxable property value for individuals who are disabled. Proposition 7 would extend that exemption to the surviving spouse of a disabled individual if that spouse is at least 55 years old and maintains the property as their homestead.

Proposition 8 – Another property tax homestead exemption provided in the Texas Constitution is for the surviving spouses of soldiers killed in action defending our country. Since this provision was approved by voters in 2013, it has been noted that the phrase “killed in action” does not cover those killed in acts of terrorism or in non-hostile events or incidents related to their service, but not technically on the battlefield. Proposition 8 would broaden the definition to include the spouses of all members of the armed services killed in the line of duty.