Theory of the Texas
Constitution
Restraining State Power
Influences on the Texas
Constitution
• Political Culture
– Traditionalism
– Individualism
• Shared history with Mexico
– Coahuila y Texas
– Spanish Common Law tradition
• Texas Independence
– Jacksonian Democracy
– Independent Nation-State (1836-1846)
• Civil War & Reconstruction
– Union Army Occupation
– Radical Reconstruction Constitution
– Distrust of Centralized executive power
The Constitution of 1876
• Foundation for the Current Texas Constitution
– Reaction to Reconstruction
• Efforts by the Texas Grange
– Resurrects prior constitutional forms
• especially 1846 restrictions against the executive
• Substantially longer than the US Constitution
– Over 80,000 words
– Often verbose
– Amended over 300 times
• Often confusing in structure
–
–
–
–
–
Contains numerous statutory provisions
Contains several obsolete or outdated provisions
Contains inconsistent numbering
contains numerous grammatical errors
Amendments incorporated into the text rather than attached to the end
Navigating the Texas Constitution
• Article I: 30 section Bill of Rights
Suggests that the state
of Texas is not subject
to its own constitution!
– Asserts state autonomy and popular sovereignty
• Article I section 1: “Texas is a free and independent state,
subject only to the Constitution of the United States, and the
maintenance of our free institutions and the perpetuity of the
Union depend upon the preservation of the right to local selfgovernment, unimpaired to all the states
– Reiterates and refines general limits against
government and the recognition of rights of the
people
• Often unnecessarily verbose
• Article II: Division of Power
– defines the division of power and the establishment of
departments
Navigating the Texas Constitution
• Severe restrictions against state government
– Article III: Legislative Departments
• Limited to biennial sessions of 140 days
• No power to call special sessions
• Balanced budget requirement
– Article IV: Executive Departments
• Plural executive
• Multiple independently elected executive offices
• Governor chief executive in name only
– Article V: Judicial Department
• All courts except municipal courts directly elected
• Amended in the 1880s to split the Texas Supreme Court into
two Courts
Navigating the Texas Constitution
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Article VI: Suffrage
Article VII: Education
Article VIII: Taxation & Revenue
Article IX: Counties
Article X: Railroads
Article XI: Municipal Corporations
Article XII: Private Corporations
Article XIII: Spanish and Mexican Land Titles
Article XIV: Public Lands and Land Office
Article XV: Impeachment
Article XVI: General Provisions
Article XVII: Amending the Constitution of This State
Amending the Texas Constitution
• The Texas Two-Step:
– A proposal must pass both houses of the Texas
Legislature with a 2/3 majority
– A proposal must be approved by a simple majority of
voters
– Efforts to “clean up” the Constitution through
amendment have been largely unsuccessful
• Last major attempt at Constitutional change:
1974
– Convention dissolved without a new draft
– Two major issues
• Organized labor: Collective bargaining v. ‘right to work’
• Education finance: Equalization v. Local control