Bill Text: TX HCR88 | 2013-2014 | 83rd Legislature | Introduced

Texas House Concurrent Resolution 88 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Requesting the lieutenant governor and the speaker of the house of representatives to create a joint interim committee to study a nonsubstantive reorganization of the Texas Constitution.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-05-17 - Committee report sent to Calendars [HCR88 Detail]

Download: Texas-2013-HCR88-Introduced.html

	83R12313 BPG-D

	By: Anderson	H.C.R. No. 88



	CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
	WHEREAS, The current Texas Constitution is this state's fifth
	charter document since statehood, having been formed on the basis
	of previous documents dating back to the days when Texas was an
	independent republic; and
	WHEREAS, The proud independence of Texas has carried forth
	inimitably through each of its constitutions, granting the
	government limited powers and giving broad control to voters,
	thereby embodying the principle of "consent of the governed"; and
	WHEREAS, First enacted in 1876, the Texas Constitution was
	organized into 289 sections contained within 17 articles outlining
	the scope, role, and limitations of governance in this state;
	through proposed changes sent to Texas voters by the legislature,
	sections within those same 17 articles have been added and deleted,
	bringing our current document to 385 sections; and
	WHEREAS, The Texas Constitution of 1876 has expanded through
	the ratification of proposed amendments, with 474 amendments being
	approved, while 179 have been defeated; and
	WHEREAS, Today the Texas Constitution is the nation's
	second-longest such document; sections have been placed in the
	constitution with apparent disregard for the appropriate article
	with which they belong; outdated bonding authority and other
	archaic references remain bound in the document, despite previous
	attempts to address nonsubstantive revisions to the Texas
	Constitution, the most recent of which occurred in 1999; and
	WHEREAS, The Texas Constitution of 1876 remains the supreme
	law of the State of Texas, and a strong, independent statement
	asserting the right of Texans to shape their government to their
	view and their capacity to support it; now, therefore, be it
	RESOLVED, That the 83rd Legislature of the State of Texas
	hereby request the lieutenant governor and the speaker of the house
	of representatives to create a joint interim committee to study a
	nonsubstantive reorganization of the Texas Constitution; and, be it
	further
	RESOLVED, That the committee submit a full report, including
	findings and recommendations, to the 84th Texas Legislature in
	January 2015.