TEXAS
CONSTITUTION
Introduction
• The issue of education finance illustrates
the relevance of the Texas Constitution to
the policymaking process.
• The controversy over school funding came
to a head in 1989 with Edgewood v. Kirby,
which was a lawsuit filed by a number of
poor school districts against the state’s
system of education finance.
• The Texas Supreme Court held that the
school finance system violated the Texas
Constitution because it failed to treat all
persons equally and because it was
inefficient.
Introduction
• Eventually, the legislature settled on a plan
capping local property tax rates at $1.50 per $100
of property valuation and forcing wealthy districts
to transfer some of their revenue to poor districts,
creating a system known as the Robin Hood Plan.
• Legal challenges to the Texas school finance
system continued despite the passage of the Robin
Hood Plan.
• In 2004, State District Judge John Dietz declared
that the Texas school finance system was
unconstitutional, in a case entitled Neeley v. West
Orange-Cove Consolidated ISD.
Introduction
• In 2005, the Texas Supreme Court declared the Texas
system of school finance was unconstitutional. The court
agreed with Judge Dietz that the state property tax cap,
coupled with extensive state mandates to school districts,
had effectively created a state property tax.
• The Texas Supreme Court ordered the legislature and
governor to adopt a new funding system that would not
violate the state constitution and set a deadline of June 1,
2006.
• After a special session of the Texas legislature convened
in April 2006, Governor Perry and the legislature
approved a new school funding program before the
expiration of the June 1st deadline.
State Constitutions
• A constitution is the fundamental law by which a
state or nation is organized and governed. It
establishes the framework of government,
assigns the powers and duties of governmental
bodies, and defines the relationship between
the people and their government.
• The US Constitution is the fundamental law of
the United States, and a state constitution is the
fundamental law of the state; together, they
provide the total framework for government
within the United States.
State Constitutions
• Differences between the US Constitution and state
constitutions
• The US Constitution creates a strong
executive, while most state constitutions give
their governor few official powers.
• The constitution of Texas weakens the governor’s
powers through means of the plural executive,
which is the division of executive power among
several elected officials.
• The US Constitution provides for the
appointment of judges, while most state
constitutions provide for the election of judges.
State Constitutions
• Differences between the US Constitution
and state constitutions (cont.)
• The US Constitution creates a representative
democracy while some state constitutions contain
elements of direct democracy, i.e., the initiative process.
• The US Constitution has a sense of permanence with
few added amendments, while most state constitutions
possess a quality of impermanence with a considerable
number of amendments added.
• The US is based on constitutional law (law that involves
the interpretation and application of the constitution),
while state constitutions are generally based on
statutory law (law made by the legislature).
Background of the Texas Constitution
• In 1845, Texas adopted the first state
constitution when the Lone Star State
joined the Union.
• The Texas Constitution of 1845 was
patterned after the US Constitution, creating
a similar government, with legislative,
executive, and judicial branches.
• It was a document based on broad, general
principles that allowed state government
leeway to deal with policy problems.
Background of the Texas Constitution
• In 1850, the state constitution was amended to
provide for election of state judges and most
executive officeholders, reflecting the principle of
Jacksonian democracy.
• The principle of Jacksonian democracy is a
philosophy (associated with President Andrew
Jackson) that the right to vote should be extended
to all adult male citizens and that all government
offices of importance should be filled by election.
• In 1861, Texas changed its constitution when the
state joined the Confederacy.
• The new constitution declared the state’s allegiance to
the Confederacy and included a strong prohibition
against slavery.
Background of the Texas Constitution
• In 1866, with the war lost, Texas
rewrote its constitution in hopes of
rejoining the Union under President
Andrew Johnson’s reconstruction plan.
• The new constitution repealed secession,
repudiated the war debt, and recognized
the supremacy of the U.S. Constitution.
• The constitution was short-lived and, by
the time of its adoption, it failed to meet the
demands of the Radical Republican
majority in Congress that had taken control
of Reconstruction from President Johnson..
Background of the Texas Constitution
• In 1869, a new constitution was imposed upon Texans when
the state military commander intervened at the state
constitutional convention, gathered to draft another
constitution.
• It provided for gubernatorial appointment rather than
election of judges and most executive branch officials,
established annual sessions of the legislature and
authorized increased salaries for state officials.
• It represented defeat and humiliation and was regarded
as a document imposed by outside forces, i.e., Radical
Republicans.
• It was associated with the administration of Governor E.
J. Davis, who was criticized for excessive spending,
taxation and borrowing.
Background of the Texas Constitution
• When Democrats gained control of state
government in 1872 and 1873, their first
priority became to draft a new
constitution.
• State legislators, convened to propose a
new constitution, became deadlocked
over a new document, and a state
constitutional convention was called for
by state Democratic leaders.
Constitutional Convention of 1875
• In the fall of 1875, 83 Texans gathered in Austin to draft
a new constitution for the state.
• The convention’s largest group of delegates was the
Grange, an organization of farmers committed to a slogan
of retrenchment & reform for state government.
• The Grangers’ slogan embodied two basic goals: to
restrict the size and scope of state government and to
control the excesses of big business.
• The authors of the new constitution favored a restrictive
constitution of great length; they returned to the tradition of
Jacksonian democracy, reinstating the long ballot and
shortening the terms of office for elected officials.
Constitutional Convention of 1875
• The convention weakened the office of governor by
cutting the governor’s salary and reducing the term of
office from four to two years.
• It restricted the governor’s power of appointment by
creating a plural executive.
• The constitution’s framers limited the power of the
legislature by cutting its meeting time and restricting the
scope of its policymaking authority.
• The authors of the constitution reduced the power of the
judicial branch by dividing the state’s court system into
two segments, limiting the types of cases individual
courts would be authorized to hear, and providing for the
election of judges to relatively brief terms.
Constitutional Convention of 1875
• They controlled the excesses of big business, for
example, by prohibiting branch banking, which is the
business practice whereby a single, large bank
conducts business from several locations.
• They provided that a family homestead (legal residence)
could not be taken away in payment of debt except for
delinquent taxes and mortgage payments on a loan
taken out to purchase the home itself.
• The convention reflected the political concerns of ruraloriented Texans who distrusted public officials and
worried about the corrupting influence of big banks,
corporations, and railroads.
Overview of the Texas Constitution
• The Texas Constitution is one of the longest state
constitutions in the nation, containing 80,000 words.
• It includes a number of provisions in common with the US
Constitution.
• A Bill of Rights, a constitutional document
guaranteeing individual rights and liberties
• Separation of powers system with checks and
balances
• An executive branch headed by a governor
• A judicial branch
• Checks and balances is the overlapping of the
powers of the branches of government so that
public officials limit the authority of one another.
Overview of the Texas Constitution
• A bicameral legislature, including the Texas House of
Representative and the Texas Senate
• The Texas Constitution does more than merely
restate guarantees found in the US Constitution; it
phrases the protection of rights positively rather than
negatively.
• The Texas Constitution also includes features not
found in the US Constitution.
• Guarantees of equal rights, for example, the Texas
Equal Rights Amendments
• Provisions that involve policy matters not found in the
US Constitution, i.e., voter qualification and elections,
local government, railroad regulation, education, and
welfare
Constitutional Change
• Change through amendment
• A constitutional amendment is a formal, written
change or addition to the state’s governing
document.
• Through the years, amendments have produced
several major changes in the Texas Constitution.
• Amendments have eliminated the constitutional
prohibition against branch banking, allowed local
governments to give tax breaks to businesses
relocating to Texas, and provided money for the
development and conservation of the state’s water
resources.
Constitutional Change
• The process of amending the Texas Constitution is
fairly straightforward.
• First, an amendment must be proposed by a twothirds vote in each house of the legislature
• Second, it must be approved by a majority of the
voters in an election
• The amendment process is time-consuming and
generates relatively little voter interest.
• The number of Texas voters who decided the fate
of the 22 proposed constitutional amendments on
the ballot in 2003 was considerably less than the
number of Texans who participated in the 2004
presidential election or in the 2002 governor’s
election.
Voter Turnout
Source: Texas Secretary of State
Constitutional Change
• Change through practice and experience
• Not all constitutional changes have resulted from formal
constitutional amendments.
• Some changes in the fundamental features of the
American national government have occurred through
informal processes of practice and experience.
• The Texas Constitution has not grown as much through
practice and procedure, given its detail and specificity.
• There have been some changes, however, through
these means. For example, the office of lieutenant
governor is outlined in the Texas Constitution to
resemble that of the vice president of the United States
as a relatively weak office. In practice, however, the
lieutenant governor has become one of the most
important policy leaders in the state.
Constitutional Change
• Change through judicial interpretation
• An important mechanism through which
the U.S. Constitution has changed has
been through judicial interpretation.
• Federal court rulings have defined
constitutional principles in such key policy
areas as school integration, voting rights,
freedom of expression, freedom of religion,
and the rights of the persons accused of
crimes.
Constitutional Change
• Constitutional Revision
• Many critics of the Texas Constitution believe
that Texas should have a new state
constitution.
• A number of public officials and individuals
contend that a new, simpler, and
straightforward state constitution is needed to
replace a long, detailed, and outdated
constitution.
• A major criticism is that the Texas Constitution
hinders the formulation, adoption and
implementation of sound public policy.
Constitutional Change
• Constitutional Revision (cont.)
• Critics of the Texas Constitution charge that
it is loaded with provisions that hinder the
operation of efficient government. For
example, the governor has insufficient power
to manage the bureaucracy, the legislature
meets infrequently to resolve the state’s
policy problems, and the election of judges
makes for a judiciary excessively dependent
on interest-group contributions.
Constitutional Change
• Constitutional Revision (cont.)
• Recent efforts at constitutional revision, which is the process
of drafting a new constitution, have failed.
• In the early 1970s, a state constitutional convention failed
to propose a new constitution to the voters.
• Subsequently, the legislature divided a proposed
constitution into a series of amendments and submitted
the amendments to the voters. Voters rejected all the
amendments by an overwhelming margin.
• In the late 1990s, two members of the legislature raised the
issue of constitutional revision.
• They proposed a new constitution of only 19,000
words, which would be more a statement of
fundamental law than the document it would replace.
• The proposal never came to a vote in the legislature.
Individual Rights &
the Texas Constitution
• Over the past 40 years, state courts have increasingly
become a forum for disputes over individual rights’ lawsuits
filed under the provisions of the state constitutions.
• Since 1970, state courts around the nation have issued
hundreds of rulings providing broader rights than those
recognized by the US Supreme Court.
• In Texas, state courts have relied on the Texas Constitution
to expand individual rights in several policy areas involving
the equal protection of the law, which is the legal principle
that state laws may not arbitrarily discriminate against
persons.
• The areas in which the Texas courts have been most active
is in the state’s system of financing public education and
the state’s homosexual conduct law.
Conclusion
• The Texas Constitution is an important
part of the policymaking environment for
state and local government. The state
constitution influences various stages of
the policymaking process. The stages
are:
• Agenda building
• Policy formulation and adoption
• Policy implementation and evaluation