The Texas Constitution: A look at the amendment process and constitutional reform in the 1970’s Texas only has one method for Constitutional change, unlike the U.S. Constitution which has two methods. Article Seventeen, Section 1 of the Texas Constitution of 1876 outlines the process for Constitutional Amendments. Proposed amendments require a two-thirds vote by all members of the House and Senate during a regular or special session of the legislature in order to move forward for ratification by the voters. Following a favorable vote, newspapers meeting the requirements for official notices shall publish the proposed amendment, the date of election, and the exact wording as it appears on the ballot between fifty and sixty days prior to the
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The information in this paragraph was summarized from the article, Constitutional Convention of 1974 by Mary Lucia Barras and Daniel Houston. In 1971, the Sixty-second Legislature passed a resolution creating the constitutional revision commission and authorized the Sixty-third Legislature as the constitutional convention. This resolution received the required two-thirds votes and public approval on November 7, 1972 becoming Article XVII, Section 2 of the Constitution of 1876. The Sixty-third Legislature formed the Texas Constitutional Revision Commission in February 1973 to study the need and presented a proposed constitution in November 1973 (Barras and Houston). The introduction of two issues - Pari-mutuel betting and right to work (Newell et al 58) derailed the proposed constitution from receiving a two-thirds majority and ultimately never reached the voters. The final attempt in the 1970’s for constitutional reform was when the eight constitutional amendments proposed by the Sixth-fourth Legislature received the required two-thirds majority (Barras and Houston). For the first time in 100 years, Texans had an opportunity to vote for a new State Constitution (Braden), however in November 1975 voters rejected all eight amendments at the polls (May). In closing, two attempts at constitutional reform occurred in the 1970’s, the first was the Sixty-third Legislature’s proposal in 1973, which never reached the voters and the second attempt was the Sixth-fourth Legislature’s proposal in 1975, which failed at the
The information in this paragraph was summarized from the article, Constitutional Convention of 1974 by Mary Lucia Barras and Daniel Houston. In 1971, the Sixty-second Legislature passed a resolution creating the constitutional revision commission and authorized the Sixty-third Legislature as the constitutional convention. This resolution received the required two-thirds votes and public approval on November 7, 1972 becoming Article XVII, Section 2 of the Constitution of 1876. The Sixty-third Legislature formed the Texas Constitutional Revision Commission in February 1973 to study the need and presented a proposed constitution in November 1973 (Barras and Houston). The introduction of two issues - Pari-mutuel betting and right to work (Newell et al 58) derailed the proposed constitution from receiving a two-thirds majority and ultimately never reached the voters. The final attempt in the 1970’s for constitutional reform was when the eight constitutional amendments proposed by the Sixth-fourth Legislature received the required two-thirds majority (Barras and Houston). For the first time in 100 years, Texans had an opportunity to vote for a new State Constitution (Braden), however in November 1975 voters rejected all eight amendments at the polls (May). In closing, two attempts at constitutional reform occurred in the 1970’s, the first was the Sixty-third Legislature’s proposal in 1973, which never reached the voters and the second attempt was the Sixth-fourth Legislature’s proposal in 1975, which failed at the