By: Parra H.J.R. No. 116
73R6758 JSA-D
A JOINT RESOLUTION
1-1 proposing a constitutional amendment providing for annual
1-2 legislative sessions.
1-3 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Article III, Section 5, of the Texas Constitution
1-5 is amended to read as follows:
1-6 Sec. 5. (a) The Legislature shall meet every year <two
1-7 years> at such time as may be provided by law and at other times
1-8 when convened by the Governor.
1-9 (b) The regular session in an odd-numbered year is limited
1-10 in duration to 120 consecutive days. When convened in regular
1-11 session in an odd-numbered year <Session>, the first thirty days
1-12 thereof shall be devoted to the introduction of bills and
1-13 resolutions, acting upon emergency appropriations, passing upon the
1-14 confirmation of the recess appointees of the Governor and such
1-15 emergency matters as may be submitted by the Governor in special
1-16 messages to the Legislature; provided that during the succeeding
1-17 thirty days of the regular session of the Legislature the various
1-18 committees of each House shall hold hearings to consider all bills
1-19 and resolutions and other matters then pending; and such emergency
1-20 matters as may be submitted by the Governor; provided further that
1-21 during the following <sixty> days the Legislature shall act upon
1-22 such bills and resolutions as may be then pending and upon such
1-23 emergency matters as may be submitted by the Governor in special
1-24 messages to the Legislature; provided, however, either House may
2-1 otherwise determine its order of business by an affirmative vote of
2-2 four-fifths of its membership.
2-3 (c) The regular session in an even-numbered year is limited
2-4 in duration to 60 consecutive days. When convened in regular
2-5 session in an even-numbered year, a House of the Legislature may
2-6 not consider a bill or proposed constitutional amendment unless:
2-7 (1) it relates to appropriations or state revenue or
2-8 to an emergency matter submitted by the Governor in a special
2-9 message to the Legislature; or
2-10 (2) the House in which the bill or proposed amendment
2-11 is introduced authorizes the bill or proposed amendment to be
2-12 considered by a vote of four-fifths of the membership of that
2-13 House.
2-14 (d) Unless otherwise provided by law, a regular session of
2-15 the Legislature in an odd-numbered year shall convene at 12 noon on
2-16 the second Tuesday in January, and a regular session in an
2-17 even-numbered year shall convene at 12 noon on the second Tuesday
2-18 in June.
2-19 (e) The first regular session of the Legislature held in an
2-20 even-numbered year under this section shall be held in 1996. This
2-21 subsection expires January 1, 1997.
2-22 SECTION 2. Article III, Section 24, of the Texas
2-23 Constitution is amended to read as follows:
2-24 Sec. 24. (a) Members of the Legislature shall receive from
2-25 the Public Treasury a salary of Six Hundred Dollars ($600) per
2-26 month, unless a greater amount is recommended by the Texas Ethics
2-27 Commission and approved by the voters of this State in which case
3-1 the salary is that amount. Each member shall also receive a per
3-2 diem set by the Texas Ethics Commission for each day during each
3-3 Regular and Special Session of the Legislature.
3-4 (b) <No Regular Session shall be of longer duration than one
3-5 hundred and forty (140) days.>
3-6 <(c)> In addition to the per diem the Members of each House
3-7 shall be entitled to mileage at the same rate as prescribed by law
3-8 for employees of the State of Texas.
3-9 SECTION 3. Article III, Section 49a, of the Texas
3-10 Constitution is amended to read as follows:
3-11 Sec. 49a. (a) It shall be the duty of the Comptroller of
3-12 Public Accounts in advance of each Regular Session of the
3-13 Legislature to prepare and submit to the Governor and to the
3-14 Legislature upon its convening a statement under oath showing fully
3-15 the financial condition of the State Treasury at the close of the
3-16 last fiscal period and an estimate of the probable receipts and
3-17 disbursements for the then current fiscal year. There shall also
3-18 be contained in said statement an itemized estimate of the
3-19 anticipated revenue based on the laws then in effect that will be
3-20 received by and for the State from all sources showing the fund
3-21 accounts to be credited during each of the next two fiscal years
3-22 <the succeeding biennium> and said statement shall contain such
3-23 other information as may be required by law. Supplemental
3-24 statements shall be submitted at any Special Session of the
3-25 Legislature and at such other times as may be necessary to show
3-26 probable changes.
3-27 (b) Except <From and after January 1, 1945, save> in the
4-1 case of emergency and imperative public necessity and with a
4-2 four-fifths vote of the total membership of each House, no
4-3 appropriation in excess of the cash and anticipated revenue of the
4-4 funds from which such appropriation is to be made shall be valid.
4-5 No <From and after January 1, 1945, no> bill containing an
4-6 appropriation shall be considered as passed or be sent to the
4-7 Governor for consideration until and unless the Comptroller of
4-8 Public Accounts endorses his certificate thereon showing that the
4-9 amount appropriated is within the amount estimated to be available
4-10 in the affected funds. When the Comptroller finds an appropriation
4-11 bill exceeds the estimated revenue he shall endorse such finding
4-12 thereon and return to the House in which same originated. Such
4-13 information shall be immediately made known to both the House of
4-14 Representatives and the Senate and the necessary steps shall be
4-15 taken to bring such appropriation to within the revenue, either by
4-16 providing additional revenue or reducing the appropriation.
4-17 <For the purpose of financing the outstanding obligations of
4-18 the General Revenue Fund of the State and placing its current
4-19 accounts on a cash basis the Legislature of the State of Texas is
4-20 hereby authorized to provide for the issuance, sale, and retirement
4-21 of serial bonds, equal in principal to the total outstanding,
4-22 valid, and approved obligations owing by said fund on September 1,
4-23 1943, provided such bonds shall not draw interest in excess of two
4-24 (2) per cent per annum and shall mature within twenty (20) years
4-25 from date.>
4-26 SECTION 4. Article III, Section 49-g, of the Texas
4-27 Constitution, as proposed by H.J.R. No. 2, 70th Legislature,
5-1 Regular Session, 1987, is amended by amending Subsections (k) and
5-2 (l) to read as follows:
5-3 (k) Amounts from the economic stabilization fund may be
5-4 appropriated during a regular legislative session in an
5-5 odd-numbered year only for a purpose for which an appropriation
5-6 from general revenue was made by the preceding legislature.
5-7 Amounts from the fund <and> may be appropriated in any other
5-8 legislative <a special> session only for a purpose for which an
5-9 appropriation from general revenue was made in a preceding
5-10 legislative session of the same legislature. An appropriation from
5-11 the economic stabilization fund may be made only if the comptroller
5-12 certifies that appropriations from general revenue made by the
5-13 preceding legislature for the current biennium exceed available
5-14 general revenues and cash balances for the remainder of that
5-15 biennium. The amount of an appropriation from the economic
5-16 stabilization fund may not exceed the difference between the
5-17 comptroller's estimate of general revenue for the current biennium
5-18 or, if the legislature has not established a current biennium, for
5-19 the current fiscal year at the time the comptroller receives for
5-20 certification the bill making the appropriation and the amount of
5-21 general revenue appropriations for that biennium or fiscal year
5-22 previously certified by the comptroller. Appropriations from the
5-23 economic stabilization fund under this subsection may not extend
5-24 beyond the last day of the current biennium or, if the legislature
5-25 has not established a current biennium, the last day of the current
5-26 fiscal year. An appropriation from the economic stabilization fund
5-27 must be approved by a three-fifths vote of the members present in
6-1 each house of the legislature.
6-2 (l) If an estimate of total anticipated revenues for the
6-3 next two fiscal years <a succeeding biennium> prepared by the
6-4 comptroller pursuant to Article III, Section 49a, of this
6-5 constitution is less than the total revenues that are estimated at
6-6 the same time by the comptroller to be available for the current
6-7 fiscal year and that were available for the preceding fiscal year
6-8 <biennium>, the legislature may, by a three-fifths vote of the
6-9 members present in each house, appropriate for the succeeding
6-10 biennium from the economic stabilization fund an amount not to
6-11 exceed this difference. If the legislature makes appropriations
6-12 for a period that is less than the entire succeeding biennium, the
6-13 amount that may be appropriated from the fund shall be reduced
6-14 proportionately. Following each fiscal year, the actual amount of
6-15 revenue shall be computed, and if the estimated difference exceeds
6-16 the actual difference, the comptroller shall transfer the amount
6-17 necessary from general revenue to the economic stabilization fund
6-18 so that the actual difference shall not be exceeded. If all or a
6-19 portion of the difference in revenue <from one biennium to the
6-20 next> results, at least in part, from a change in a tax rate or
6-21 base adopted by the legislature, the computation of revenue
6-22 difference shall be adjusted to the amount that would have been
6-23 available had the rate or base not been changed.
6-24 SECTION 5. Article IV, Section 3, of the Texas Constitution
6-25 is amended to read as follows:
6-26 Sec. 3. The returns of every election for said executive
6-27 officers, until otherwise provided by law, shall be made out,
7-1 sealed up, and transmitted by the returning officers prescribed by
7-2 law, to the seat of Government, directed to the Secretary of State,
7-3 who shall deliver the same to the Speaker of the House of
7-4 Representatives, as soon as the Speaker shall be chosen, and the
7-5 said Speaker shall, during the first week of the next regular
7-6 session of the Legislature, open and publish them in the presence
7-7 of both Houses of the Legislature. The person, voted for at said
7-8 election, having the highest number of votes for each of said
7-9 offices respectively, and being constitutionally eligible, shall be
7-10 declared by the Speaker, under sanction of the Legislature, to be
7-11 elected to said office. But, if two or more persons shall have the
7-12 highest and an equal number of votes for either of said offices,
7-13 one of them shall be immediately chosen to such office by joint
7-14 vote of both Houses of the Legislature. Contested elections for
7-15 either of said offices, shall be determined by both Houses of the
7-16 Legislature in joint session.
7-17 SECTION 6. Article XVII, Section 1, of the Texas
7-18 Constitution is amended to read as follows:
7-19 Sec. 1. (a) The Legislature, at any regular session in
7-20 which the amendment may be proposed under Article III, Section 5,
7-21 of this Constitution, or at any special session when the matter is
7-22 included within the purposes for which the session is convened, may
7-23 propose amendments revising the Constitution, to be voted upon by
7-24 the qualified electors for statewide offices and propositions, as
7-25 defined in the Constitution and statutes of this State. The date
7-26 of the elections shall be specified by the Legislature. The
7-27 proposal for submission must be approved by a vote of two-thirds of
8-1 all the members elected to each House, entered by yeas and nays on
8-2 the journals.
8-3 (b) A brief explanatory statement of the nature of a
8-4 proposed amendment, together with the date of the election and the
8-5 wording of the proposition as it is to appear on the ballot, shall
8-6 be published twice in each newspaper in the State which meets
8-7 requirements set by the Legislature for the publication of official
8-8 notices of officers and departments of the state government. The
8-9 explanatory statement shall be prepared by the Secretary of State
8-10 and shall be approved by the Attorney General. The Secretary of
8-11 State shall send a full and complete copy of the proposed amendment
8-12 or amendments to each county clerk who shall post the same in a
8-13 public place in the courthouse at least 30 days prior to the
8-14 election on said amendment. The first notice shall be published
8-15 not more than 60 days nor less than 50 days before the date of the
8-16 election, and the second notice shall be published on the same day
8-17 in the succeeding week. The Legislature shall fix the standards
8-18 for the rate of charge for the publication, which may not be higher
8-19 than the newspaper's published national rate for advertising per
8-20 column inch.
8-21 (c) The election shall be held in accordance with procedures
8-22 prescribed by the Legislature, and the returning officer in each
8-23 county shall make returns to the Secretary of State of the number
8-24 of legal votes cast at the election for and against each amendment.
8-25 If it appears from the returns that a majority of the votes cast
8-26 have been cast in favor of an amendment, it shall become a part of
8-27 this Constitution, and proclamation thereof shall be made by the
9-1 Governor.
9-2 SECTION 7. This proposed constitutional amendment shall be
9-3 submitted to the voters at an election to be held on November 2,
9-4 1993. The ballot shall be printed to provide for voting for or
9-5 against the proposition: "The constitutional amendment providing
9-6 for annual regular sessions of the legislature."