By: Allen, et al. (Senate Sponsor - Ellis) H.J.R. No. 39

(In the Senate - Received from the House May 1, 2007; May 10, 2007, read first time and referred to Committee on State Affairs; May 18, 2007, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 6, Nays 0; May 18, 2007, sent to printer.)

HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION

post-ratifying Amendment XXIV to the Constitution of the United States prohibiting the denial or abridgment of the right to vote for failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. The 87th Congress of the United States on August 27, 1962, in the form of Senate Joint Resolution No. 29, proposed to the legislatures of the several states an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and by a proclamation dated February 4, 1964, published at 29 Federal Register 1715-16 and at 78 Statutes at Large 1117-18, the Administrator of General Services, Bernard L. Boutin--in the presence of native Texan, President Lyndon Baines Johnson--declared the amendment to have been ratified by the legislatures of 38 of the 50 states, thereby becoming Amendment XXIV to the United States Constitution pursuant to Article V thereof, as follows:

"AMENDMENT XXIV.

"SECTION 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.

"SECTION 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."

SECTION 2. While the congress was still deliberating on the poll tax amendment in August of 1962, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy urged the United States House of Representatives to propose the amendment for the consideration of the state legislatures ". . . to finally eliminate this outmoded and arbitrary bar to voting. American citizens should not have to pay to vote." And in witnessing the issuance of Amendment XXIV's certificate of validity 17 months later, President Johnson noted that abolishing the tax requirement ". . . reaffirmed the simple but unbreakable theme of this Republic. Nothing is so valuable as liberty, and nothing is so necessary to liberty as the freedom to vote without bans or barriers. ****A change in our Constitution is a serious event.**** There can now be no one too poor to vote."

SECTION 3. Although Amendment XXIV has been the law of the land since 1964, some 13 years following its effective date, it received symbolic post-ratification in 1977 from the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia, as reflected in the Congressional Record of March 28, 1977, which printed the full text of Virginia's post-ratification; 12 years after that, the amendment received ceremonial post-ratification in 1989 from the General Assembly of the State of North Carolina, as reflected in the Congressional Record of June 6, 1989, which printed the full text of North Carolina's post-ratification; and nearly 13 years after that, the amendment received its most recent post-ratification in 2002 from the Legislature of the State of Alabama, as reflected in the Congressional Record of September 26, 2002, which printed the full text of Alabama's post-ratification.

SECTION 4. The Legislature of the State of Texas--one of only five states still levying a poll tax by 1964--has never approved Amendment XXIV to the Constitution of the United States, but precedent makes clear the opportunity of this state to post-ratify the amendment in a manner similar to the actions of lawmakers in Alabama, North Carolina, and Virginia.

SECTION 5. The Legislature of the State of Texas hereby post-ratifies Amendment XXIV to the Constitution of the United States.

SECTION 6. The Texas secretary of state shall notify the archivist of the United States of the action of the 80th Legislature of the State of Texas, Regular Session, 2007, by forwarding to the archivist an official copy of this resolution.

SECTION 7. The Texas secretary of state shall also forward official copies of this resolution to both United States senators from Texas, to all United States representatives from Texas, to the vice president of the United States in his capacity as presiding officer of the United States Senate, and to the speaker of the United States House of Representatives with the request that it be printed in full in the Congressional Record.

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