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The next legislative session of the Texas Legislature is set to begin January 13, 2015. The legislature meets in regular sessions every two years, beginning at noon on the second Tuesday of odd numbered years. A regular legislative session lasts for 140 consecutive days.
Last week, I wrote about the pre-filing process. As of this writing, 481 bills and 33 joint resolutions, or proposed constitutional amendments, have been filed so far; in recent sessions there have been over 6000 bills filed by the House and Senate. This week, I will discuss a few pre-filed bills that pertain to term limits.
House Joint Resolution (HJR) 38 would prohibit a person who is elected or appointed to an office in the executive department of the state government or any other statewide elected office from serving more than two consecutive terms. The executive department consists of the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Comptroller of Public Accounts, Commissioner of the General Land Office, and Attorney General. Other statewide offices include the Commissioner of Agriculture, and the three Railroad Commissioners. This constitutional amendment would not apply to judicial offices. The bill would not prohibit a person from serving consecutive terms in more than one office; for example, a person could serve two terms as Agriculture Commissioner and two terms as the Lt. Governor.
HJR 46 would change the length of the elected term of state senators from four to six years, but limit the number of terms a person could serve to three. The amendment would also have state representatives elected every four years instead of every two years as they are currently, but limit the number of terms a representative could serve to three. If this amendment were to pass, a person could serve a maximum of twelve years in the House, and 18 years in the Senate.
SJR 6 would limit the number of House terms to six consecutive terms, or a total of 12 years, and the number of Senate terms to three, also for a total of 12 years. A person would be eligible to run again for the same office after two consecutive terms of no service. This amendment would also limit state-wide office holders from serving more than two full terms, and would limit the number of years a person could serve in a local elective office to eight. Service prior to January 1, 2016 would not count toward these terms limits.
Joint resolutions are different than regular legislation in that they require a two-thirds vote from the members of both the Texas House and the Texas Senate to pass out of the legislature. The governor does not have the ability to veto a joint resolution; instead the amendment, also referred to as a proposition, is placed on a state-wide ballot to be voted on by the citizens of this state.
I encourage you to log on to www.capitol.state.tx.us and to view the legislation that has already been pre-filed. Please contact me regarding any legislation of interest to you. You can contact me by writing to P.O. Box 2910, Austin, TX 78768-2910 or by e-mailing me at larry.phillips@house.state.tx.us.
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