Purposes of a constitution

1
Purposes of a constitution

1. A brief charter that outlines basics of the
   political game in society.
2. It authorizes government gives legitimacy
3. It outlines structure of government.
4. It outlines political affairs.
5. It defines limit powers of government.
6. It establishes legal contract identifies the
   civil rights of the people.

2
State Constitution Principles

• 1). The state Constitution created a republic
  form of government.
• 2). The state Constitution created separation of
  powers.
• 3).The state Constitution created checks and
  balances.
• 4). The state Constitution accepted federalism.
• 5). Bill of Rights for the people

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Seven Constitutions of Texas

• Types of governments unitary, confederation,
  federations
• All Texas Constitutions found on line at the
  University of Texas law library
  http//tarlton.law.utexas.edu/constitutions/consti
  tutions.html
• 1827, Coahuila y Tejas
• 1836, Republic of Texas.
• 1845, joined the USA federation

4
Texas Constitutions

• 1861, seceded from USA
• 1866, forced reinstatement in the USA federation.
• 1869, forced compliance with Radical Republican
  reconstruction program.

5
1876 Constitution

• Reaction against the United States, and its
  Radical Republican Reconstruction plan.
• None who wrote 1869 permitted.
• Reaction to Union general EJ Davis
• Severely restrict governor. Many elected instead
  of appointed. Legislature dominate power. Central
  schools abolished for local control. Poll tax.

6
1876 Bill of rights

• Included things like
• No suspend writ of habeas corpus
• All trials by jury
• Cant be imprisoned for debt.
• Cant be outlawed to another state.
• Citizen right to arms but Legislature has right
  to regulate wearing prevent crime.

7
Amending U.S. Constitution

• Article V. Propose amendments by 2/3
  House/Senate, or by state conventions on
  application by 2/3 (33) of the state
  legislatures. Over 11,000 attempts
• Ratify in either of two ways and Congress has the
  right to decide the method
• ¾ (38) of state legislatures (to do this Texas
  would need to pass a joint resolution by 2/3), or
• ¾ (38) state conventions
• 27 ratified

8
Amending Texas Constitution

• Proposal requires 2/3 vote in Texas House (100 of
  150) and in Senate (21 of 31).
• Ratification by a simple majority who show up at
  the election polls.
• Low voter turnout uninformed voters are
  problems. Most amendments pass.
• As little as 1.5 of Texas voting age
  population! Disgraceful. Shameful. We are
  supposedly the greatest democracy in the world!
  Ha! Too many just do not care.
• http//www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/historical/70
  -92.shtml

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How get information?

• http//www.csg.org/policy/publications/bookofthest
  ates.aspx
• Analyses of Proposed Constitutional Amendments.
• Texas Legislatures Legislative Council
  http//www.tlc.state.tx.us/const_amends.htm

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State Constitution Problems

• The following have been identified as problems in
  general with most of the 50 state constitutions.
  
• 1. Too long
• U. S. Constitution brief but OK to govern whole
  country!

11
Amending Texas Constitution

• Texas Constitution is huge book with 484
  amendments as of 11/2013.
• Average state constitution is 19,300 words. US
  Constitution 6500.
• Alaska model constitution http//ltgov.alaska.gov/
  treadwell/services/alaska-constitution.html
• Long constitutions are caused by weak amending
  methods and strong special interest groups.

12
Consider the following ---

• http//www.brb.state.tx.us/bfo/bfo.aspx As of
  August 31, 2010 Texas had a total of 37.71
  billion in state debt outstanding. It has more
  than doubled under Perry and the fiscally
  conservative Republican legislature and will cost
  more than 75 million for someone else to pay
  back in 30 years - YOU! They will add to it this
  year with additional vaguely worded amendment
  proposals on the ballot.
• Remember the Analyses of Proposed Constitutional
  Amendments - Texas Legislatures Legislative
  Council publishes this at http//www.tlc.state.t
  x.us/pubsconamend/pubsconamend.html where you can
  find the truth about these amendments before have
  to vote. Most do not understand and WILL pass
  these amendments to let our leaders off the hook
  so they SEEM fiscally conservative
• http//www.texaswatchdog.org/2011/02/texas-taxpaye
  rs-have-rolled-up-billions-in-debt-to-keep-road-Tx
  DOT/1298911865.column
•  http//www.texasbudgetsource.com/2011/03/voters-c
  ould-decide-fate-of-boosting-gas-tax/

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2. Too detailed.

• Excessive details should be left to lesser
  statutory laws only needing to be passed by
  legislature and signed by the governor!
• Too many provisions fail to meet fundamental
  standards of law!

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Too detailed

• Texas Constitution Article 6 prohibits 18, 19,
  and 20 year olds, idiots, lunatics, and poor
  people the right to vote.
• Mississippi requires a religious test for office
  holders
• Georgia has a 250,000 reward for 1st person to
  strike oil!

15
Too detailed

• Alabama Constitution, sec. 102 forbids the
  legislature from legalizing inter-racial
  marriage.
• Constitution of 1901 decrees "The legislature
  shall never pass any law to authorize or legalize
  any marriage between any white person and a
  negro, or descendant of a negro.
• Repealed 2000 in public referendum by vote of 59
  for and 41 against (41 AGAINST!)

16
Too detailed

• Texas Constitution has details like college
  student loan req, public financial statements,
  admin of water boards, water bond sales, parks
  administration, building commission req,
  municipal retirement systems, roads construction,
  tax rates, interest rates on bonds, where gov
  must live, how clerks appointed, sheriff
  elections, selling of school lands, creation of
  hospital districts, railroad operation, seawalls,
  deductions from state salaries, retirement
  systems, AND dueling!

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3. Poorly written

• Most state constitutions were written in language
  of 1800s not commonly used today
• Reforming with modern language makes them more
  easily understood

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4. Too restrictive on the legislative branch

• Inability to call itself into session when need
  to work.
• Constitutional requirement to read bills 3 times
  in each house before can become law. Originally
  because too many could not read.
• 1 to 7 million pages a session should be read to
  meet the law

19
Too restrictive

• Ear-marking revenue to be spent only on activity
  authorized by Constitution
• Also known as dedicated funding, like gasoline
  tax is dedicated to
• 2001 .20 gal2.8 billion comptroller takes 1
  for her admin then divides 75 highways, 25
  education. Republican Legislature proposes 10
  cent increase1 billion/year.
• http//www.texasbudgetsource.com/2011/03/voters-co
  uld-decide-fate-of-boosting-gas-tax/
• Most live in cities but most of money spent on
  rural roads with few people because most used to
  live in the country!
• http//www.texaswatchdog.org/2011/02/texas-taxpaye
  rs-have-rolled-up-billions-in-debt-to-keep-road-Tx
  DOT/1298911865.column

20
Too restrictive

• Dedicated fund problems are
• 1) Legislatures lack control of up to 65 of the
  state budget locked up in dedicated funds
• 2) Dedicated funds prevent the legislature from
  controlling individual agency funding

21
Too restrictive

• 3) Dedicated funds prevent the legislature from
  controlling the overall state budget
• 4) Legislature has no power to use surplus in one
  account to fund another account in the red to
  avoid a tax increase.

22
Too restrictive

• Amendments specifying low legislative pay that
  causes too many conflicts of interest
• New Hampshire pay is 100/year gross Texas
  600/month gross Art. III, sec. 24.

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5. Fragmentation of the executive branch

• Having many state agencies headed by their own
  elected officials who are not in the governors
  chain of command. Texas Railroad Commissioners,
  attorney general, agriculture commissioner, land
  commissioner, comptroller.

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Fragmentation

• Governor near powerless to direct other agency
  heads, unlike in a business or in a cabinet style
  of government.
• Reaction to corrupt governors, like EJ Davis.
  Dispersal of power so that no one governor could
  ever hurt citizens too badly.

25
Fragmentation

• Fragmentation causes a long ballot with many
  candidates/names unfamiliar to the voters.
• Election too often depends on money and name
  identification and slick advertising.

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6. State Court System

• Constitutions create, structure, empower
  courts.
• http//www.courts.state.tx.us/oca/pdf/Court_Struct
  ure_Chart.pdf
• EJ Davis appoints unpopular cronies democrats
  get power back elect.
• Should majority rule courts or the LAW? Federal
  system.

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State Court System

• 254 partisan elected county judges and hundreds
  of elected justices of the peace do not have to
  be lawyers or have any legal training (just be
  voter).
• Too many have little education come from
  unrelated occupations like truck drivers, high
  school students, laborers. Like an airline pilot
  flying with no training. Basic fairness demands
  that litigants accused have a judge trained to
  understand the complexity of law. What good are
  judges if they cant even understand legal
  arguments?
• Partisan elected state local judges whose
  decisions can reflect local politics rather than
  uniform application of law (civil rights),
  straight ticket voting, uninformed electorate.

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State Court System

• Too many elected courts, denounced, reviled,
  described as unprofessional amateurs,
  incompetent, a farce, outworn, feeble,
  respected by few. They keep few records
  operate without supervision since accountable
  only to electorate.
• They are too closely associated with those who
  bring cases to court (police prosecutors
  interest groups). Often interest groups with
  cases before the courts find a favorable person
  to its cause, sometimes one of its employees, and
  run that person as a candidate for the courts and
  spend millions to get him elected --- in effect
  to buy a favorable outcome to a court decision.
  Just imagine if this was the way it worked at the
  federal level that an Exxon could buy favorable
  candidates election to the U.S. Supreme Court to
  get a favorable decision on Exxon Valdez case.

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State Court System

• Many judges former police officers often
  prejudiced against accused. Towns fight for them
  because elected judges raise revenue (such as
  speed traps). Such courts often found in odd
  places like gas stations, sometimes pubic not
  admitted, witnesses not sworn to tell truth, no
  word for word record of proceedings. Leave long
  trail of injustice and mangled rulings, abuses of
  power and law. Often elected in low turn out
  elections.

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State Court System

• Raise money from lawyers litigants with issues
  before the courts wined dined vacationed by
  the same. Coroners in most state counties are not
  physicians, but JPs see http//www.pbs.org/wgbh/pa
  ges/frontline/post-mortem/ which will scare you
  how ignorant elected officials decide wrongly how
  your family member died. It is a scandal that
  must be changed immediately.
• Texas has a dual court system that is only used
  by one other state ... Oklahoma. Supreme Court
  is highest civil court. Court of Criminal
  Appeals is highest criminal supreme court.
  Inefficient ineffective as some judges are busy
  and others not who waste tax money. Financially
  mismanage millions of dollars in fines each year.

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• How do you best prevent corruption in the courts?
  Is it OK when parties and lawyers involved in
  legal actions legally contribute enormous sums of
  money to the very judges deciding their cases?
  First I want you to watch this PBS video "Is
  Justice for Sale" that summarizes the issue.
  http//www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/02192010/watch.h
  tml
• Look at these interviews with experts on the
  subject at http//www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline
  /shows/justice/howshould/ and http//www.pbs.org/w
  gbh/pages/frontline/shows/justice/
• and see this story at http//www.slate.com/id/2201
  960/
• The NYU School of Law has some good information
  to help you understand judicial elections issues
  http//www.brennancenter.org/content/section/categ
  ory/state_judicial_elections and
  http//www.justiceatstake.org/issues/index.cfm
  provides information on fair and impartial courts.

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• Did you see the 2011 news http//www.nytimes.com/2
  009/02/13/us/13judge.html?_r1 how 2 Pennsylvania
  elected state judges were convicted in a kickback
  scheme to convict kids and send them to private
  detention juvenile centers
• See this great story about buying (electing) the
  right judges on a court to get the decision you
  want.
• http//www.brennancenter.org/content/resource/cape
  rton_v_massey/ and http//www.wvrecord.com/news/2
  31208-caperton-refiles-massey-suit-in-virginia
  and http//www.nytimes.com/2012/01/30/opinion/a-re
  form-for-fair-courts.html?nltodaysheadlinesemct
  ha211
• See this March 2012 article on the problem of
  electing judges http//www.nytimes.com/2012/03/16/
  opinion/no-way-to-choose-a-judge.html?nltodayshea
  dlinesemcedit_th_20120316

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NML Model State Constitution

• Deals only with fundamental principles of
  government rather than specific legislative
  details better left to statutory laws.

34
NML Model State Constitution

• Permit only the governor and lt. governor to be
  elected in the executive and judicial branches.
• Allow the governor to nominate agency head and
  judicial appointees confirmed by the legislative
  branch.

35
NML Model State Constitution

• Cabinet style government.
• Grant considerable authority and flexibility to
  the legislative branch as the chief policy making
  and taxing body in the state, like Congress.
• This is in contrast to the part-time legislatures
  lacking adequate staff and resources.

36
NML Model State Constitution

• Even though the 14th Amendment of the U. S.
  Constitution guarantees U.S. Bill of Rights
  protection to the states, the model state
  constitution should also protect the civil
  liberties of its citizens.
• In short, this model constitution is the exact
  opposite of the typical state constitution.

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Constitutional Reform Efforts

• 1974 in Texas was the last reform effort.
  Legislature sat as convention (181 delegates).
• Right to work killed it. Vote 118 to 62 (2/3s
  or 121 needed to pass).
• Rep. Craig Washington Galveston district

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Constitutional Reform Efforts

• 1975 Legislature passed 8 amendments to
  accomplish much of the failed constitutional
  convention proposals.
• Failed 11/4/75 in a constitutional amendment
  election
• Interest group opposition spent millions on media
  advertising to kill it. Only 23 of voters went
  to polls.