The Texas Constitution of 1876 is the state’s current governing document, drafted after Reconstruction by delegates determined to disperse political power, restrict state spending, and keep elected officials close to the voters who put them there. It replaced the 1869 charter, runs well over 80,000 words, and has been amended more than 530 times, making it one of the longest and most frequently revised state constitutions in the country.
Why the Constitution Reads the Way It Does
The constitutional convention opened on September 6, 1875. Of the ninety delegates, forty-one were farmers, and at least forty belonged to the Patrons of Husbandry, better known as the Grange. That bloc voted together, and it pushed hard for low official salaries, tight spending controls, local control of schools, and sharp limits on both legislative and executive authority.1Texas State Historical Association. Constitution of 1876
Their target was the Reconstruction-era government of Governor Edmund J. Davis. Under the 1869 constitution, the governor’s office had accumulated unusual authority, and the state had imposed centralized policing, appointed local officials, and expanded spending in ways that alienated much of the electorate. The 1876 framers set out to make that kind of executive dominance structurally impossible. The document they produced reflects that goal on nearly every page.1Texas State Historical Association. Constitution of 1876
Rights Come First
Article 1 is the Texas Bill of Rights, and its placement at the very front of the constitution is deliberate. The preamble to the article declares that “the general, great and essential principles of liberty and free government may be recognized and established” before any government structure is described.2Texas Legislative Council. Texas Constitution The federal Constitution puts rights in amendments added after the original structure; Texas reversed that order.
Several provisions directly limit government authority. Section 18 states that no person shall ever be imprisoned for debt. Section 15 guarantees the right to trial by jury. Section 19 bars the state from depriving anyone of life, liberty, property, or privileges except through “the due course of the law of the land,” which is Texas’s own version of the due process guarantee found in the Fourteenth Amendment.3Tarlton Law Library. Constitution of Texas (1876) – Preamble and Article 1
Because the Texas Bill of Rights is an independent source of rights and not just a mirror of the federal version, Texas courts sometimes read it to offer broader protections than the U.S. Constitution provides.
A Legislature Built to Stay Small
Article 3 creates one of the most constrained state legislatures in the country. Regular sessions occur only once every two years and cannot last longer than 140 calendar days. Legislators earn $7,200 per year in salary, plus a daily allowance during sessions, and that compensation structure is written into the constitution itself. The framers wanted citizen lawmakers who kept their day jobs.
The fiscal restrictions go further. Article 3, Section 49 prohibits the state from taking on debt except in narrow circumstances: to cover temporary revenue shortfalls of no more than $200,000, to defend against invasion or insurrection, or as specifically authorized elsewhere in the constitution. Any debt beyond those categories requires a constitutional amendment or a voter-approved proposition following a two-thirds vote of both legislative chambers.4Justia. Texas Constitution Art 3 – Sec 49
Section 49a adds the “pay-as-you-go” rule that defines Texas budgeting. Before any spending bill can be sent to the governor, the Comptroller of Public Accounts must certify that enough revenue exists to cover it. If the Comptroller finds the spending exceeds projected revenue, the bill goes back to the originating chamber, and the legislature must either cut spending or find more revenue. The only escape valve is a four-fifths vote of both chambers declaring an emergency.5Justia. Texas Constitution Art 3 – Sec 49a Deficit spending is not just discouraged in Texas. It is constitutionally blocked.
The Plural Executive and a Weak Governor
The governor of Texas is often described as one of the weakest governors in the country, and that is exactly what the framers intended. Article 4, Section 1 divides executive authority among several independently elected officials: the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Comptroller of Public Accounts, Commissioner of the General Land Office, and Attorney General.6Justia. Texas Constitution Art 4 – Sec 1 All of these officers except the Secretary of State win their offices through statewide elections, so they answer to voters rather than to the governor.7Tarlton Law Library. Constitution of Texas (1876) – Article 4
The practical consequence: the Attorney General can take legal positions the governor disagrees with, and the Comptroller can issue revenue estimates that force the governor to redraw budget priorities. Neither can be fired for it. The Lieutenant Governor holds particular influence as the presiding officer of the Senate, controlling committee assignments and the flow of legislation in that chamber.7Tarlton Law Library. Constitution of Texas (1876) – Article 4 Many observers consider that role the most powerful position in state government.
The one area where the governor holds real constitutional muscle is the veto. Article 4, Section 14 grants a general veto power and adds a line-item veto on appropriation bills, letting the governor strike individual spending items while approving the rest of the budget. An override requires two-thirds of both chambers, a high bar that becomes nearly impossible when the legislature has adjourned. A veto issued after adjournment cannot be practically challenged until the next session two years later.
Two Supreme Courts
Article 5 sets up one of the most unusual court structures in the country. Texas is one of only two states with two separate courts of last resort. The Supreme Court of Texas handles all civil appeals, with jurisdiction across the entire state and decisions that are final on every question except criminal matters.8Justia. Texas Constitution Art 5 – Sec 3 The Court of Criminal Appeals sits at the same level but hears only criminal cases, and it has final authority over every criminal matter regardless of severity. All death penalty appeals go directly to that court.9Justia. Texas Constitution Art 5 – Sec 5
Below these two courts sit fourteen intermediate Courts of Appeals, district courts that handle felonies and major civil disputes, statutory and constitutional county courts, and Justice of the Peace courts at the local level. The constitution requires judges at every level to be elected. That keeps the judiciary answerable to voters and also makes Texas judicial races among the most expensive and politically charged in the country.
The split occasionally produces tension. A legal question that touches both civil and criminal law can end up interpreted differently by the two high courts, with no single authority to reconcile the conflict. The framers accepted that risk because they believed dispersing power was always safer than concentrating it.
Homestead Protection and Limits on Taxation
Article 8 sets the ground rules for taxation. It requires that taxation be “equal and uniform” and that all property be taxed in proportion to its value. It capped the state property tax rate, limited county and city rates to half the state rate, and exempted $250 worth of household furniture per family. It even authorized an income tax, though the legislature never imposed one.10Tarlton Law Library. Constitution of Texas (1876) – Article 8 In 2019, Texas voters approved an amendment permanently prohibiting the legislature from enacting a personal income tax.
Article 16, Section 50 shields a family’s home from forced sale for most debts. Creditors generally cannot seize a homestead to satisfy an unpaid obligation. The exceptions are narrow: the mortgage used to buy the home, property taxes on it, certain home improvement loans that follow strict procedural requirements, home equity loans meeting detailed constitutional conditions, and reverse mortgages. The protection predates the 1876 constitution and remains one of the strongest homestead exemptions in the country.
Public Schools and the Permanent School Fund
Article 7 commits Texas to funding “public free schools” and builds the financial machinery to back that commitment. The centerpiece is the Permanent School Fund, an endowment built from land grants and other state property set aside for education. Revenue from that fund flows into the Available School Fund, which is distributed to school districts based on student population.11Texas Education Agency. Article 7 Section 5 – Permanent School Fund and Available School Fund
The State Board of Education manages the fund’s assets under a “prudent person” standard focused on safety and income rather than speculation. Annual distributions from the Permanent School Fund to the Available School Fund cannot exceed six percent of the fund’s average market value. Neither fund may be used to support any religious school.11Texas Education Agency. Article 7 Section 5 – Permanent School Fund and Available School Fund
Why the Document Keeps Growing
Article 17 lays out the only method for changing the Texas Constitution. A proposed amendment must first pass both the House and the Senate by a two-thirds vote of the total membership of each chamber. It then goes on a statewide ballot, where a simple majority of voters can ratify it. The Secretary of State publishes brief explanations to help voters understand what they are approving.
Because the 1876 constitution was written with extraordinary specificity, even routine policy adjustments often require formal amendments. Creating a new category of bonds, adjusting a fund’s distribution rules, or authorizing a county to do something the framers never anticipated all take a constitutional amendment. Since 1876, the legislature has proposed 714 amendments; voters have approved 530 and rejected 181.12Texas Legislative Council. Amendments to the Texas Constitution Since 1876
That pattern is not a defect. It is the design working as intended. Every significant expansion of state power requires a legislative supermajority and direct voter approval, keeping decisions close to the people. The tradeoff is a constitution that reads more like a detailed code than a statement of broad principles, and Texans who want a voice in how the state is run have to keep paying attention to ballot propositions most voters in other states never see.