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Texas Constitution:Article III, Section 56: Difference between revisions
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Texas Constitution:Article III, Section 56 (view source)
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Rather than expanding or otherwise modifying the January 1874 provision, this section, as adopted in 1876, instead closely tracked the lengthy provision (Art. IV, Sec. [https://scholarship.law.missouri.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=mo_constitutions_race&#page=33 53]) contained in the recently-drafted Missouri Constitution of 1875, which read in part: "The General Assembly shall not pass any local or special law: [1] Authorizing the creation, extension or impairing of liens; [2] Regulating the affairs of counties, cities, townships, wards or school districts; [3] Changing the names of persons or places; . . . In all other cases, where a general law can be made applicable, no local or special law shall be enacted; and whether a general law could have been made applicable in any case, is hereby declared a judicial question, and as such shall be judicially determined without regard to any legislative assertion on that subject. Nor shall the General Assembly indirectly enact such special or local law by the partial repeal of a general law; but laws repealing local or special acts may be passed." | Rather than expanding or otherwise modifying the January 1874 provision, this section, as adopted in 1876, instead closely tracked the lengthy provision (Art. IV, Sec. [https://scholarship.law.missouri.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=mo_constitutions_race&#page=33 53]) contained in the recently-drafted Missouri Constitution of 1875, which read in part: "The General Assembly shall not pass any local or special law: [1] Authorizing the creation, extension or impairing of liens; [2] Regulating the affairs of counties, cities, townships, wards or school districts; [3] Changing the names of persons or places; . . . In all other cases, where a general law can be made applicable, no local or special law shall be enacted; and whether a general law could have been made applicable in any case, is hereby declared a judicial question, and as such shall be judicially determined without regard to any legislative assertion on that subject. Nor shall the General Assembly indirectly enact such special or local law by the partial repeal of a general law; but laws repealing local or special acts may be passed." | ||
This section has been amended once. The 2001 modification was part of a "constitutional cleanup amendment." It made stylistic changes and transferred the substance of Sections [[Texas Constitution:Article XVI, Section 22|22]] and [[Texas Constitution:Article XVI, Section 43|43]] of Article XVI. | This section has been amended once. The 2001 modification was part of a "constitutional cleanup amendment." It made several stylistic changes and transferred the substance of Sections [[Texas Constitution:Article XVI, Section 22|22]] and [[Texas Constitution:Article XVI, Section 43|43]] of Article XVI to this section. | ||
The | The local and special laws authorized by other sections of the constitution, either expressly or by implication, include laws: (1) creating or affecting a conservation and reclamation district (Article XVI, Section [[Texas Constitution:Article XVI, Section 59|59]]); (2) creating or affecting a hospital district (Article IX, Sections [[Texas Constitution:Article IX, Section 4|4]]-[[Texas Constitution:Article IX, Section 11|11]]); (3) concerning the court system (Article V, Sections [[Texas Constitution:Article V, Section 1|1]], [[Texas Constitution:Article V, Section 7|7]], [[Texas Constitution:Article V, Section 8|8]], & [[Texas Constitution:Article V, Section 21|21]]); (4) creating or affecting road or water districts (Article III, Section [[Texas Constitution:Article III, Section 52|52]]); (5) granting aid or a release from taxes in cases of public calamity (Article III, Section [[Texas Constitution:Article III, Section 51|51]], Article VIII, Section [[Texas Constitution:Article VIII, Section 10|10]]); (6) creating or affecting airport authorities (Article IX, Section [[Texas Constitution:Article IX, Section 12|12]]); (7) providing for consolidation of functions of political subdivisions in a county (Article III, Section [[Texas Constitution:Article III, Section 64|64]]); (8) relating to stock laws (Article XVI, Section [[Texas Constitution:Article XVI, Section 23|23]]); and (9) providing for road maintenance (Article VIII, Section [[Texas Constitution:Article VIII, Section 9#mw-content-text|9(e)]]). | ||
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* ''City of Tyler v. Liberty Utilities Corp.'', 571 S.W.3d 336, [https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=11581812043885385661#p342 342-43] (Tex.App.–Houston [1st Dist.] 2018) (footnotes omitted) ("With respect to the general prohibition against enacting local or special laws, the Supreme Court of Texas has characterized the purpose as 'a wholesome one' that 'is intended to prevent the granting of special privileges and to secure uniformity of law throughout the State as far as possible.' The Court has observed that | * ''City of Tyler v. Liberty Utilities Corp.'', 571 S.W.3d 336, [https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=11581812043885385661#p342 342-43] (Tex.App.–Houston [1st Dist.] 2018, no writ) (footnotes omitted) ("With respect to the general prohibition against enacting local or special laws, the Supreme Court of Texas has characterized the purpose as 'a wholesome one' that 'is intended to prevent the granting of special privileges and to secure uniformity of law throughout the State as far as possible.' The Court has observed that . . . . The prohibition on local or special laws in its current form was introduced in the post-reconstruction Texas Constitution of 1876, and it was amended to add Subsection (b) in 2011 [sic].") | ||
* ''Texas Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation v. Lewellen'', 952 S.W.2d 454, [https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=14712011369692053572#p465 465] (Tex. 1997) (citations omitted) ("Moreover, the growers contend that, because of the statute's classifications, it is a local or special law in violation of Article III, Section 56 of the Texas Constitution. A local law is limited to a specific geographic region of the State, while a special law is limited to a particular class of persons distinguished by some characteristic other than geography. Legislation does not violate Article III, Section 56, however, as long as there is a reasonable basis for its classifications. As explained above, the Act satisfies this test.") | * ''Texas Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation v. Lewellen'', 952 S.W.2d 454, [https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=14712011369692053572#p465 465] (Tex. 1997) (citations omitted) ("Moreover, the growers contend that, because of the statute's classifications, it is a local or special law in violation of Article III, Section 56 of the Texas Constitution. A local law is limited to a specific geographic region of the State, while a special law is limited to a particular class of persons distinguished by some characteristic other than geography. Legislation does not violate Article III, Section 56, however, as long as there is a reasonable basis for its classifications. As explained above, the Act satisfies this test.") | ||