Article III, Section 33 of the Texas Constitution ("Origination of Revenue Bills in House of Representatives")

As amended November 2, 1999:

All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives.

Editor Comments

As adopted in 1876, this section read: "All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives, but the Senate may amend or reject them as other bills." It has been amended once.

—Attorney Steve Smith

Recent Decisions

None.

Historic Decisions

• Smith v. Davis, 426 S.W.2d 827, 833 (Tex. 1968) ("The plaintiffs' third point is that Section 2b was a bill for 'raising revenue' and therefore unconstitutional because it originated in the Senate rather than in the House of Representatives, as required by Art. 3, Sec. 33 . . . . This constitutional limitation is confined to bills which levy taxes in the strict sense, and does not extend to bills for other purposes which may incidently [sic] create revenue. Day Land and Cattle Co. v. State, [] 4 S.W. 865 (1887). This construction is almost uniformly followed in jurisdictions with identical or similar constitutional provisions. 1 Sutherland, Statutory Construction § 806 (3rd ed. 1943).")

• Gieb v. State, 21 S.W. 190, 190 (Tex.Crim.App. 1893) ("This provision of the constitution has reference to bills raising revenue for such general purposes as the legislature is required or authorized to raise, and to cover such appropriations as are made by that body, and does not apply to laws of special or local character, nor to such police regulations as are put into operation by a vote of the people in particular localities. If the law be local in its operation, and the tax an incident to it, or the tax is to be raised by a municipal corporation for purposes and objects specified in its charter, it is not a revenue law, within the contemplation of the cited provision of the constitution.")

Library Resources

• Vernon's Annotated Constitution of the State of Texas (this multi-volume and up-to-date resource is available at all law libraries and many municipal libraries)

• The Texas State Constitution: A Reference Guide (this one-volume resource is available at most law libraries and some municipal libraries)

• The Constitution of the State of Texas: An Annotated and Comparative Analysis (this two-volume resource is available at most law libraries and some municipal libraries)

Online Resources

• Constitution of the State of Texas (1876) (this resource is published and maintained by the University of Texas School of Law)

• Amendments to the Texas Constitution Since 1876 (this resource is published and regularly updated by the Legislative Council)

• Reports Analyzing Proposed Amendments (this resource is published and regularly updated by the Legislative Reference Library)