Article VIII, Section 7 of the Texas Constitution
Adopted February 15, 1876:
The Legislature shall not have power to borrow, or in any manner divert from its purpose, any special fund that may, or ought to, come into the Treasury; and shall make it penal for any person or persons to borrow, withhold or in any manner to divert from its purpose any special fund, or any part thereof.
Editor Comments
None.
Recent Decisions
None.
Historic Decisions
- Gulf Ins. Co. v. James, 185 S.W.2d 966, 971 (Tex. 1945) ("In so doing the Legislature does not violate the provisions of Article VIII, Section 7, of the Constitution, . . . . In the case of Brazos River Conservation & Reclamation District v. McCraw, [] 91 S.W.2d 665, this Court held that the above-quoted constitutional inhibition applies only to special funds created by the Constitution, and not to special funds created by statute. The special funds here under consideration were created by statute, and not by the Constitution. We are also of the opinion that the petitioners have no such vested interest in such funds as would authorize them to enjoin the use of the funds for general purposes.")
Library Resources
- Vernon's Annotated Constitution of the State of Texas (multi-volume and up-to-date resource available at all law and many municipal libraries)
- The Texas State Constitution: A Reference Guide (one-volume resource available at most law and some municipal libraries)
- The Constitution of the State of Texas: An Annotated and Comparative Analysis (two-volume resource available at most law and some municipal libraries)
Online Resources
- Constitution of the State of Texas (1876) (resource published online and maintained by the University of Texas School of Law)
- Amendments to the Texas Constitution Since 1876 (resource published online and regularly updated by the Legislative Council)
- Reports Analyzing Proposed Amendments (resource published online and regularly updated by the Legislative Reference Library)