Article XI, Section 2 of the Texas Constitution
As amended November 2, 1999:
The construction of jails, court-houses and bridges and the laying out, construction and repairing of county roads shall be provided for by general laws.
Editor Comments
Note that Article III, Section 56 generally prohibits "local or special" laws.
Recent Decisions
None.
Historic Decisions
- Collingsworth County v. Allred, 40 S.W.2d 13, 15 (Tex. 1931) ("While the provisions of section 52 of article 3 prior to its amendment prohibited the Legislature from authorizing any county, or other political corporation or subdivision of the state from lending its credit, it did not operate to prevent the Legislature from authorizing a county to lend its credit by the issuance of its negotiable bonds for any of the purposes mentioned in section 2 of article 11 of the Constitution. . . . The provisions of section 2 of article 11, within a short time after its adoption, were held by our Supreme Court to authorize the Legislature to grant counties the power to issue bonds for any of the purposes mentioned in said section.")
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)