Texas Constitution:Article III, Section 25 and Texas Constitution:Article III, Section 26: Difference between pages
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{{DISPLAYTITLE:Article III, Section | {{DISPLAYTITLE:Article III, Section 26 of the Texas Constitution (''<small>"Apportionment of Members of House of Representatives"</small>'')}}{{Texas Constitution|text=Adopted February 15, 1876: | ||
'''The State shall be | '''The members of the House of Representatives shall be apportioned among the several counties, according to the number of population in each, as nearly as may be, on a ratio obtained by dividing the population of the State, as ascertained by the most recent United States census, by the number of members of which the House is composed; provided, that, whenever a single county has sufficient population to be entitled to a Representative, such county shall be formed into a separate representative district, and when two or more counties are required to make up the ratio of representation, such counties shall be contiguous to each other; and when any one county has more than sufficient population to be entitled to one or more Representatives, such Representative or Representatives shall be apportioned to such county, and for any surplus of population it may be joined in a representative district with any other contiguous county or counties.''' | ||
|editor= | |editor= | ||
None. | |||
|recent= | |recent= | ||
* ''Abbott v. Mexican Am. Legis. Caucus'', 647 S.W.3d 681, [https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=13028638643669327056#p700 700] (Tex. 2022) ("[W]e recognized in ''Smith'' that Section 26's requirements 'are inferior to the necessity of complying with the Equal Protection Clause.' 471 S.W.2d at 378. However, the burden is on the State to show that noncompliance with Section 26 is 'either required or justified to comply with the one-man, one-vote decisions.' ''Id''. Thus far, the State has asserted no such justification here. The possibility that it could do so in further proceedings does not render the Gutierrez Plaintiffs' Section 26 claim facially invalid for purposes of whether immunity has been waived.") | |||
|historic= | |historic= | ||
* ''Clements v. Valles'', 620 S.W.2d 112, [https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=16878065276628951484#p115 115] (Tex. 1981) ("Finally, the failure of the plan in House Bill 960 to allot two representative districts to Nueces County is not justified by the necessity of complying with the Voting Rights Act . . . . Appellees introduced evidence of two alternate plans which created two districts wholly within Nueces County and maintained the voting strength of the Hispanic population, as required by the Voting Rights Act. Although a legislative enactment is entitled to a presumption of validity, it is our opinion that House Bill 960 violates the Texas Constitution and must be declared invalid in its entirety.") | |||
* ''Smith v. Craddick'', 471 S.W.2d 375, [https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=12960073997449546181#p377 377] (Tex. 1971) ("Section 26 requires that apportionment be by county and when two or more counties are required to make up a district of proper population, the district lines shall follow county boundaries and the counties shall be contiguous. A county not entitled to its own representative must be joined to contiguous counties so as to achieve a district with the population total entitled to one representative. The only impairment of this mandate is that a county may be divided if to do so is necessary in order to comply with the equal population requirement of the Fourteenth Amendment.") | |||
|seo_title=Article III, Section | |seo_title=Article III, Section 26 of the Texas Constitution ("Apportionment of Members of House of Representatives") | ||
|seo_keywords=Article 3 Section | |seo_keywords=Article 3 Section 26, Texas Legislature, ... | ||
|seo_description=The | |seo_description=The legislative power of Texas is vested in a Senate and House of Representatives. | ||
|seo_image=Texas_Constitution_of_1876_Article_3.jpg | |seo_image=Texas_Constitution_of_1876_Article_3.jpg | ||
|seo_image_alt=Article III: Legislative Department | |seo_image_alt=Article III: Legislative Department | ||
Revision as of 16:17, August 1, 2023
Adopted February 15, 1876:
The members of the House of Representatives shall be apportioned among the several counties, according to the number of population in each, as nearly as may be, on a ratio obtained by dividing the population of the State, as ascertained by the most recent United States census, by the number of members of which the House is composed; provided, that, whenever a single county has sufficient population to be entitled to a Representative, such county shall be formed into a separate representative district, and when two or more counties are required to make up the ratio of representation, such counties shall be contiguous to each other; and when any one county has more than sufficient population to be entitled to one or more Representatives, such Representative or Representatives shall be apportioned to such county, and for any surplus of population it may be joined in a representative district with any other contiguous county or counties.
Editor Comments
None.
Recent Decisions
- Abbott v. Mexican Am. Legis. Caucus, 647 S.W.3d 681, 700 (Tex. 2022) ("[W]e recognized in Smith that Section 26's requirements 'are inferior to the necessity of complying with the Equal Protection Clause.' 471 S.W.2d at 378. However, the burden is on the State to show that noncompliance with Section 26 is 'either required or justified to comply with the one-man, one-vote decisions.' Id. Thus far, the State has asserted no such justification here. The possibility that it could do so in further proceedings does not render the Gutierrez Plaintiffs' Section 26 claim facially invalid for purposes of whether immunity has been waived.")
Historic Decisions
- Clements v. Valles, 620 S.W.2d 112, 115 (Tex. 1981) ("Finally, the failure of the plan in House Bill 960 to allot two representative districts to Nueces County is not justified by the necessity of complying with the Voting Rights Act . . . . Appellees introduced evidence of two alternate plans which created two districts wholly within Nueces County and maintained the voting strength of the Hispanic population, as required by the Voting Rights Act. Although a legislative enactment is entitled to a presumption of validity, it is our opinion that House Bill 960 violates the Texas Constitution and must be declared invalid in its entirety.")
- Smith v. Craddick, 471 S.W.2d 375, 377 (Tex. 1971) ("Section 26 requires that apportionment be by county and when two or more counties are required to make up a district of proper population, the district lines shall follow county boundaries and the counties shall be contiguous. A county not entitled to its own representative must be joined to contiguous counties so as to achieve a district with the population total entitled to one representative. The only impairment of this mandate is that a county may be divided if to do so is necessary in order to comply with the equal population requirement of the Fourteenth Amendment.")
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)