Article III, Section 24 of the Texas Constitution ("Compensation and Expenses of Members; Duration of Regular Sessions")

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As amended November 5, 1991:

(a) Members of the Legislature shall receive from the public treasury a salary of six hundred dollars ($600) per month, unless a greater amount is recommended by the Texas Ethics Commission and approved by the voters of this State in which case the salary is that amount. Each member shall also receive a per diem set by the Texas Ethics Commission for each day during each regular and special session of the Legislature.

(b) No regular session shall be of longer duration than one hundred and forty (140) days.

(c) In addition to the per diem the members of each House shall be entitled to mileage at the same rate as prescribed by law for employees of the State of Texas.

Editor Comments

Under the Republic of Texas constitution (1836) and each of the state's first four constitutions (1845, 1861, 1866, & 1869), the Legislature set its own daily compensation and mileage rate. For example, the 1845 constitution (Art. III, § 23) provided: "Each member of the Legislature shall receive from the public treasury a compensation for his services, which may be increased or diminished by law . . . ."

As adopted in 1876, this section read: "The members of the Legislature shall receive from the public treasury such compensation for their services, as may, from time to time, be provided by law, not exceeding five dollars per day for the first sixty days of each session; and after that not exceeding two dollars per day for the remainder of the session; except the first session held under this Constitution, when they may receive not exceeding five dollars per day for the first ninety days, and after that not exceeding two dollars per day for the remainder of the session. In addition to the per diem the members of each house shall be entitled to mileage in going to and returning from the seat of government, which mileage shall not exceed five dollars for every twenty-five miles, the distance to be computed by the nearest and most direct route of travel by land regardless of railways or water routes; and the Comptroller of the State shall prepare and preserve a table of distances to each county seat now or hereafter to be established, and by such table the mileage of each member shall be paid; but no member shall be entitled to mileage for any extra session that may be called within one day after the adjournment of a regular or called session."

Between 1881 and 1991, the Legislature passed twenty-five proposed amendments that would have modified this section. Only five of those were approved by the voters. Amendments were approved in 1930, 1954, 1960, 1975, and 1991.

Note that the Texas Attorney General, in Tex. Att'y Gen. Op. M-104 (1967), opined that: "[The 1960 amendment to this section provided] in addition to per diem and traveling expenses an annual salary for members of the Legislature, thus recognizing that official duties of members of the Legislature are performed throughout the year and are not limited to duties performed while the Legislature is in session."

Attorney Steve Smith

Recent Decisions

None.

Historic Decisions

  • Walker v. Baker, 196 S.W.2d 324, 329-30 (Tex. 1946) (emphasis in original) ("[I]f the Senate has the power to convene at will [], it has the power to have as many sessions as it elects; in fact, it could remain in continuous session for the purpose of passing on the Governor's appointments; but a member could not collect any pay for his attendance, because he would not be attending a session of the Legislature. . . . This per diem, multiplied by the number of days the Legislature remains in regular or called session, is the entire compensation a member is entitled to receive, and for it he must attend the legislative sessions and perform all the other duties of his office each biennium.")
  • Spears v. Sheppard, 150 S.W.2d 769, 770 (Tex. 1941) ("Article III, Section 24, [] provides, in part, as follows: '. . . .' This provision of the Constitution definitely fixes the pay of a member of the Legislature at 'a per diem of not exceeding $10.00 per day for the first 120 days of each session,' and does not make the right to such per diem dependent upon actual attendance on the sessions of the Legislature. All that is required is that the Legislature be in session and that the claimant be a member thereof. This provision of the Constitution was doubtless so drawn because, as is well known, much of the work of the Legislature is performed in committee meetings during recess periods.")
  • Terrell v. King, 14 S.W.2d 786, 791 (Tex. 1929) (emphasis in original) ("By the foregoing article the Legislature is forbidden to provide any greater compensation for the services of the members of the Legislature than the stated per diem and mileage. Save as measured by duration of sessions, regular or called, no warrant can be found in the Constitution for the payment of per diem compensation to members of the Legislature. . . . So much of the resolution is therefore in contravention of section 24 of article 3 as undertakes to provide that the members of the committee from the House and Senate shall receive as compensation the sum of ten dollars per day for each day they serve.")

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