Bill Text: TX HJR103 | 2015-2016 | 84th Legislature | Introduced

---

Bill Title: Proposing a constitutional amendment authorizing the governor to reduce the amount of an item of appropriation in an appropriations bill.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-03-23 - Referred to Appropriations [HJR103 Detail]

Download: Texas-2015-HJR103-Introduced.html

---

84R10206 TJB-D
By: Metcalf H.J.R. No. 103

A JOINT RESOLUTION
proposing a constitutional amendment authorizing the governor to
reduce the amount of an item of appropriation in an appropriations
bill.
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 14, Article IV, Texas Constitution, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 14. (a) Every bill which shall have passed both houses
of the Legislature shall be presented to the Governor for his
approval. If he approve he shall sign it; but if he disapprove it,
he shall return it, with his objections, to the House in which it
originated, which House shall enter the objections at large upon
its journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such
reconsideration, two-thirds of the members present agree to pass
the bill, it shall be sent, with the objections, to the other House,
by which likewise it shall be reconsidered; and, if approved by
two-thirds of the members of that House, it shall become a law; but
in such cases the votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas
and nays, and the names of the members voting for and against the
bill shall be entered on the journal of each House respectively. If
any bill shall not be returned by the Governor with his objections
within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been
presented to him, the same shall be a law, in like manner as if he
had signed it, unless the Legislature, by its adjournment, prevent
its return, in which case it shall be a law, unless he shall file the
same, with his objections, in the office of the Secretary of State
and give notice thereof by public proclamation within twenty days
after such adjournment.
(b) If any bill presented to the Governor contains several
items of appropriation, the Governor [he] may object to one or more
of those [such] items, or reduce the amount of one or more of those
items, and approve the other portion of the bill. In such case the
Governor [he] shall append to the bill, at the time of signing it, a
statement of the items to which the Governor [he] objects, and a
statement of the items of appropriation that the Governor has
reduced that specifies the amount of each reduction. No [and no]
item so objected to shall take effect, and the amount of an item of
appropriation reduced by the Governor shall be in accordance with
the Governor's reduction. If the Legislature be in session, the
Governor [he] shall transmit to the House in which the bill
originated a copy of such statement, and the items objected to or
reduced shall be separately considered. If, on reconsideration,
one or more of such items objected to be approved by two-thirds of
the members present of each House, the same shall be part of the
law, notwithstanding the objections of the Governor. If, on
reconsideration, the amount of an item of appropriation reduced by
the Governor is increased by two-thirds of the members present of
each House to a specific amount that does not exceed the amount of
the original appropriation, the amount of the item of appropriation
as increased by the Legislature on reconsideration shall be part of
the law, notwithstanding the reduction made by the Governor.
(c) If any such bill, containing several items of
appropriation, not having been presented to the Governor ten days
(Sundays excepted) prior to adjournment, be in the hands of the
Governor at the time of adjournment, the Governor [he] shall have
twenty days from such adjournment within which to file objections
to or reduce any items thereof and make proclamation of the same.
Such[, and such] item or items to which the Governor objects shall
not take effect, and the amount of an item of appropriation reduced
by the Governor shall be in accordance with the Governor's
reduction.
SECTION 2. This proposed constitutional amendment shall be
submitted to the voters at an election to be held November 3, 2015.
The ballot shall be printed to permit voting for or against the
proposition: "The constitutional amendment granting the governor,
in addition to the existing power to veto an appropriation by
line-item veto, the power to reduce the amount of an appropriation
made by the legislature."