Bill Text: TX HJR67 | 2011-2012 | 82nd Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Proposing a constitutional amendment to authorize the legislature to set the salary of the lieutenant governor and the speaker of the house of representatives.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-04-20 - Left pending in committee [HJR67 Detail]

Download: Texas-2011-HJR67-Introduced.html

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82R918 TJB-D
By: Hartnett H.J.R. No. 67

A JOINT RESOLUTION
proposing a constitutional amendment to authorize the legislature
to set the salary of the lieutenant governor and the speaker of the
house of representatives.
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subsection (a), Section 24, Article III, Texas
Constitution, is amended to read as follows:
(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. The Legislature through the General Appropriations Act
or other law may set the salary of the Speaker of the House of
Representatives in an amount greater than the salary received by
other members of the Legislature. 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.
SECTION 2. Subsection (e), Section 24a, Article III, Texas
Constitution, is amended to read as follows:
(e) The commission may recommend the salary of the members
of the legislature [and may recommend that the salary of the speaker
of the house of representatives and the lieutenant governor be set
at an amount higher than that of other members]. The commission
shall set the per diem of members of the legislature and the
lieutenant governor, and the per diem shall reflect reasonable
estimates of costs and may be raised or lowered biennially as
necessary to pay those costs, but the per diem may not exceed during
a calendar year the amount allowed as of January 1 of that year for
federal income tax purposes as a deduction for living expenses
incurred in a legislative day by a state legislator in connection
with the legislator's business as a legislator, disregarding any
exception in federal law for legislators residing near the Capitol.
SECTION 3. Section 17, Article IV, Texas Constitution, is
amended by amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (b-1) to
read as follows:
(b) The Lieutenant Governor shall, while acting as
President of the Senate, receive for his or her services the same
compensation and mileage which shall be allowed to the members of
the Senate, and no more unless the Legislature sets the salary in a
greater amount as provided by Subsection (b-1) of this section
[Texas Ethics Commission recommends and the voters approve a higher
salary], in which case the salary is that amount; and during the
time the Lieutenant Governor exercises the powers and authority
appertaining to the office of Governor, the Lieutenant Governor
shall receive in like manner the same compensation which the
Governor would have received had the Governor been employed in the
duties of that office, and no more. An increase in the emoluments
of the office of Lieutenant Governor does not make a member of the
Legislature ineligible to serve in the office of Lieutenant
Governor.
(b-1) The Legislature through the General Appropriations
Act or other law may set the salary of the Lieutenant Governor in an
amount greater than the salary allowed to the members of the Senate.
SECTION 4. This proposed constitutional amendment shall be
submitted to the voters at an election to be held November 8, 2011.
The ballot shall be printed to permit voting for or against the
proposition: "The constitutional amendment authorizing the
legislature to set the salary of the lieutenant governor and the
speaker of the house of representatives in an amount greater than
the salary received by other members of the legislature."