Texas Constitutional Convention Updates

Summary of 13 December 1997 Meeting (Rough Notes)

Invocation by Mr. Williams.

Session seven called to order at 9:12 a.m. on December 13, secretary certified a quorum present (13).

Chair asked that everyone take a moment to review the record for the sixth session, and attachment A, Emerging Document. Burnett moved to approve minutes as read, motion carried unanimously.

Treasury report, by Mr. Lowe, balance of $404.05, Mr. Burnett reported anonymous donor had covered the cost of advertising for the month, totaling $85.44. Mr. Lowe passed the hat.

Chair asked for delegate resignations and Ray Wanjura submitted his, effective at session adjournment on December 14, 1997, due to pressing personal reasons.

Chair asked whether anyone present who wanted to become a delegate.

Report from Site and Calendar Committee by Mr. Burnett, set up through March at same location, room rate will rise next year to $50.

Report from Lawful Process committee, by Mr. Burnett, looking at two proposals, one to petition the state of Texas to place issue on ballot, other when that fails is to work via county convention process using model from US const Article 7 where 2/3 of states required for approval; Henson objected to State request for ballot, if we apply they will let us be on the ballot and we will be defeated, Mr. Wanjura also objected on grounds of granting jurisdiction to de facto State by making that request. County convention concept appeared preferrable, in US if 9 of 13 states ratified the const, those 9 were then under the const. Incremental ratification process - we adopt the const as convention, and as folks sign up they have also adopted the const, once numbers are high enough, we could approach the state with transition plan, not as a government but as a voting block. Concern by Burnett on fizzling problem, that without good organization, process and momentum will fizzle, but is leaning toward blend of incremental and county convention concepts. Requested that anyone who could spend time in the library researching this issue do so and sign up for the committee.

Mr. Barnett arrived at the session at 9:35 a.m.

Chair asked for motions to fine-tune the emerging document.

Mr. Burnett moved to change Section 2, Article 2, replacing the words "or forms as specified in this constitution," to "or form of government as specified in this constitution." Friendly amendment by Mr. Wanjura to change to "modify any governmental processes, duties, responsibilities, or form of government as specified in this constitution." Acceptable to Mr. Burnett. Motion carried unanimously.

Mr. Burnett move to change the wording in Section 15, Article 2, replacing "or assistance of any kind" to "or financial assistance of any kind", and removing organization or nation at the end of the section. Second by Mr. Williams. Friendly amendment by Mr. Kesterson to change the ending to "any foreign government or organization." Acceptable to Mr. Burnett. Chair declared period of open forum to discuss the issues involved, concerning incurrence of governmental obligations to other nations in exchange for assistance. Chair returned to formal session, and Mr. Burnett withdrew his motion.

Mr. Burnett moved to add the following to Article 2, to be titled Section 18: "Section 18. No government shall own title to any property not specifically authorized by this constitution." Second by Mr. Barnett. Chair declared period of open forum to discuss the motion. Discussion centered around need to then list those properties specifically to be owned by government, which would constitute the capitol grounds for national, and courthouse grounds for counties. Other property could be leased, down to office equipment. Suggestion made to have government hold properties in trust for the people of Texas, so they were not hampered in their operations. What about embassies on soil of other countries, as government must own property to secure its embassies and personnel. Can specify that government may own properties as needed to maintain embassies on foreign soil. Burnett against a trust which may be managed by people we do not trust. Mr. Wanjura against restricting government's ability to own property. This would also restrict other, foreign governments from owning real property. Could limit the amount of property a foreign nation could actually own for embassy properties, e.g., 50 acres for treatied nations. Returned to formal session, friendly amendment by consensus to change to "Government shall never own title to any real property which is not specifically authorized by this constitution." Acceptable to Mr. Burnett. Motion to table by Mr. Barnett, failed for lack of second. Motion as amended carried.

Chair passed the gavel to Mr. Lowe to act as Vice-Chair, who recognized Mr. Henson. Mr. Henson moved that we reword Article 3, Section 4, to read: "The obligations of contracts shall not be impaired, provided only that all parties to the contract entered the contract knowingly, willingly, and voluntarily." Second by Mr. Jay Baggett. Discussion - purpose to remove the possibility of adhesion contracts, cannot contract with the government anyway, shouldn't contracts have full disclosure but knowingly covers that problem. Motion carried unanimously.

Mr. Henson moved to reword Article 2, Section 3, to read: "Government shall never operate outside the limits of a budget which shall never exceed ninety percent of the revenue collected the previous year." Second by Mr. Jay Baggett. Discussion. Motion carried unanimously.

Mr. Henson moved to reword Article 2, Section 5, to read: "Government shall never restrict individuals from training individually or as a group with arms for the collective defense of life, liberty, or property." Second by Mr. Wanjura. Discussion. Motion to table until delegates have had opportunity to consider the issues further, by Mrs. Lowe, seconded by Mr. Henson, motion to table carried, 6 for, 1 abstain, 5 against.

Mr. Henson moved to add Article 2, Section 19 to read: "Government shall never use anything other than gold or silver or drafts on accounts containing sufficient gold and silver to cover the amounts of outstanding drafts to pay its obligations. Amounts shall be denominated in Alamos, defined as ten grams of 0.9999 gold, or Goliads, defined as ten grams of 0.9999 silver. This shall not prevent individuals from using whtever medium of exchange the free market may allow." Discussion - Mr. Wanjura does not like the idea of using national monuments for money denominations, Mr. Barnett made friendly amendment to drop the last two sentences, acceptable to Mr. Henson. Mrs. Sudbury suggested that this idea be moved to the section on the Treasury, that government be required to pay its obligations in gold or silver. Mr. Burnett called the question. Motion carried unanimously.

Mr. Henson moved to add a title to Article 3, Section 6, to be titled "Writ of Habeas Corpus." Seconded by Mr. Wanjura. Motion carried unanimously.

Mr. Lowe passed the gavel to Mr. Henson as Chair.

Mr. Burnett moved to add Article 1, Section 8, to read: "Every individual has the inherent right to assemble for any reason, provided the assembly does not violate the rights of any other individual." Mr. Lowe thinks it's included in Section 3, Mr. Williams - have established the precedent to be redundant, Mrs. Lowe suggests that this might be better placed in the limits on government in section 12. Motion withdrawn by Mr. Burnett.

Mr. Burnett moved to change Section 12, Article 2, to read: "Government shall never infringe the right of the free movement or assembly of individuals within or across the geographical boundaries of Texas." Seconded by Mr. Barnett. Friendly amendment by Mr. Kesterson to add "or groups" after 'of individuals", accepted by Mr. Burnett. Mr. Barnett and Mr. Henson agreed that this should constitute another section entirely. Acceptable to Mr. Burnett, who withdrew his original motion and moved that we add section 19, "Government shall never restrict individuals from assembling." Second by Mr. Barnett. Friendly amendment from Mr. Kesterson, to change wording to "freely associating or assembling." Acceptable to Mr. Burnett. Motion carried unanimously.

Chair declared recess for ten minutes at 11:35 a.m. and reconvened the session at 11:40 a.m.

Chair declared that three of the delegates, Greg Scales, Dan Childress, and Loraine Childress, had not appeared at the session and were, therefore, unseated in accordance with the resolutions of the convention. Mr. Burnett was accepted by acclamation as Vice-Chair of the convention. Number of seated delegates is 14, quorum is now 8.

Law Committee report by Mr. Henson, committee chair, who handed out copies of proposal for Article 5, Part 1, for consideration by the delegates. Chair declared the session recessed for 1.5 hours at 11:50 a.m.

Session reconvened at 1:37 p.m. Chair declared open forum as committee of the whole for purposes of discussion of the Law Committee report, Article 5, Part 1, Mr. Henson moderating as committee chair.

At 6:30 p.m. Chair returned the committee of the whole to formal session. Mr. Burnett moved to adopt Article 5, Part 1, as amended by the committee of the whole, seconded by Mr. Wanjura. Motion carried unanimously.

Chair then dissolved the Law Committee, as its purpose had been fulfilled. Mr. Wanjura moved to add Article 3, Section 6, to read: "Any individual accused of a crime or tort shall be presumed innocent until proven guilty." Seconded by Mr. Steve Baggett. Motion carried unanimously.

Chair declared the session in recess until 9:00 a.m. on December 14, 1997.

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Copyright at Common Law, West El Paso Information Network, 1997