History of I&R in Texas

The following history is an excerpt from David D. Schmidt's book, 
Citizen Lawmakers The Ballot Initiative Revolution.

The founders of the Texas Initiative and Referendum movement were two ministers: Rev. A. B. Francisco of Milano and Rev. B. F. Foster of Galveston.  Also important in Texas I&R leadership before 1900 was Judge Thomas B. King of Stephenville, county judge of Erath County.

The movement was slow to catch on in Texas.  By 1912 Congressman (later U.S. Senator) Morris Shepard had declared himself in favor of I&R; in 1913 the legislature passed a bill allowing I&R as an option for home rule cities, and a state constitutional amendment providing for statewide I&R.

The latter amendment would have required more petition signatures to put an Initiative on the ballot than were needed in any other state: 20 percent of the number of ballots cast in the previous election.  When the amendment was put on the ballot for voter ratification in 1914, voters rejected it, to the delight of some I&R advocates, who believed that they could get the legislature to pass a better version.  They were unable to do so.

After a hiatus of more than half a century, Texans' interest in getting statewide I&R revived when Californians approved their electrifying Proposition 13 tax cut Initiative in 1978.  Leading the movement was Republican State Sen. Walter Mengden of Houston, who had pushed unsuccessfully for I&R at the state's 1974 constitutional convention and in the legislature until his retirement in 1982.  Within a month of the California vote, Gov. Dolph Briscoe and gubernatorial candidate William Clements had announced their support for statewide I&R.

Clements reiterated his commitment once elected, telling the legislature on 25 May 1979: "I have made it absolutely clear to everyone that if I do not get I&R passed, I will call a special session."  But Clements failed to carry out his threat.  Leading the charge for the opposition was the Houston lobbyist James K. Nance, whose law firm represented such major corporate clients as Union Carbide, DuPont, Houston Power and Light, Pennzoil, and United Texas Gas Transmission.

In 1980 the state's Republicans put an I&R question on their 2 May statewide primary election ballot, and party members endorsed it by a seven to one margin. Initiative advocates lost a strong ally when Senator Mengden retired, however, and the effort for statewide I&R seemed to be running out of steam. Nevertheless, Texas Republicans put the I&R question on their primary ballot again on 6 May 1982; party voters favored it by a five to one margin.

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