History
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 approval in 1914, voters
rejected it, to the delight of 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 was revived when Californians approved their electrifying
Proposition 13 tax cut initiative in 1978. Leading the movement was
Republican State Senator 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, Governor 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 keep his promise. Leading 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 measure on their May 2
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 May 6, 1982, and party voters
favored it by a five to one margin.
However, when George W. Bush was elected Governor in 1994, he
allowed the state’s Republican Party to remove the pro I&R plank from
the Party’s platform and replace it with an anti I&R platform. This change
effectively ended any chances of I&R being adopted in the state for the
foreseeable future. Nonetheless, state I&R activist Mike Ford – founder of
the group Initiatives for Texas – worked throughout the 1990’s and the first decade of the twenty-first century to educate the citizens of Texas about the importance of the I&R process. Mike, who is rapidly approaching birthday number 80, turned the reins of this group over to Art Bedford of San Augustine, TX, in January 2010. Mike still remains active and is Art’s mentor. Art has renamed the group Texans for Initiative & Referendum Rights.” You can email Art by clicking here.
Excerpted from the Initiative & Referendum Almanac by M. Dane Waters.