July 10, 1978 - August 8, 1978

Leadership

Governor: Dolph Briscoe -  Vetoes

Lieutenant Governor: William Pettus Hobby, Jr.

Speaker of the House: Bill Clayton 

Special Session Topics

 Proclamations   Messages

• Constitutional amendment exempting not to exceed $10,000 of the value of residential homesteads from ad valorem taxes assessed, levied and collected by school districts eligible to participate in the Foundation School Program and exempting an additional $10,000 of the value of residential homesteads of persons 65 years of age or older from taxes assessed, levied and collected by school districts eligible to participate in the Foundation School Program; and providing for state payments to such school districts to replace the reductions in tax revenue resulting from the exemptions [Sat Jul 8, 1978]
• Constitutional amendment which creates a limitation upon any increases, from year to year, of any tax which may be or is levied by political subdivisions of the State of Texas and creating a limitation upon the amount of increases of expenditures, from year to year, which may be authorized by political subdivisions of the State of Texas [Sat Jul 8, 1978]
• Constitutional amendment which requires the Legislature to provide by law for ad valorem taxation of agricultural property and timber land based upon evaluation derived from the productive value of that property; and providing for state payments to local school districts financed under the Foundation School Program to replace actual losses in tax revenue as a result of this provision [Sat Jul 8, 1978]
• Constitutional amendment which would require an affirmative vote of two-thirds of the membership of each House of the Texas Legislature present and voting for the approval of a bill adopting a new or additional state tax or increasing the rate of an existing tax [Sat Jul 8, 1978]
• Constitutional amendment which would require the Legislature to establish by general law a method whereby the electorate may mandate the reduction or increase of taxes levied by the State of Texas [Sat Jul 8, 1978]
• Increasing the personal exemption for the Class A beneficiaries, as defined in Article 14.02, Taxation-General, of the estate of each decedent in the gross amount of $200,000 [Sat Jul 8, 1978]
• Repealing the general sales and use tax on residential utilities as levied by the State of Texas and allowing municipalities to remove the sales tax on residential utilities by a majority vote of the governing body of such municipality [Sat Jul 8, 1978]
• Adopting a property tax code with provision for taxation of property based upon a countywide single appraisal of such property, the adoption and enforcement of uniform appraisal standards statewide, periodic uniform reappraisal of all taxable property, placing a limitation on increases on local property taxes, and taxpayer remedies [Wed Jul 19, 1978]
• Constitutional amendment to permit producers of agricultural and marine commodities to form associations and vote to impose refundable assessments on sale of those commodities by producers [Wed Jul 19, 1978]
• Amending Sections 4 and 5, Chapter 467, Acts of the 54th Legislature, Regular Session, 1955, as amended, relating to contributions by the State of Texas and its agencies from the Social Security Trust Fund in order to obtain federal old age and survivor's insurance coverage for state employees [Thu Jul 20, 1978]
• Transferring certain units and facilities of the Texas Youth Council to the Texas Department of Corrections and the enactment of legislation transferring certain funds appropriated to the Texas Youth Council in the General Appropriations Bill adopted in the Regular Session of the 65th Legislature from the Texas Youth Council to the Texas Department of Corrections [Thu Jul 20, 1978]
• Compensation and expenses of the court reporter of the 31st Judicial District [Thu Aug 3, 1978]
• Requiring common school districts and rural high school districts which do not support county school administration from ad valorem tax revenue as provided in Chapter 18 of the Texas Education Code to be reclassified as independent school districts [Thu Aug 3, 1978]
• Validating the incorporation, establishment of boundaries, and other governmental acts and proceedings of municipalities originally incorporated under Chapter 11, Title 28, V.A.T.S., which incorporation subsequently became the subject of a district court lawsuit relating to the violation of another municipality's territory or extraterritorial jurisdiction, and which lawsuit resulted in a an agreed judgment upholding the incorporation and boundaries as incorporated [Thu Aug 3, 1978]
• Authorizing the Texas Department of Corrections to sell certain real property known as the Blue Ridge Farm and to reinvest the proceeds of that sale in the purchase of additional real property and facilities for use by the Texas Department of Corrections [Fri Aug 4, 1978]
• Exempting from the state sales, excise and use tax certain energy saving materials and equipment [Fri Aug 4, 1978]
• Legislation which permits the Board of Regents of West Texas State University to levy a fixed student fee not to exceed $15 per student for each semester of the long session and not to exceed $7.50 per student for each term of the summer session of such university [Fri Aug 4, 1978]
• Constitutional amendment relating to tax increment financing [Mon Aug 7, 1978]

Journals

The House Journal and Senate Journal for the 65th 2nd Called Session are available from the Legislative Reference Library.

Rules
House Rules (65th R.S.)
Senate Rules (65th R.S.)

Bill statistics for the 65th Legislature, 2nd Called Session

Status	HB	HCR	HJR	HR	SB	SCR	SJR	SR	Total HB & SB	Total
Filed	61	20	56	48	24	18	17	155	85	399
Passed	4	13	1	44	6	13	1	155	10	237
Vetoed	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0