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Laws governing ballot measures in Texas

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Laws governing ballot measures
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State
• Laws governing state initiative processes
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• Changes to ballot measure law in 2025
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• Analysis of 2025 changes to laws governing ballot measures
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• Laws governing local ballot measures
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This page provides an overview of resources addressing the laws and procedures that govern statewide and local ballot measures in Texas, including constitutional amendments and campaign finance regulations.

Explore the links below for more information:

Laws governing ballot measures in Texas

Types of ballot measures in Texas

  • In Texas, citizens do not have the power to initiate ballot measures at the state level.
  • In Texas, a party's state executive committee, by a simple majority vote, can decide to place political party advisory questions on the general primary election ballot. State law also authorizes citizens to petition political parties to place advisory questions on a party’s primary ballot if they gather signatures equal to 5% of that party’s last gubernatorial primary turnout and submit signatures by the regular filing deadline for candidates.
  • Since adopting the current constitution in 1876, Texas voters have decided on 712 measures—all constitutional amendments.


Amending the Texas Constitution

  • The Texas Constitution provides one mechanism for amending the state's constitution—legislatively referred constitutional amendments. A two-thirds (66.67%) vote is required during one legislative session for the Texas State Legislature to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot. Texas requires a simple majority vote (50% plus 1) for voters to approve constitutional amendments.


Laws governing local ballot measures in Texas

  • There are no explicit constitutional provisions authorizing local initiative in Texas. State statute authorizes an initiative process for charter amendments.[1]


Laws governing recall in Texas

  • Texas law does not provide for the recall of state officials.
  • Recall of local elected officials in Texas is available only in political subdivisions that have their own charter, and only if their charter specifically authorizes recall of the local elected officials.



Campaign finance requirements for Texas ballot measures

  • PACs that support or oppose ballot measures in Texas must register and report campaign finance.

Changes to laws governing ballot measures in Texas

See also: Changes to laws governing ballot measures
See also: Changes in 2025 to laws governing ballot measures
  • House Bill 103: Establishes the creation of a public statewide database cataloging historical and current information on bonds, taxes, and bond-related projects, to be managed by the Texas comptroller.[2]
HB 103 Vote Senate House
Yes No NV Yes No NV
Total 29 1 0 127 4 19
Democratic (D) 10 1 0 46 3 13
Republican (R) 19 0 0 81 1 6
  • House Bill 2253: State Sen. Angela Paxton (R-8) sponsored the legislation. The bill allows local jurisdictions to cancel bond elections if the governor issues a disaster declaration affecting the local jurisdiction within 90 days before the election or the governing board of the local jurisdiction votes to cancel it due to damage to the election system, potential harm to election workers, or potential harm to voters within the jurisdiction. The bill also authorizes the governing body of local jurisdictions to hold open meetings to determine whether to cancel an election.[3]
HB 2253 Vote Senate House
Yes No NV Yes No NV
Total 31 0 0 123 17 10
Democratic (D) 11 0 0 60 1 1
Republican (R) 20 0 0 63 16 9
  • House Bill 3526: The bill requires the Texas Bond Review Board to develop and maintain a publicly accessible database of local government bond proposals and issued bonds, including financial information such as estimated repayment amounts, principal and interest paid, and required tax rate increases. The bill also requires local governments proposing bond issues must submit reports to the Board before and after bond elections.[4]
HB 3526 Vote Senate House
Yes No NV Yes No NV
Total 31 0 0 131 0 19
Democratic (D) 11 0 0 50 0 12
Republican (R) 20 0 0 81 0 7
  • Senate Bill 506: State Reps. Dennis Paul (R-129), Steve Toth (R-15), and Carl Tepper (R-84) sponsored the legislation. The bill requires ballot questions to be written with "definiteness, certainty, and facial neutrality that the voters are not misled." The bill would also allow voters to petition the secretary of state to review the ballot questions of local charter amendments, initiatives, and referendums to determine if they are misleading, inaccurate, or prejudicial. If the question is found to be so, the city would be required to draft a new question and give notice of the ballot measure election with the new question. SB 506 would also prohibit a local jurisdiction from placing a ballot measure on the ballot if an initiative addressing the same topic has already qualified for the ballot or if the measure would contradict a provision of the qualified initiative.[5]
SB 506 Vote Senate House
Yes No NV Yes No NV
Total 23 8 0 102 37 11
Democratic (D) 3 8 0 19 37 6
Republican (R) 20 0 0 83 0 5
  • Senate Bill 1025: Requires ballot propositions that propose the imposition or increase of a tax to include, at the top of the proposition in capital letters, the statement "THIS IS A TAX INCREASE". [6]
SB 1025 Vote Senate House
Yes No NV Yes No NV
Total 28 2 1 102 45 1
Democratic (D) 8 2 1 17 44 1
Republican (R) 20 0 0 85 1 0

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Texas Revised Statute, "TX Local Govt. Sec. 9004," accessed September 25, 2025
  2. ↑ Texas Legislature Online, "HB 103 Enrolled Version," accessed July 15, 2025
  3. ↑ Texas State Legislature, "House Bill 2253," accessed July 31, 2025
  4. ↑ Texas Legislature Online, "HB 3526 Enrolled Version," accessed May 30, 2025
  5. ↑ Texas State Legislature, "Senate Bill 506," accessed July 31, 2025
  6. ↑ Texas Legislature Online, "SB 1025 Enrolled Version," accessed May 30, 2025
  7. ↑ Texas State Legislature, "Senate Bill 30," accessed June 27, 2023
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