Texas Proposition 3, Appointed Officer Term Expiration Amendment (2017)
| Texas Proposition 3 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 7, 2017 | |
| Topic State executive official measures | |
Status Approved | |
| Type Constitutional amendment | Origin State legislature |
| 2017 measures |
|---|
 |
| November 7, 2017 |
| Texas Proposition 7 |
| Texas Proposition 4 |
| Texas Proposition 6 |
| Texas Proposition 3 |
| Texas Proposition 5 |
| Texas Proposition 1 |
| Texas Proposition 2 |
Texas Proposition 3, the Appointed Officer Term Expiration Amendment, was on the ballot in Texas as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on November 7, 2017. It was approved.[1]
| A "yes" vote supported this amendment to provide that unsalaried officials appointed by the governor with consent of the Senate cannot be in office beyond the end of the legislative session following the expiration of their terms. |
| A "no" vote opposed this amendment to provide that unsalaried officials appointed by the governor with consent of the Senate cannot be in office beyond the end of the legislative session following the expiration of their terms. |
Election results
| Proposition 3 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
| Yes | 722,753 | 83.16% | ||
| No | 146,390 | 16.84% | ||
- Election results from Texas Elections Office
Overview
Context of Proposition 3
Proposition 3 made an exception to the requirement that appointed officials serve until their successors are qualified. As of 2017, appointed officials could remain in office past the expiration of their terms until their successors were appointed and qualified. This is referred to as the holdover provision and, according to the Texas Senate Research Center, was designed to prevent vacancies.[2]
Amendment design
Proposition 3 exempted unsalaried officials appointed by the governor with consent of the Senate from the holdover provision. In other words, Proposition 3 prevents them from serving indefinitely in office past the expiration of their terms if no successor has been appointed. Proposition 3 was designed to allow these officials to serve after their terms expire only until the last day of the regular legislative session that begins after the terms end. If a new official is not appointed by the end of the session, then the office would become vacant.[1]
Text of measure
Ballot title
The ballot title was as follows:[1]
| “ | The constitutional amendment limiting the service of certain officeholders appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate after the expiration of the person’s term of office.[3] | ” |
Constitutional changes
- See also: Article 16, Texas Constitution
The measure amended Section 17 of Article 16 of the Texas Constitution. The following underlined text was added, and the struck-through text was deleted:[1]
(a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) of this section, all All officers of within this State shall continue to perform the duties of their offices until their successors shall be duly qualified.
(b) Following the expiration of a term of an appointive office that is filled by appointment of the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate and that is not an office for which the officer receives a salary, the period for which the officer shall continue to perform the duties of office under Subsection (a) of this section ends on the last day of the first regular session of the Legislature that begins after the expiration of the term.[3]
Readability score
- See also: Ballot measure readability scores, 2017
| Using the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL and Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) formulas, Ballotpedia scored the readability of the ballot title and summary for this measure. Readability scores are designed to indicate the reading difficulty of text. The Flesch-Kincaid formulas account for the number of words, syllables, and sentences in a text; they do not account for the difficulty of the ideas in the text. The Texas State Legislature wrote the ballot language for this measure.
|
Support
Arguments
The Texas House Research Organization (HRO) provided arguments supporting and arguments opposing the amendment. The following was the HRO's supporting arguments:[4]
| “ | SJR 34 would address concerns about some gubernatorial appointees being held over in their positions long after their terms have expired. Amending the Texas Constitution to place a limit on how long an appointee whose term had expired could continuing serving in office would ensure that these non-salaried volunteer positions were rotated among qualified Texans. Placing the limit at the end of a regular legislative session would allow the Texas Senate to hold confirmation hearings on replacement appointees.[3] | ” |
Opposition
Arguments
The Texas House Research Organization (HRO) provided arguments supporting and arguments opposing the amendment. The following was the HRO's opposing arguments:[4]
| “ | SJR 34 could result in important appointed offices remaining vacant if a successor had not been duly qualified within the time limits of the proposal. The Office of the Governor has many appointed positions to fill, and the existing constitutional provision allows flexibility for appointees to continue serving until qualified replacements can be found.[3] | ” |
Campaign finance
| Total campaign contributions: | |
| Support: | $0.00 |
| Opposition: | $0.00 |
No ballot measure committees registered to support or oppose the constitutional amendment.[5]
Media editorials
- See also: 2017 ballot measure media endorsements
Support
- The Dallas Morning News said: "This measure would limit the time these holdover appointees could serve to the last day of the regular legislative session after the term has expired. It would allow the state Senate time to consider and confirm nominees. And surely, we need fresh ideas from a diverse group of qualified Texans. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle gave it overwhelming support. Texas voters should do the same."[6]
- The Austin Chronicle said: "The amendment would create firm term limits (effectively the end of next regular session) of gubernatorial appointees for volunteer boards and commissions, making more certain that appointees would be subject to regular Senate confirmation."[7]
- The San Antonio Express-News said: "Proposition 3, limiting the terms for certain appointees of the governor, merits voter approval. [...] Over the course of a four-year term, a Texas governor has the privilege of appointing more than 3,000 people to serve on boards and commissions. Those appointments need to be made in a timely manner."[8]
Opposition
- The Houston Chronicle said: "Altering this system risks turning appointed positions into tug-of-wars between interest groups or proxy battles for greater political fights. Keeping those holdovers offers a sense of stability. The last thing Texans need are empty seats or more opportunity for political chaos."[9]
Background
Referred amendments on the ballot
From 1995 through 2015, the state legislature referred 152 constitutional amendments to the ballot. Voters approved 138 and rejected 14 of the referred amendments. Most of the amendments (136 of 152) were referred to the ballot for elections during odd-numbered election years. The average number of amendments appearing on an odd-year ballot was between 13 and 14. The approval rate at the ballot box was 90.8 percent during the 20-year period from 1995 through 2015. The rejection rate was 9.2 percent. In 2015, there were seven referred amendments on the ballot, the lowest number for an odd-year ballot between 1995 and 2015.
| Legislatively-referred constitutional amendments, 1995-2015 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total number | Approved | Percent approved | Defeated | Percent defeated | Odd-year average | Odd-year median | Odd-year minimum | Odd-year maximum | |
| 152 | 138 | 90.79% | 14 | 9.21% | 13.6 | 14.0 | 7 | 22 | |
Path to the ballot
- See also: Amending the Texas Constitution
In Texas, a two-thirds vote in both chambers of the Texas State Legislature during one legislative session is required to refer a constitutional amendment to the ballot. Texas is one of 16 states that require a two-thirds supermajority vote in both chambers.
Sen. Brian Birdwell (R-22) filed the amendment in the state legislature as Senate Joint Resolution 34 (SJR 34) on January 25, 2017. The Texas Senate approved the amendment on April 20, 2017. All 31 members of the Senate voted in favor of the bill. The Texas House of Representatives approved the amendment 142 to 4 with four members not voting on May 23, 2017. The measure was filed with the secretary of state on May 25, 2017.[10]
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See also
- Texas 2017 ballot measures
- 2017 ballot measures
- Texas Legislature
- State executive official measures on the ballot
External links
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Texas Officer Term Expiration Amendment. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Texas Legislature, "Senate Joint Resolution 34," accessed April 21, 2017
- ↑ Texas Senate Research Center, "SJR 34 Bill Analysis," May 30, 2017
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source. Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "quotedisclaimer" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid<ref>tag; name "quotedisclaimer" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid<ref>tag; name "quotedisclaimer" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ 4.0 4.1 Texas Legislature, "House Research Organization SJR 34 Analysis," May 23, 2017
- ↑ Texas Ethics Commission, "Campaign Finance Reports Search & Lists," accessed October 11, 2025
- ↑ The Dallas Morning News, "We recommend a 'yes' vote on statewide Propositions 1, 2 and 3," October 18, 2017
- ↑ "The Austin Chronicle, "Our endorsements on local bond packages and state constitutional amendments," October 20, 2017
- ↑ San Antonio Express-News, "Proposition 3 on gubernatorial appointments merits approval," October 27, 2017
- ↑ The Houston Chronicle, "State Propositions: Voters should vote for 1 and against 2 and 3," October 19, 2017
- ↑ Texas Legislature, "SJR 34 Overview," accessed April 21, 2017
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