By: Middleton S.J.R. No. 63
(In the Senate - Filed February 27, 2025; March 13, 2025,
read first time and referred to Committee on State Affairs;
April 14, 2025, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 8, Nays 0; April 14, 2025,
sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.J.R. No. 63 By: Middleton
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION
proposing a constitutional amendment regarding the terminology
used in the Texas Constitution to refer to the partially landlocked
body of water on the southeastern periphery of the North American
continent.
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 33(a), Article I, Texas Constitution, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) In this section, "public beach" means a state-owned
beach bordering on the seaward shore of the Gulf of America [Gulf of
Mexico], extending from mean low tide to the landward boundary of
state-owned submerged land, and any larger area extending from the
line of mean low tide to the line of vegetation bordering on the
Gulf of America [Gulf of Mexico] to which the public has acquired a
right of use or easement to or over the area by prescription or
dedication or has established and retained a right by virtue of
continuous right in the public under Texas common law.
SECTION 2. Section 1-i, Article VIII, Texas Constitution,
is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 1-i. The legislature by general law may provide ad
valorem tax relief for mobile marine drilling equipment designed
for offshore drilling of oil or gas wells that is being stored while
not in use in a county bordering on the Gulf of America [Gulf of
Mexico] or on a bay or other body of water immediately adjacent to
the Gulf of America [Gulf of Mexico].
SECTION 3. Section 1-A, Article IX, Texas Constitution, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 1-A. The Legislature may authorize the governing body
of any county bordering on the Gulf of America [Gulf of Mexico] or
the tidewater limits thereof to regulate and restrict the speed,
parking and travel of motor vehicles on beaches available to the
public by virtue of public right and the littering of such beaches.
Nothing in this amendment shall increase the rights of any
riparian or littoral landowner with regard to beaches available to
the public by virtue of public right or submerged lands.
The Legislature may enact any laws not inconsistent with this
Section which it may deem necessary to permit said counties to
implement, enforce and administer the provisions contained herein.
Should the Legislature enact legislation in anticipation of
the adoption of this amendment, such legislation shall not be
invalid by reason of its anticipatory character.
SECTION 4. Section 7(a), Article XI, Texas Constitution, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) All counties and cities bordering on the coast of the
Gulf of America [Gulf of Mexico] are hereby authorized upon a vote
of the majority of the qualified voters voting thereon at an
election called for such purpose to levy and collect such tax for
construction of sea walls, breakwaters, or sanitary purposes, as
may now or may hereafter be authorized by law, and may create a debt
for such works and issue bonds in evidence thereof. But no debt for
any purpose shall ever be incurred in any manner by any city or
county unless provision is made, at the time of creating the same,
for levying and collecting a sufficient tax to pay the interest
thereon and provide at least two per cent (2%) as a sinking fund,
except as provided by Subsection (b); and the condemnation of the
right of way for the erection of such works shall be fully provided
for.
SECTION 5. This proposed constitutional amendment shall be
submitted to the voters at an election to be held on November 4,
2025. The ballot shall be printed to provide for voting for or
against the proposition: "The constitutional amendment changing
references in the Texas Constitution to the partially landlocked
body of water on the southeastern periphery of the North American
continent, commonly known as the "Gulf of Mexico," to the "Gulf of
America."
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