Eight Feet Deep

Texas has one of the longest state con­sti­tu­tions in the coun­try. One might expect that in a state so large and ram­bling where all is sup­pos­edly “big­ger” or so goes the old saw. The cur­rent con­sti­tu­tion is rooted in end­ing Recon­struc­tion in the state and thus requires each time a child is born in Texas the doc­u­ment must be altered in order to allow that new­born cit­i­zen­ship. Weird huh? Well, that is cer­tainly an exag­ger­a­tion but the con­sti­tu­tion has been amended by vot­ers almost 460 times. A fresh new batch of 11 amend­ments await vot­ers’ pas­sage dur­ing the Nov. 3 gen­eral elec­tion. Early vot­ing is already under way for those propositions.

A guide giv­ing a var­ied view of the pro­posed amend­ments has been fur­nished by the ever-informative lib­eral blog, the Burnt Orange Report. One may take a look-see for all 11 props. But here are a few I wish to cuss (actu­ally, no) and discuss:

Props–Props or No Props?

• Propo­si­tion 4 — Estab­lish­ing a National Research Uni­ver­sity Fund

WHAT: This would help pro­vide fund­ing for new poten­tial “Tier 1″ uni­ver­si­ties in Texas in addi­tion to the present two, Uni­ver­sity of Texas and Texas A & M Uni­ver­sity. VERDICT: Unde­cided. I still need to answer a few ques­tions before sup­port­ing this. I would like to see more top research uni­ver­si­ties in Texas but I also want some of the smaller state schools such as the one from which I grad­u­ated to remain viable.

• Propo­si­tion 8 — Allow­ing the State to Con­tribute Resources to Vet­er­ans Hospitals

WHAT: This would put into the con­sti­tu­tion the author­ity for the state and local part­ners to join the VA in estab­lish­ing new vet­er­ans hos­pi­tals. VERDICT: For. I am cyn­i­cal about the moti­va­tion for this becom­ing an amend­ment since I have seen at ground level how invested local com­mu­ni­ties as well as state and national politi­cians are in attain­ing and keep­ing VA med­ical facil­i­ties. VA hos­pi­tals, even out­pa­tient clin­ics are a wel­come item for any city and not just for the vet­er­ans who need and use them. Like other gov­ern­ment facil­i­ties they fur­nish jobs and income to the places in which they are built. That is not a bad thing. But these med­ical cen­ters should be num­ber one about the vet­eran in action and not just in words (a.k.a. dol­lars and cents). Nonethe­less, there are largely-populated areas of Texas such as in the Rio Grande Val­ley and Cor­pus Christi which are in need of VA inpa­tient facil­i­ties. This is why I sup­port the prop.

• Propo­si­tion 9 — Estab­lish­ing the Right to Use and to Access Pub­lic Beaches

WHAT: This pro­posed amend­ment would allow an unre­stricted right for access­ing pub­lic beaches in Texas. This would also let the state to pro­tect beaches and its ease­ments from encroach­ment even if storms or ero­sion causes the beach to shift under houses or busi­nesses. VERDICT: For. The beaches and their approaches belong to the pub­lic and should remain that way.

• Propo­si­tion 11 — Restrict­ing the Use of Emi­nent Domain for Tak­ing Prop­erty for Pub­lic Projects

WHAT: This propo­si­tion, if approved, would by con­sti­tu­tional edict pro­hibit pri­vate prop­erty to be taken by emi­nent domain laws for eco­nomic devel­op­ment means or enhanc­ing tax rev­enues. VERDICT: For. There are loop­holes in this prop which I hope will even­tu­ally be addressed but I think it is a good start. A two-thirds vote by the Leg­is­la­ture would be required for grant­ing the power of emi­nent domain. This amend­ment won’t stop emi­nent domain abuse, such as was seen in build­ing George W. Bush’s Texas Rangers Ball Park at Arling­ton or Jerry Jones’ Cow­boys Sta­dium in the same city. Those mon­u­ments to com­merce had a lot of pub­lic sup­port, of course. But per­haps Prop 11 can some­what cur­tail the abuse.