Texas Almanac, 1947-1948 Page: 74
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TEXAS ALMANAC -1947-1948.
Article VIIlI.-(Continued.); Article IX.
ject to or rendered for taxation (the County
*Commissioners Court to constitute a board
of equalization); and may also provide for
the classification of all lands with reference
to their value in the several counties.
Sec. 19. Farm Products in the Hands of the
Producer Exempt From All Taxation.-Farm
products in the hands of the producer and
amily supplies for home and farm use are
exempt from all taxation until otherwise di-
rected by a two-thirds vote of all the mem-
bers elect to both houses of the Legislature,
[Note-The foregoing Sec. 19 of Art VIII, an
amendment, was added for the stated purpose of
exempting farm products from taxation Submit-
ted by Sixteenth Legislature (1879), ratified in an
election Sept. 2, 1879, and declared adopted Oct.
14, 1879 1
Sec. 20 No property of any kind in this
State shall ever be assessed for ad valorem
taxes at a greater value than its fair cash
market value nor shall any Board of Equali-
zation of any governmental or political sub-
division or taxing district within this State
fix the value of any property for tax pur-
poses at more than its fair cash market
value, provided, that in order to encourage
the prompt payment of taxes, the Legisla-
ture shall have the power to provide that the
taxpayer shall be allowed by the State and
all governmental and political subdivisions
and taxing districts of the State a three
per cent discount on ad .alorem taxes due
the State or due any governmental or political
subdivision or taxing district of the State if
such taxes are paid ninety days before the
date when they would otherwise become de-
linquent, and the taxpayer shall be allowed
a two per cent discount on said taxes if paid
sixty days before said taxes would become
delinquent, and the taxpayer shall be allowed
a one per cent discount if said taxes are paid
thirty days before they would otherwise be-
come delinquent This amendment shall be
effective Jan 1, 1939. The Legislature shall
pass necessary laws for the proper adminis-
tration of this section
[Note -The foregoing Sec 20 of Art VIII, an
amendment, was added (1) to restrict assessed
1,alue to true market value, and (2) to provide
for stated discounts for prepayment of taxes.
Adopted in an election Aug 23, 1937
ARTICLE IX.-COUNTIES.
Sec 1 Creation and Organization of Coun-
ties; Changing of County Lines.-The Legis-
lature shall have power to create counties for
the convenience of the people, subject to the
following provisions
First In the territory of the State exterior
to all counties now existing, no new counties
shall be created with a less area than 900
square miles, in a square form, unless pre-
vented by pre-existing boundary lines. Should
the State lines render this impracticable in
border counties, the area may be less. The
territory referred to may, at any time, in
whole or in part, be divided into counties in
advance of population and attached for judi-
cial and land surveying purposes to the most
convenient organized county or counties.
Second. Within the territory of any county
or counties now existing, no new county shall
be created with a less area than 700 square
miles, nor shall any such county now existing
be reduced to a less area than 700 square
miles. No new counties shall be created so as
to approach nearer than twelve miles of the
county seat of any county from which it may.
"Explanatory Note -Official text erroneously
states "Commissioner's" instead of "Commis-
sioners'."
tExplanatory Note -Expressed thus in official
draft of ConstitutionIn whole or in part, be taken. Counties of a
less area than 900, but of 700 or more square
miles, within counties now existing, may be
created by a two-thirds vote of each house
of the Legislature, taken by yeas and nays,
and entered on the journals. Any county now
existing may be reduced to an area of not
less than 700 square miles by a like two-
thirds vote. When any part of a county is
stricken off and attached to or created into
another county, the part stricken off shall be
holden for and obliged to pay its proportion
of all the liabilities then existing of the
county from which it was taken, in such man-
ner as may be prescribed by law.
Third. No part of any existing county shall
be detached from it and attached to another
existing county until the proposition for such
change shall have been submitted, in such
manner as may be provided by law, to a vote
of the electors of both counties, and shall
have received a majority of those voting on
the question in each.
County Seats.
Sec. 2. How County Seats Are Created and
Changed.-The Legislature shall pass laws
regulating the manner of removing county
seats, but no county seat situated within five
miles of the geographical center of the county
shall be removed except by a vote of two
thirds of all electors voting on the subject.
A majority of such electors, however, voting
at such election, may remove a county seat
from a point more than five miles from a
geographical center of the county to a point
within five miles of such center, in either
case the center to be determined by a certifi-
cate from the Commissioner of the General
Land Office.
Sec. 3. (1) Holding the belief that the high-
est degree of local self-government which is
consistent with the efficient conduct of those
affairs by necessity lodged in the Nation and
the State will prove most responsive to the
will of the people, and result to reward their
diligence and intelligence by greater economy
and efficiency in their local governmental
affairs, it hereby is ordained-
(2) Any county having a population of
sixth-two thousand (62,000) or more accord-
ing to the then last Federal census may adopt
a county home rule charter, to embrace those
powers appropriate hereto, within the spe-
cific limitations hereinafter provided. It fur-
ther is provided that the Legislature, by a
favoring vote of two thirds of the total mem-
bership of both the Senate and the House of
Representatives, may authorize any county,
having, a population less than that above
specified, to proceed hereunder for the adop-
tion of a charter; however, as a condition for
such authorization, it is required that notice
of the intent to seek legislative authority
hereunder must be published in one or more
newspapers, to give general circulation in
the county affected, not less than once per
week for four (4) consecutive weeks, and the
first of such publications shall appear not
less than thirty (30) days next prior to the
time an act making proposal hereunder may
be introduced in the Legislature. No county
home rule charter may be adopted by any
county save upon a favoring vote of the resi-
dent qualifying electors of the affected coun-
ty In elections submitting to the voters a
proposal to adopt a charter (unless otherwise
provided by a two-thirds vote of the total
membership of each house of the Legisla-
ture) the votes cast by the qualified electors
residing within the limits of all the incor-
porated cities and towns of the county shall
e separately kept but collectively counted
and the votes of the qualified electors of the
county who do not reside within the limits
of any incorporated city or town likewise
shall be separately kept and separately
counted, and unless there be a favoring ma-
jority of the votes cast within and a favoring
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Texas Almanac, 1947-1948, book, 1947; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117136/m1/76/?rotate=90: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.