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• View a thread map showing the birthplaces of all of the governors born in Texas—interestingly, only two out of twenty-one were born in the same town. (Rusk gave us both Gov. James Stephen Hogg, the first governor to be born in Texas, and Gov. Thomas Mitchell Campbell.)
• Consider the higher education institutes that helped prepare twenty-eight governors for leadership. (There are a lot more commonalities here than we saw in birthplaces!)
• Enjoy photos and other memorabilia from inauguration festivities, 1939 to 2019. 

This entry was posted on March 7, 2019 at 12:35 PM and has received 1157 views. Print this entry.

Although our primary focus is on Texas' legislative branch, the LRL maintains a Texas Governors database with a myriad of resources. In addition to providing biographical information on Texas governors, 1846-present, it features a searchable database of executive documents. You can search by governor, document type (executive order, message, proclamation, speech, veto, and other), date of publication, keyword, and session. 

To see the complete list of Texas governors with party affiliation, years in office, and legislatures as governor, click here. 

We also have a few popular searches saved, making it easy to find inaugural items, the governor's emergency matters and budgets, and disaster declarations (from 2001-present) (see below).

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When Gov. Greg Abbott gives his "State of the State" address on January 31, he will carry on a long-standing tradition in Texas leadership, one that pre-dates statehood and governors. The Constitution of the Republic of Texas required the president to provide occasional updates on the state of the government and to recommend areas of attention to the legislature. The practice was carried on when Texas became a state, with the governor presenting the message, and continues to this day.

 

The governor's mandate, per the Texas Constitution, Article 4, Section 9, is to "give to the Legislature information, by message, of the condition of the State, and he shall recommend to the Legislature such measures as he may deem expedient." In the first State of the State message by Gov. J. Pinckney Henderson on February 24, 1846, his message is something of a to-do list for the newly annexed state. State leaders, from comptroller to United States Congressmen, needed to be elected as soon as possible. Texas needed a new tax system, to determine a way to provide for public schools, to organize judicial districts, and more.

 

Henderson gave his second State of the State message on December 15, 1847. (That year, Texas got two State of the State messages in December, since Henderson stepped down as governor, and George T. Wood took the position.) Henderson discusses what the Legislature had done to establish Texas as a state in their first year (and admonishes them for what wasn't completed), but also speaks at length about some current events—the Mexican War and "Indian affairs."

 

Indeed, these messages often begin with a broad overview of the current news, then use those events  to lead in to discussion of specific issues. State of the State topics often are similar to those on the governor's campaign platform, especially if the governor has been recently elected. The address provides legislators with greater insight into the governor's goals for session.

 

The governor delivers the State of the State address to a joint session, at the Legislature's invitation. (See HCR 48, 84th R.S.) Of course, the general public also can view the speech via television, the Internet, etc., so the Governor's audience for the message is much wider than it used to be.

 

Today's "State of the State" messages from the governor are similar in many ways to Gov. Henderson's—describing the current health and well-being of Texas, and setting out what the governor sees as priorities that the Legislature ought to tackle to promote future prosperity. While the historical context surrounding the speech changes, themes like education, budget, and transportation (to name a few) recur again and again. The text of past State of the State addresses can be found in the library's governors database by searching for the phrase, "state of the state." 

This entry was posted on January 31, 2017 at 10:38 AM and has received 6889 views. Print this entry.

Did you know that the Texas Constitution prohibits the House and Senate from passing legislation during the first 60 days of a regular legislative session? That is—unless either chamber suspends the rule by a vote of four-fifths of its membership, or if the legislation is an appropriation or other matter declared by the governor to be an emergency. This is part of the order of business set out by Article 3, Section 5, of the Texas Constitution. What constitutes an "emergency"? Anything that the governor wants to be prioritized in that year's session, or any issue the governor wants to support. If a bill is related to a governor's emergency item, members can decide to vote on it earlier in the session.

 

To take best advantage of that 60-day head start permitted by the emergency designation, the items typically are submitted early in session. Emergency items are ideally matters that could be addressed in the first few months of session. However, the governor can submit emergency items at any time throughout the session. Due to a prohibition in the house rules against considering other bills making an appropriation before the general appropriations bill has finally passed, emergency items submitted by the governor after the first 60 days of a regular session typically relate to appropriations for specific purposes. For example, Gov. William P. Clements submitted two emergency appropriation matters to the 66th Legislature following major tornadoes in Wichita Falls and the surrounding area (filed on April 26, 1979, and May 2, 1979).

 

Recent emergency matters include legislation relating to transportation, abortion, wildfire damage and recovery, and much more. You can explore a listing of emergency items dating from the 38th session (1923) to the 84th (2015) via the library's governors database. 

 

Images:

 

House Journal, 51st R.S. (1949): Governors have used emergency items in different ways over the years, resulting in some submitting items more frequently than others. Govs. Beauford H. Jester and William J. Clements both submitted about 50 emergency items, but Jester spent just two years in office (an average of 25 items/year) and Clements served for a total of eight years (an average of 6.25 items/year). In this 1949 emergency item, Jester hails the work of the Gilmer-Aikin Committee and encourages the Legislature to support its educational reform recommendations.

 

Senate Journal, 43rd R.S. (1933): In March 1933, Gov. Miriam (Ma) Ferguson issued a general proclamation/legislative message declaring a bank moratorium in an attempt to address the growing financial problems of the Great Depression. Her decree was sustained a few days later by President Franklin D. Roosevelt's declaration of a national bank holiday (with federal guidelines).

 

Message from the Office of the Governor to the 84th R.S. (2015): The governor's emergency items are published in the House and Senate Journals, and the governors' messages, press releases, and other materials are collected by the library. Many of these documents (such as Gov. Abbott's 2015 item on transportation) also are available online in our House and Senate Journals and Texas governors database.

 

This entry was posted on January 30, 2017 at 10:00 AM and has received 7277 views. Print this entry.

On January 20, Greg Abbott will be sworn in as Texas' 45th governor. 

 

Like his predecessors, he will deliver an inaugural address to a joint session of the House and Senate, and festivities will be held throughout the day to celebrate his inauguration.

 

To commemorate this event, the Library has prepared a new exhibit highlighting Greg Abbott's inaugural festivities, as well as those of former Texas governors Rick Perry, Ann Richards, and W. Lee 'Pappy' O'Daniel.  Many of the items featured in the exhibit can be seen in our online collection of gubernatorial inauguration materials.

 

 

If you are interested in the work of past governors, the library's governor documents database is a good place to start. You can find things like:

• State budgets that past governors have proposed.
• Emergency matters that past governors have submitted to the Texas Legislature.
• Speeches delivered by past governors, including State of the State speeches and inaugural addresses.
• Executive orders of past governors.
• Bills vetoed by past governors.

If you're looking for something specific and are unable to find it, the library can provide further assistance.  Please contact us at (512) 463-1252.

 

A photo from the exhibit showing Congress Avenue during the inauguration of W. Lee 'Pappy' O'Daniel in 1939.

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