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.

89(R) SJR 63 - Senate Committee Report version - Bill Text

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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