By Keffer                                             H.J.R. No. 70
         76R8386 JSA-D                           
                                 A JOINT RESOLUTION
 1-1     proposing a constitutional amendment relating to the composition of
 1-2     the Texas House of Representatives.
 1-3           BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 2, Article III, Texas Constitution, is
 1-5     amended to read as follows:
 1-6           Sec. 2.  (a)  The Senate shall consist of 31 [thirty-one]
 1-7     members[, and shall never be increased above this number].
 1-8           (b)  The House of Representatives shall consist of 150
 1-9     [ninety-three] members until the first apportionment that occurs
1-10     after the publication of the federal decennial census for the year
1-11     2000.  Beginning with that apportionment and at the first
1-12     apportionment that occurs after each federal decennial census
1-13     before the federal decennial census for the year 2100, five
1-14     additional members shall be elected to the House of Representatives
1-15     until the House consists of 200 members [after the adoption of this
1-16     Constitution, when or at any apportionment thereafter, the number
1-17     of Representatives may be increased by the Legislature, upon the
1-18     ratio of not more than one Representative for every fifteen
1-19     thousand inhabitants;  provided, the number of Representatives
1-20     shall never exceed one hundred and fifty].
1-21           SECTION 2.  This proposed constitutional amendment shall be
1-22     submitted to the voters at an election to be held November 2, 1999.
1-23     The ballot shall be printed to permit voting for or against the
1-24     proposition: "The constitutional amendment to gradually increase
 2-1     the number of members of the Texas House of Representatives from
 2-2     150 to 200."