[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 165 (Friday, November 6, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2738]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           TEXAS HOUSE JOINT 
                             RESOLUTION 39

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. AL GREEN

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, November 6, 2009

  Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, at the request of the Secretary 
of State of the State of Texas, I submit House Joint Resolution 39, as 
passed by the 81st Legislature, Regular Session, 2009, of the State of 
Texas.

                           A Joint Resolution

       Be it resolved by the Legislature of the State of Texas:
       Section 1. The 87th Congress of the United States, on 
     August 27, 1962, in the form of Senate Joint Resolution No. 
     29, proposed to the legislatures of the several states an 
     amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and by a 
     proclamation dated February 4, 1964, published at 29 Federal 
     Register 1715-16 and at 78 Statutes at Large 1117-18, the 
     Administrator of General Services, Bernard L. Boutin--in the 
     presence of native Texan, President Lyndon Baines Johnson--
     declared the amendment to have been ratified by the 
     legislatures of 38 of the 50 states, thereby becoming 
     Amendment XXIV to the United States Constitution, pursuant to 
     Article V thereof, and reading as follows:

                            ``Amendment XXIV

       ``Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to 
     vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice 
     President, for electors for President or Vice President, or 
     for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be 
     denied or abridged by the United States or any State by 
     reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.
       ``Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this 
     article by appropriate legislation.''
       Section 2. While the congress was still deliberating on the 
     poll tax amendment in August of 1962, President John 
     Fitzgerald Kennedy urged the United States House of 
     Representatives to follow the lead of the Senate and propose 
     the amendment for the consideration of the state legislatures 
     ``. . . to finally eliminate this outmoded and arbitrary bar 
     to voting. American citizens should not have to pay to 
     vote.'' And in witnessing the issuance of Amendment XXIV's 
     certificate of validity 17 months later, Kennedy's successor, 
     President Johnson, noted that abolishing the tax requirement 
     `` . . . reaffirmed the simple but unbreakable theme of this 
     Republic. Nothing is so valuable as liberty, and nothing is 
     so necessary to liberty as the freedom to vote without bans 
     or barriers. . . . A change in our Constitution is a serious 
     event. . . . There can now be no one too poor to vote.''
       Section 3. Although Amendment XXIV has been the law of the 
     land since 1964, some 13 years following its effective date, 
     it received symbolic post-ratification in 1977 from the 
     General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia, as 
     reflected in the Congressional Record of March 28, 1977, 
     which printed the full text of Virginia's post-ratification; 
     12 years after that, the amendment gained ceremonial post-
     ratification in 1989 from the General Assembly of the State 
     of North Carolina, as reflected in the Congressional Record 
     of June 6, 1989, which printed the full text of North 
     Carolina's post-ratification; and nearly 13 years after that, 
     the amendment acquired its most recent post-ratification in 
     2002 from the Legislature of the State of Alabama, as 
     reflected in the Congressional Record of September 26, 2002, 
     which printed the full text of Alabama's post-ratification.
       Section 4. The Legislature of the State of Texas--one of 
     only five states still levying a poll tax by 1964--has never 
     approved Amendment XXIV to the Constitution of the United 
     States, but precedent makes clear the opportunity of Texas to 
     post-ratify the amendment in a manner similar to the actions 
     of lawmakers in Alabama, North Carolina, and Virginia.
       Section 5. The Legislature of the State of Texas, as a 
     symbolic gesture, hereby post-ratifies Amendment XXIV to the 
     Constitution of the United States.
       Section 6. Pursuant to Public Law No. 98-497, the Texas 
     secretary of state shall notify the archivist of the United 
     States of the action of the 81st Legislature of the State of 
     Texas, Regular Session, 2009, by forwarding to the archivist 
     an official copy of this resolution.
       Section 7. The Texas secretary of state shall also forward 
     official copies of this resolution to both United States 
     senators from Texas, to all United States representatives 
     from Texas, to the vice president of the United States in his 
     capacity as presiding officer of the United States Senate, 
     and to the speaker of the United States House of 
     Representatives, with the request that this resolution be 
     printed in full in the Congressional Record.

                          ____________________