County Managership Proposed in Texas

The regular session of the Texas legislature which began in January of this year had before it a proposal for a constitutional amendment to permit counties to adopt the county manager plan of government. The resolution providing for submitting the question to the voters at the regular election in 1932 passed the House by the required two-thirds majority, but failed in the Senate by a single vote.The amendment would have empowered counties having a population of over 60,000, on a favorable vote of their qualified voters, to draw up home-rule charters for themselves. On a two-thirds vote of each house of the legislature, all other counties were to have the same privilege. The amendment also carried a grant of power to cities and counties to consolidate the two governments. To carry out the latter provision, the rural and urban votes were to be counted separately; and a majority of the urban and a two-thirds majority of the rural votes were required. The larger majority required in the rural sections was a concession to the natural antipathy to a “one-man government” found among rural voters.