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Texas Legislature, House of Representatives, Appropriations Committee:An Inventory of Records at the Texas State Archives, 1937
Agency HistoryTexas Legislature's House Appropriations Committee was first provided for in the House Rules on the opening day of the 29th Legislature in 1905. Rule VII included Appropriations among the standing committees of the House "with jurisdiction over all bills appropriating moneys out of the State Treasury for maintenance of State Government." The creation of the committee was a response to Governor S.W.T. Lanham's executive message of May 1, 1903, at the close of the First Called Session of the 28th Legislature, requesting both houses to implement a systematic itemization of appropriations wherever possible. The first Appropriations Committee had 21 members and was appointed on January 12, 1905. The Committee continued as one of the standing committees of the Texas House of Representatives, the number of its members has remained in the 20's, and the Committee's charge has remained the same. By 2000, the committee had 27 members, with specific jurisdiction over: all bills and resolutions appropriating money from the state treasury; all bills and resolutions containing provisions resulting in automatic allocation of funds from the state treasuty; all bills and resolutions diverting funds from the state treasury or preventing funds from going in that otherwise would be placed in the state treasury; and all matters pertaining to claims and accounts filed with the legislature against the state unless jurisdiction over those bills and resolutions is specifically granted by these rules to some other standing committee. The appropriations committee may comment upon any bill or resolution containing a provision resulting in an automatic allocation of funds. As a standing committee (according to the Texas Administrative Code, Section 301, Subchapter B), the Appropriations Committee is expected to operate regardless of whether or not the Legislature is currently in session and must do the following: conduct a continuing study of any matter within its jurisdiction and of the instrumentalities of government administering or executing the matter; examine the administration and execution of all laws relating to jurisdictional matters; conduct investigations to collect adequate information and materials necessary to perform its duties; formulate legislative programs; and initiate, draft, and recommend to the House any legislation the committee deems necessary and desirable. The committee chair must introduce or cause to be introduced the legislative programs developed by the committee and shall mobilize efforts to secure the passage of such proposals. The committee may inspect the records, documents, and files of each state department, agency, or office, as needed, to perform its duties. As a standing committee, it is not limited to considering items submitted by individual legislators, but must search for problems within its jurisdiction and develop, formulate, initiate, and secure passage of any legislative solution the committee deems desirable. When the legislature is in session, the committee may meet when it chooses, so long as it adheres to applicable legislative requirements and rules of procedure. When the legislature is not in session, it will meet when necessary to transact the committee's business wherever authorized by the legislation which created the committee. Return to the Table of Contents Scope and Contents of the RecordsRecords consist of minutes, roll call tallies, summaries, financial data, and a report that document the activities of the Texas Legislature's House Appropriations Committee during the 45th Legislature in 1937. Minutes contain proceedings of the committee, summaries of discussion on bills and state agency budgets referred to the committee, and recommendations. Usually each set of minutes is accompanied by at least one roll-call tally noting the number of committee members present for each meeting. A few files contain summaries of the committee actions on the bills and budgets referred to them. The report was created by a subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee which investigated House Bill 600 (to amend the Rural Aid Appropriation for education). To prepare this inventory, the described materials were cursorily reviewed to delineate series, to confirm the accuracy of contents lists, to provide an estimate of dates covered, and to determine record types. Return to the Table of Contents
Return to the Table of Contents RestrictionsRestrictions on AccessNone. Restrictions on UseSome pages are fragile and partially glued together. Do not photocopy without permission from the preservation archivist. Return to the Table of Contents
Return to the Table of Contents Related Material
Return to the Table of Contents Administrative InformationPreferred Citation(Identify the item and cite the series), Records, Appropriations Committee, House of Representatives, Texas Legislature. Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission. Accession InformationAccession numbers: 1983/024, 1988/060 These records were transferred to the Archives and Information Services Division of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission by the Legislative Reference Library on January 7, 1988 and by an unknown agency sometime during the 20th century. An accession number was arbitrarily assigned to the accession with unidentified provenance on October 1, 1982. Processing InformationNancy Enneking, August 2000 Return to the Table of Contents Detailed Description of the Collection
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