Texas Legislature, Senate, Committee of the Whole Senate to Investigate Relief Bonds:

An Inventory of the Transcript at the Texas State Archives, 1934

Agency History

Texas Governor Miriam Ferguson called the Third Called Session of the 43rd Legislature in August of 1934 for the primary purpose of passing any necessary laws to provide for the issuance and sale of the remaining bonds permitted by the 1933 Constitutional Amendment for the purpose of affording relief to the Depression-era unemployed and indigent of Texas. Accordingly, on August 30, 1934, Senator Woodruff introduced Senate Resolution 6, proposing that the Senate resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole to inquire into "the adequacy of the present statutes to regulate properly the administration of the relief funds of Texas and into any and all matters... which might be constructively useful in the discharge of [the Committee's] duties." The resolution was adopted and Senator Murphy was appointed chair of the Committee of the Whole Senate. The committee first met on August 31, 1934 for preliminary business and then met daily from September 3 through 7.

On September 7, 1934, the committee adjourned subject to call (but was never recalled) and the Senate immediately took up Senate Bill 5, providing for the issuance of Texas Relief Bonds, Third Series. The bill was amended to substitute for House Bill 1 (a bill with the same intent), but the House did not concur in the amendments and sent the bill to conference committee, where it stayed until September 24, 1934. The conference committee finally proposed a highly detailed version of the bill that issued $6,000,000 in Third Series Relief Bonds and made the Texas Relief Commission part of the Texas State Board of Control; it passed on September 24 after first being defeated and then reconsidered.

Return to the Table of Contents

Scope and Contents of the Records

The record consists solely of an incomplete copy of the transcript of the September 1934 proceedings of the Texas Legislature's Committee of the Whole Senate to Investigate Relief Bonds. The committee inquired into the adequacy of the existing statutes to regulate properly the administration of the relief funds of Texas, particularly by questioning members of the Texas Relief Commission. The transcript contains testimony given before the committee and was originally divided into multiple volumes, one for each day the committee met. The first volume(s) of 125 pages, possibly containing the preliminary proceedings on August 31, copies of legislation, etc., is missing. The remaining five volumes have been unbound and foldered.

The proceedings of the Committee were not printed in the House Journal for the Third Called Session, nor do they appear to have been printed elsewhere.

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

Restrictions

Restrictions on Access

None.

Restrictions on Use

None.

Return to the Table of Contents

Return to the Table of Contents

Related Material

Return to the Table of Contents

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

(Identify the page), Transcript, Committee of the Whole Senate to Investigate Relief Bonds, Senate, Texas Legislature. Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.

Accession Information

Accession number: 2000/188

These records were transferred to the Archives and Information Services Division of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission by an unknown agency in the 20th century. The accession was assigned a number on August 10, 2000.

Processing Information

Nancy Enneking, August 2000

Return to the Table of Contents

Detailed Description of the Collection

Return to the Table of Contents