16th 1st Called Session
June 10, 1879 - July 9, 1879

Leadership

Governor: Oran M. Roberts
Lieutenant Governor: Joseph Draper Sayers
Speaker(s) of the House: John Hughes Cochran 

Special Session Topics

• Amend the law establishing a normal school at Prairie View, in respect to the fund to be applied to it, the law establishing the normal school at Huntsville extending the time for perfecting the title to the property donated to the state. [Tue Jun 10, 1879]
• Amend the law establishing the Agricultural and Mechanical College at Bryan, so as to allow the board of directors to devote and apply the interest of its fund or a part of it than to pay "directors, professors and officers," so that it may be made more conformable to the design of said institution, for the education of skilled labor in agriculture and the mechanic arts. [Tue Jun 10, 1879]
• Amend the law letting out on contract the conveying of convicts to the penitentiary, so as to permit the sheriff to carry them in one week after adjournment of the court, if the contractor does not apply for them. [Tue Jun 10, 1879]
• Amend the law making the deficiency appropriation passed y the Sixteenth Legislature so as to make an equal distribution to all of the owners of claims, according to their amounts, as nearly as for their payment, and to provide for warrants not bearing interest to be issued to tax collectors embraced in said act who are indebted to the treasury, and to add other valid and just deficiency claims that may be found due. [Tue Jun 10, 1879]
• Amend the law passed by the Sixteenth Legislature, providing a mode of making payment of school teachers' accounts during the scholastic years of 1875 and 1876, so as equally to provide for the payment of superintendents and directors of schools during the same periods. [Tue Jun 10, 1879]
• Amend the law relating to county finances in respect to accounts approved by the commissioners' court. [Tue Jun 10, 1879]
• Amend the law relating to requiring tax collectors to bid in lands for the state, so as to prevent a conflict in the two statutes passed upon that subject the by Sixteenth Legislature, in Senate bill No. 123 and House bill No. 338. [Tue Jun 10, 1879]
• Amend the law relating to sheriffs fees for conveying prisoners, to prevent conflict between the two statutes passed by the Sixteenth Legislature in the Penal Code as amended and Senate bill No. 252. [Tue Jun 10, 1879]
• Amend the law so as to allow indigent convicts who are pardoned out of the penitentiary to be furnished with clothing and transportation, the same as other discharged convicts are by law. [Tue Jun 10, 1879]
• Amend the laws relating to cattle and hide inspectors so as to reconcile the real of apparent conflict in the several laws passed by the Sixteenth Legislature, as to the power of the governor to appoint in counties bordering on Red river, and as to other matters in House bill No. 99, Senate bill No. 322, Penal Code, article 785, and Revised Civil Statutes, article 4659. [Tue Jun 10, 1879]
• Amend the laws relating to the adjutant general's office, so as to authorize the purchase of a lot for the erection of the arsenal provided for, outside of the capitol grounds; to equalize the compensation and arming of the police and frontier force, and to equalize the salary of the clerk with other clerks of the same grade. [Tue Jun 10, 1879]
• Amend the laws so as to extend or alter the times of holding courts in Marion and other counties if found necessary. [Tue Jun 10, 1879]
• Amend the tax law, making a discrimination in favor of sleeping cars owned by persons or companies in this state, and impose such a tax upon all sleeping cars as the Legislature may deem proper. [Tue Jun 10, 1879]
• An appropriation and amendments for prompt execution of the laws passed in the late session of the Legislature for the collection of back taxes and for the collection of taxes from non-residents in the unorganized counties. [Tue Jun 10, 1879]
• An appropriation of a specific amount for the annual support of the free common schools. [Tue Jun 10, 1879]
• Appropriations for the annual payment of the interest on the public bonded debt of the state and for a sinking fund for the ultimate discharge of said debt, if not otherwise paid. [Tue Jun 10, 1879]
• Make a contingent appropriation, to be used, if necessary, in the event that the lease of the penitentiary is abandoned, or its control is resumed for any cause by the governor; which appropriation was made, though not used, and should be repeated for the interest of the state. [Tue Jun 10, 1879]
• Make additional appropriation upon various subjects in the public service that upon examination may be found wanting or deficient, so that warrants can be issued for all necessary expenses. [Tue Jun 10, 1879]
• Make appropriations and provisions that may be necessary to receive and accommodate in the Lunatic Asylum, and in the Blind and Deaf and Dumb Institutions, all such persons in the state as are entitled under the laws to have the benefit of said charities. [Tue Jun 10, 1879]
• Provide adequate penalties for the embezzlement of the funds collected for the state and for default in not returning them according to law to the state treasurer, and to authorize the prosecutions to be maintained in Travis county, either by original jurisdiction or by the change of venue in such cases. [Tue Jun 10, 1879]
• Provide by law for the return to the comptroller's office before the meeting of each regular session of the Legislature of all sheriffs', attorneys' or other valid claims against the state for which warrants may not have issued, so that correct estimates may be made of any deficiencies in the appropriations, and to provide against the issuance of "O. K." certificates. [Tue Jun 10, 1879]
• Provide for a change or transfer of the civil jurisdiction of the different county courts, or of any one or more of them, and a corresponding change in the jurisdiction of other courts under the provisions of the constitution. [Tue Jun 10, 1879]
• Provide for a commission or other tribunal, or some remedy in aid of the supreme court and of the court of appeals in the dispatch of the business that has accumulated in said courts beyond their capacity to decide. [Tue Jun 10, 1879]
• Provide for a state board of health to co-operate with the national board of health, if upon consideration it should be deemed proper. [Tue Jun 10, 1879]
• Provide for an appropriation out of the general revenue for defraying incidental expenses of the board of education in the management of the free common schools, and the expenses of the normal schools at Huntsville and Prairie View… [Tue Jun 10, 1879]
• Provide for authority to attorneys and agents of the state to bid for and to buy in for the state lands sold under executions issued upon judgments in favor of the state, and for the selling of the same so as to collect the money due to the state, and the same authority to the attorneys and agents of the counties to collect money in similar cases coming to the counties. [Tue Jun 10, 1879]
• Provide for holding state, district and county elections on a different day from that upon which congressional elections are held under the laws of the United States. [Tue Jun 10, 1879]
• Provide for sheriffs', clerks' and attorneys' accounts against the state, in criminal cases, to be made out separately under oath, and to be allowed by the judge and recorded in the minutes of the court at the term in which said cases are tried… [Tue Jun 10, 1879]
• Provide for the appointment of a board or boards, when necessary, to inspect and condemn for the sale, exchange or destruction of useless defective property, belonging to or pertaining to any of the executive departments or state institutions, or state boards. [Tue Jun 10, 1879]
• Provide for the appointment of a financial agent to act in aid of our members of congress in prosecuting and collecting our claims against the United States, to be paid out of what may be collected. [Tue Jun 10, 1879]
• Provide for the disposition of useless papers and instruments in the treasury department. [Tue Jun 10, 1879]
• Provide for the protection of the interest of the state and of its citizens by the passage of such laws as may be found necessary in relation to the Mercer colony claim, and any suit or suits that have been or may be brought concerning it, or any other claim against the state or department, or officer thereof. [Tue Jun 10, 1879]
• Provide for the sale and investment of the proceeds of the lands belonging to the funds of the Lunatic Asylum, of the blind and the deaf and dumb institutes, and of the orphan asylum. [Tue Jun 10, 1879]
• Provide for the sale more expeditiously of the lands belonging to and set apart to the free common school permanent fund. [Tue Jun 10, 1879]
• Provide for the sale of the public lands, now amounting to over 15,000,000 of acres, in order to pay off the public debt of the state, now amounting to about $5,500,000. [Tue Jun 10, 1879]
• Provide for the sale of the university lands more expeditiously, and the investment of the proceeds thereof. [Tue Jun 10, 1879]
• Provide that the moneys collected on forfeited bail bonds and recognizances, or so much thereof as may be sufficient, shall be paid into the state treasury in each and every case wherein a reward or expenses have been paid out of the state treasury for the arrest and return of fugitives from justice. [Tue Jun 10, 1879]
• Re-enact the law of 1876 for the collections of tax on delinquent list, repealed as is supposed by mistake, in the passage of a law for the collection of taxes on lands which had not been rendered, and on other subjects to which the attention of the Legislature may be called during its special session by messages from the chief executive of the state. [Tue Jun 10, 1879]
• To provide more efficient laws to regulate the organization of new counties, and to better provide for the appointment of officers in the unorganized counties. [Tue Jun 10, 1879]
• Additional appropriations to the Comptroller's Office, Adjutant General's Office, Judiciary Department, Treasury Department, Treasury and Comptroller's Offices; to the Deficiency Act; and others. [Mon Jun 16, 1879]
• Amend the bell-punch law in respect to the appropriation, and to define its application to druggists, if deemed doubtful. [Mon Jun 16, 1879]
• Amend the law for the collection of taxes, so as to require tax collectors to force the collection of taxes during the time of the year that the people generally have most money to pay them before the first of March in each year. [Mon Jun 16, 1879]
• Amend the law passed by the Sixteenth Legislature relating to the penitentiaries, declaring for what purpose buildings within the walls of the penitentiary at Rusk shall be erected, together with their quality. [Mon Jun 16, 1879]
• Amend the law relating to the proceedings in the land office, and issuing of patents and requiring parties to pay for patents when issued, and also to authorize patents to be delivered where the money for them was deposited, in pursuance to law with the former commissioner, but which is not now to be found there and has not been accounted for by one of his predecessors, as shown in the report submitted by Capt. Walsh, commissioner of general land office. [Mon Jun 16, 1879]
• Amend the quarantine law, so as to allow guards to be appointed and employed by the governor, upon recommendation of the state health officer, at certain channels and other places which are not under the control, or not convenient to any local board of health, to be subject to the directions of the state health officer as to their duties. [Mon Jun 16, 1879]
• Submitting for consideration a law permitting both civil and criminal jurisdiction to be transferred from the county to district courts in any of the counties, and to provide how former judgments and proceedings shall be transferred or executed. [Mon Jun 16, 1879]
• Submitting for consideration a law postponement of taxes for a few months, as requested by petitioners of Smith county, should the Legislature deem proper. [Mon Jun 16, 1879]
• Amend the estray law to make it more practical, especially in reference to estraying horses. [Fri Jun 20, 1879]
• Amend the law as to right of county judges to practice law in certain courts. [Fri Jun 20, 1879]
• Amend the law fixing the branches of the supreme court and court of appeals to which the cases of certain counties are returned. [Fri Jun 20, 1879]
• Amend the law for protection of frontier, in reference to the power of the members of the troops to act as civil officers and in aid of them. [Fri Jun 20, 1879]
• Amend the law for the collection of taxes to allow and require taxes to be collected in a county different from that in which it was assessed, where property is removed, or in other events which make it necessary. [Fri Jun 20, 1879]
• Amend the law of taxation relating to drummers and entry of horses at a race, if the legislature should think proper. [Fri Jun 20, 1879]
• Amend the law passed in the regular session of the Sixteenth Legislature, relating to the execution and recording of deeds and other instruments. [Fri Jun 20, 1879]
• Amend the law to encourage stockraising, etc., to enable any other county to be included therein and in such other matters as may be deemed proper. [Fri Jun 20, 1879]
• Amend the laws relating to quarantine so as to secure greater efficiency therein. [Fri Jun 20, 1879]
• Submitting for consideration a law for the better protection of crops and products of the soil. [Fri Jun 20, 1879]
• Submitting for consideration a law taking such action as may be necessary and proper in regard to a bill to amend the charter of Dallas, which failed at the last session by not being enrolled and presented to the governor. [Fri Jun 20, 1879]
• Submitting for consideration a law to define what property used for school purposes is exempt from taxation, under section 2, article 8 of the constitution. [Fri Jun 20, 1879]
• Submitting for consideration a law to enable lands sold for taxes to be redeemed where purchaser is absent or cannot be found. [Fri Jun 20, 1879]
• Submitting for consideration a law to make the lien for material furnished, labor done on railroads more full and complete. [Fri Jun 20, 1879]
• Submitting for consideration a law to quiet titles issued from the government, and to prevent locations thereon until title is adjudicated. [Fri Jun 20, 1879]
• Submitting for consideration a law to regulate and enforce the collection of cost and expenses in case of change of venue. [Fri Jun 20, 1879]
• Submitting for consideration an act to bid off property by the state and by counties, sold on executions on debts due by judgments, and when necessary to dispose of the same, and of the judgments also, to collect money or part of it so due. [Fri Jun 20, 1879]
• Submitting for consideration an act to enable municipal authorities of towns and cities and county courts to co-operate with each other in improvements connected with the town or city and county necessary to promote the sanitary regulations thereof. [Fri Jun 20, 1879]
• Amend article 690 of the Penal Code, adopted at the regular session of the Sixteenth Legislature so as to embrace sheep as well as other stock. [Sat Jun 21, 1879]
• Submitting for consideration a law extending the time for the completion of the number of miles required by law to be completed by railroad companies, in such cases as the circumstances may be thought to justify it. [Sat Jun 21, 1879]
• Such amendments as will in the view of the Legislature be necessary to keep the yellow fever out of the state, and to let no conflicting interest of any sort stand in the way of its effectual accomplishment. [Mon Jun 23, 1879]
• Action regarding the laws on insurance for better protection of those who do such business in this state according to the law. [Tue Jun 24, 1879]
• Legislative action as deemed proper regarding internal improvement, accompanied by a memorial of citizens of Brazoria county. [Tue Jun 24, 1879]
• Provide fees or compensation of county judges in criminal cases. [Tue Jun 24, 1879]
• Submitting for consideration a law providing that a party charged with an offense under the penal laws shall not be punished twice for the same offense, once by the officers of the city or town corporation and another time by the officers of the county. [Tue Jun 24, 1879]
• Action on the subject of the land frauds, and the procuring of evidence, and the investigation of the same. [Wed Jun 25, 1879]
• Amend article 4744 of the Revised Civil Statutes, so as to require delinquent and insolvent lists of taxpayers to be sworn to by the tax collectors. [Wed Jun 25, 1879]
• Amend the laws passed by the Sixteenth Legislature, relating to the collection of taxes in towns and cities so as to reconcile the conflict found in articles 451 and 4760. [Wed Jun 25, 1879]
• Amend the occupation tax upon merchants. [Wed Jun 25, 1879]
• Investigate the killing of convicts at the camps in Wood county. [Wed Jun 25, 1879]
• Relief of certain citizens of Harris county from taxes this year, because of a storm destroying their property, as represented in their memorial. [Wed Jun 25, 1879]
• Submitting for consideration a law requiring druggists and dispensers of medicine to be licensed by a board of medical examiners. [Wed Jun 25, 1879]
• Amend the law relating to the practice of medicine. [Thu Jun 26, 1879]
• An act for the better security of the funds in the land office that collects there from time to time, without any safe place of deposit. [Thu Jun 26, 1879]
• Protection and benefit of settlers upon lands that may be escheated to the state. [Thu Jun 26, 1879]
• Small additional appropriation for the codifier of the Code of Revised Statutes. [Thu Jun 26, 1879]
• Amend the law regulating the penitentiaries in such matters as may be deemed proper, and especially so as to enable the appointment of one or more additional assistant superintendents of the penitentiary. [Mon Jun 30, 1879]
• Amend the law so as to collect rents off of those that enclose school lands, public lands of any sort under the control of the state. [Mon Jun 30, 1879]
• Submitting for consideration a law regulating the proceeding by quo warranto. [Mon Jun 30, 1879]
• Submitting for consideration a law to give the Agricultural and Mechanical College the use of such duplicates of specimens in the geological collection now in the state library as can be spared therefrom without injury to the collection. [Mon Jun 30, 1879]
• Submitting for consideration a law facilitating the arrest of criminals within the state by the frontier and police of the state. [Wed Jul 2, 1879]
• Submitting for consideration a law or laws as may be necessary to settle boundaries of counties, and especially the disputed boundary between Montague and Wise counties, as indicated in the draft of a bill herewith submitted. [Wed Jul 2, 1879]
• Appointment of a committee of each House to examine said accounts, with the vouchers; and also to inspect the work done in and upon the mansion and upon the grounds and the manner in which the money appropriated has been spent under my direction. [Fri Jul 4, 1879]
• Authorizing the purchase for the state out of the appropriation to the East Texas Penitentiary some land adjoining the small tract on which it is situated. [Sat Jul 5, 1879]

Bill statistics for the 16th Legislature, 1st Called Session

Status	HB	HCR	HJR	HR	SB	SCR	SJR	SR	Total HB & SB	Total
Filed	95	1	5	46	83	5	6	64	178	305
Passed	31	0	1	30	23	2	0	47	54	134
Vetoed	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0