April 26, 1870 - August 15, 1870

Leadership

Governor: Edmund J. Davis -  Vetoes

Lieutenant Governor:

Speaker of the House: Ira Hobart Evans  William Henry Sinclair 

Special Session Topics

 Proclamations   Messages

• Enter upon such general and special legislation as may be in compliance with the spirit and letter of the constitution recently adopted by the people of Texas, and, in the judgment of said Senate and House of Representatives, advisable for the peace and welfare of the people of Texas. [Tue Apr 26, 1870]
• To restore, without delay, the local government of Texas to the civil authorities thereof. [Tue Apr 26, 1870]
• Adopt the suggestions in the report of the Chairman of Commissioners of Public Buildings. [Fri Apr 29, 1870]
• Appointment of officers to fill vacancies where the law or constitution does not now provide therefore. [Fri Apr 29, 1870]
• Appropriation of a moderate sum to pay, in part or in full, the transportation of persons who are too poor to pay their own passage to a home with us. [Fri Apr 29, 1870]
• Careful development of some system that will secure a means of intercommunication, and of connection with the railroad system of the more Eastern States. [Fri Apr 29, 1870]
• Consider a proposition to sell to the United States a part of the north-western unsettled domain, to the end that the same be appropriated as a reserve whereon to colonize the Indians of Texas and the neighboring territories. [Fri Apr 29, 1870]
• Consider the report of the Attorney General, touching some suggestions made in regard to suits and prosecutions on behalf of the State, and modifications or amendments to the criminal code. [Fri Apr 29, 1870]
• Consider the suggestions contained in the two communications to the Governor from Hon. A. Bledsoe, the Comptroller. [Fri Apr 29, 1870]
• Devise a system to pay for transportation of immigrants. [Fri Apr 29, 1870]
• Establish a military telegraph along the frontier, and give the military commander on the frontier authority to embody, arm and equip the frontiersmen in minute companies, and to pay them when employed in scouting, or on other duties against the Indians. [Fri Apr 29, 1870]
• Exercise control over railroads built with subsidies from the State, and establish a fair and moderate tariff of charges. [Fri Apr 29, 1870]
• Improve and ornament the public grounds around the Capitol in a style consistent with that originally intended. [Fri Apr 29, 1870]
• Limit aid of the State to the opening of Railroad communication to a work which seems of the most pressing necessity, crossing the State from Red River to the Rio Grande, and which may be of use to the State in general by furnishing a line of communication with the populous States, and the Railroad system north and east of us. [Fri Apr 29, 1870]
• Make liberal provision for the increased wants of the State in regard to the report of the Board of Managers of the Penitentiary. [Fri Apr 29, 1870]
• Organization and appointment of boards of registry of voters, and of judges of elections. [Fri Apr 29, 1870]
• Passage of a law for efficient organization of the militia, embracing all able-bodied males between the ages of eighteen and forty five. [Fri Apr 29, 1870]
• Procure necessary funds for future expenses, including the school system, the increased judiciary, and the Immigration Board provided in the new Constitution, and the necessary police and militia organization. [Fri Apr 29, 1870]
• Provide for a complete geological survey and a large collection of the minerals to be found by this survey, to be made under the control and direction of the Commissioner of the General Land Office. [Fri Apr 29, 1870]
• Provide for and fix time and manner of elections for such officers as are made elective. [Fri Apr 29, 1870]
• Provide for extensive repairs and enlargement of public buildings at the capital. [Fri Apr 29, 1870]
• Provide for removals and appointments to municipal offices until elections can be held in the respective cities and towns. [Fri Apr 29, 1870]
• Provide for the "trial, punishment and removal from office" of the class of officers referred to in section 6, article VIII, and to divide the state into convenient judicial districts, so that the appointment of district judges may be made. [Fri Apr 29, 1870]
• Provide for the care and education of people in asylums, without regard to the willingness or ability of relations to pay a part or all of the cost; and to provide accommodations for all persons not too old for education, and laboring under these defects, who may be bona fide residents of the State. [Fri Apr 29, 1870]
• Provide for the collection and publication of statistics which will show the price of lands, description of and capabilities of soil, articles produced and cost of living in different parts of the State, means and cost of transportation, and mineral there found , and the facilities for working and transportation of same. [Fri Apr 29, 1870]
• Relieve railroads of the forfeiture legally resulting from their default, on payment of the interest now due, and of regular payment hereafter of interest and sinking fund coming due. [Fri Apr 29, 1870]
• Remedy the grievance regarding protecting the prospects of stock-raisers, and thoroughly revise and adapt the current laws to existing wants. [Fri Apr 29, 1870]
• Remodel, to a great extent, the General Statutes, and to accommodate them to the new order of things, and to the radical changes engrafted on our institutions by the constitution lately adopted. [Fri Apr 29, 1870]
• Return convicts at work on the railroad to the Penitentiary, and make provision for enlarging the capacity of that institution, and for supplying such improvements and new machinery and fixtures as will develop its usefulness to the highest capacity. [Fri Apr 29, 1870]
• To enact a law creating adequate means for payment of interest, and two per cent of principal, annually, for any expenditure. [Fri Apr 29, 1870]
• Turn over to the school fund the amount collected of indemnity bonds and coupons. [Fri Apr 29, 1870]
• Appropriate relief for Mr. J. T. Allan, late State Treasurer, stated to have been unaccounted for by him. [Wed May 11, 1870]
• An act declaring the number by which the present Legislature is to be designated. [Fri May 13, 1870]
• Action in relation to the matter of assessment and collection of taxes. [Tue Jul 19, 1870]
• Provide for ascertaining the present debt of the State, and for the payment of the same. [Tue Aug 2, 1870]
• Action providing for ascertaining the present debt of the State, and for the payment of the same. [Mon Aug 8, 1870]

Journals

The House Journal and Senate Journal for the 12th 1st Called Session are available from the Legislative Reference Library.

Rules
House Rules (12th R.S.)
House Rules (12th R.S.)
Joint Rules (12th R.S.)
Joint Rules (12th 1st C.S.)
Senate Rules (12th 1st C.S.)