Texas state Rep. Bryan Slaton (R) filed a bill in the state legislature on Monday that would allow Texans to vote on whether to reassert their status as an independent nation. If passed, the Texas Independence Referendum Act would place a referendum on a statewide ballot, asking residents to determine the state’s future.
The bill would set up a commission given the responsibility to study the issues involved with the state seceding from the U.S. before providing further recommendations to the state legislature.
Texas state representative introduces bill to vote on secession https://t.co/koNlu7B6Sv
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The Texas Nationalist Movement, a grassroots organization with around 440,000 Texans of all political persuasions, has been leading the push for the so-called “TEXIT” coalition since it was established in 2005.
President Daniel Miller of the group said the members of the Texas Nationalist Movement are better representatives of the interests of the Lone Star State than the Republican or Democratic parties. Miller argued that Texans want the ability to govern themselves and believe that the best people to govern Texas are its own citizens.
Miller added that Texans are tired of making decisions at home and having them overwritten by presidential executive orders or rulings from unelected and unaccountable federal courts.
The push for an independent Texas has been a recurring theme throughout the state’s history. After breaking apart from Mexico, Texas became an independent republic in 1836. The United States annexed Texas nine years later as the 28th state admitted to the Union. The state legislature voted to secede from the Union in 1861 at the onset of the American Civil War. Nine years later, Texas rejoined the U.S. during the Reconstruction Era.
Just before the federal government readmitted the state back into the U.S., the Supreme Court declared in the 1869 case Texas v. White that efforts for individual states to unilaterally secede from the Union were ‘absolutely null.’ However, supporters of the TEXIT movement argue that Article 1, Section 2 of the state’s Constitution gives the movement the right to discuss the referendum.
If the new bill passes the state legislature and voters later this year, a committee of state House and Senate members will discuss a plan addressing four key issues relating to Texas independence.
Those include:
- Constitutional and statutory matters
- International covenants
- Treaties and agreements
- Negotiations with the federal government
Despite opposition from establishment politicians, the TEXIT movement continues to gain traction in Texas. Slaton filed the bill on the 187th anniversary of the Alamo, the famous battle symbolizing the struggle for Texas Independence. In introducing the bill, he said, “Texas was born out of a desire for liberty and self-governance, and that desire continues to burn in the hearts of all Texans.”
