The Texas State Legislature took the final vote to send a constitutional amendment to the Nov. 2023 ballot on April 25. The measure would amend section 59 of Article XVI of the state constitution to authorize the legislature to permit conservation and reclamation districts in El Paso County to issue bonds to fund parks and recreational facilities and levy property taxes to repay the bonds.
The state constitution currently authorizes conservation and reclamation districts in the counties of Bexar, Bastrop, Waller, Travis, Williamson, Harris, Galveston, Brazoria, Fort Bend, and Montgomery, as well as the Tarrant Regional Water District, to issue bonds repaid by property taxes. The section of the constitution that would be amended was added in 2003 with the approval of Proposition 4. It authorized the existing list of counties to issue debt for projects in conservation and reclamation districts. It was approved with 56.4% of the vote.
To put a legislatively referred constitutional amendment before voters, a two-thirds (66.67%) vote is required in both the Texas State Senate and the Texas House of Representatives.
