The Texas Constitution The Texas Constitution draws ideas from the national constitution as far as protections extending to the people and structuring the government into the three Judicial, Executive, and Legislative branches, however, the effect the document has on how the government works is extremely different. The United States Constitution grants the government broad powers to enact laws and react to new issues without making changes to the constitution itself, evident in the fact that it has only been amended 27 times. The Texas Constitution, on the other hand, has been amended 467 times (Newell 55). In Texas, the amendment process is started during a session of congress. Proposed amendments must pass both houses with at least a 2/3…show more content… The primary grievances expressed by reform advocates are; first, the infrequency of legislative sessions, held once every two years make funding programs and long-term planning difficult. Second, the overlapping nature of the judicial system in Texas presents problems when multiple levels of courts have jurisdiction over the same cases. Third, the fragmented nature of the executive branch and its multiple elected officials, as opposed to the national model where the head of the branch is elected and makes appointments to offices. Finally, local and county control. In the system, local counties are not provided with the ability to pass local ordinances which would allow them more control over issues more prevalent in cities not addressed by the Constitution more focused on the rural issues dominant in the time of the adoption of the Constitution (Newell 57). The solutions to the issues that reformers have with the Texas Constitution all would grant the government broad new powers to make laws and fund programs by raising taxes without amending the Texas Constitution to do so. This is the issue that voters have not bought into. Texans are not ready to grant the government that much new power, which is why when the vote on reform in 1975 went to the voters it was overwhelmingly rejected by a two to one