(USNewsMag.com) – The Texas Independence Referendum Act was introduced by Texas State Rep. Bryan Slaton March 6. A petition of support accompanied the introduction of the bill, known as H.B. 3596.
The proposed bill would place a referendum on the 2024 ballot allowing Texas residents to vote on whether Texas should potentially secede from the U.S. If the referendum passed, a committee would be established to investigate the feasibility of secession as well as present options and plans.
Slaton filed the bill on the battle of the Alamo’s 187th anniversary, a battle that was a fight for the independence of Texas.
The Texas National Movement, which is a grassroots movement pushing for Texas Independence, came out in support of the proposal. While fellow Republicans have spoken out against it, such as Texas State Rep. Jeff Leach, who tweeted that proposed legislation was “ridiculous.”
In the past, Slaton has introduced other controversial legislation such as a rule to make it so Texas Democrats would be unable to chair committees, and heterosexuals’ couples able to receive tax benefits.
This is not the first time Texas has sought to secede from the U.S. The most famous being Texas v. White, a 1868 case that went before the Supreme Court. The decision in the case was that unilaterally states do not have the right to secede from the nation. In 2021, Slaton as well as other Texas legislative members, filed the same bill. The 2021 was referred to the State Affairs Committee but the proposal did not receive a vote or a hearing. In 2022, a referendum similar to the one Slaton proposed was called for at the Texas Republican convention.
Slaton’s bill comes after Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene called for a split between red and blue states, or a “national divorce.”
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