[whatshisface]

One of the greatest strengths of the Texas legislature is that almost everything is written in to the constitution, thereby being almost impossible to change. So for this reason the (proven disastrous) legal and business theories that have messed up housing costs in California would have a very hard time taking root here.

[AFNobody]

> One of the greatest strengths of the Texas legislature is that almost everything is written in to the constitution, thereby being almost impossible to change. So for this reason the (proven disastrous) legal and business theories that have messed up housing costs in California would have a very hard time taking root here.

Prop 13 is a constitutional amendment.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_13_(197...

CA is virtually identical to Texas in the sense it has an extensive constitution that is almost impossible to change.

So, be careful what you wish for.

[gwright]

I think Alabama wins this contest: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_Alabama

> At 310,296 words,[1] the document is 12 times longer than the average state constitution, 44 times longer than the U.S. Constitution, and is the longest[2] and most amended[3] constitution still operative anywhere in the world.

[adrianratnapala]

Of course when the bad ideas bear their dark fruit, they will be hard to change too.

But more seriously can you expand more on this "almost everything is written into the constitution"? Is this a back-door way of getting Swiss-style direct democracy. Skimming wikipedia it seems that amedments are passed by a referendum approving a legislative proposal (and this processes has happened hundreds of times).

if this is the only practical way of creating legislation, then you basically have the people as a third house of the legislature.

[whatshisface]

Amendments must win two-thirds of the legislature and a simple majority of the public. In some sense, it's a swiss-style democracy and-ed to one of the most conservatively designed legislatures ever implemented.

Regular laws don't have to pass the same gauntlet, but because the constitution is so expansive nearly every new law has to get it amended to prevent a contradiction.

https://www.laits.utexas.edu/txp_media/html/cons/0405.html