Greenville Republican Bryan Slaton has filed House Bill 3596, The Texas Independence Referendum Act. If passed, the bill would be put on a general ballot in November to allow voters to decide if the state of Texas should explore the possibility of seceding from the United States. Thus, this is not a bill to secede, but a bill that allows Texans to vote if the state should explore the possibility of seceding. 

“The Texas Constitution is clear that all political power resides in the people. After decades of continuous abuse of our rights and liberties by the federal government, it is time to let the people of Texas make their voices heard,” Slaton said in a statement. “If a majority of the people of Texas vote ‘yes’ on the referendum, a committee will be established to investigate the feasibility of independence from the Union and propose options and potential plans for independence to the Texas Legislature.”

Despite joining the Confederacy during the Civil War, the Supreme Court of the United States said in 1869 that Texas was still a state of the Union. Even if a majority of Texans had ratified Texas seceding from the United States, the Supreme Court declared in Texas v. White that states cannot unilaterally secede from the Union. 

“When Texas became one of the United States, she entered into an indissoluble relation. The union between Texas and the other States was as complete, as perpetual, and as indissoluble as the union between the original States. There was no place for reconsideration or revocation, except through revolution or through consent of the States.”

There might be an argument that Texas could secede if there is an agreement between the federal government and the state. But in reality, that probably will not happen. Even if this bill does pass, there is still no right for states to secede, in the Consitution.