Time for a new state constitution?

The Dallas Morning News editorializes that we do.

Our state has many things going for it, but our constitution probably isn’t one. Mostly, it’s a relic of a bitter, bygone era after the Civil War and Reconstruction left Texans in ill humor when it came to trusting state leaders.

The solution was a constitution that takes power from the elected and gives it to the electorate. That may sound well and good, but in Texas, voters must return to the polls every two years, usually the November after a Legislature, to ratify or reject many issues that barely register on statewide public radar.

Turnout is typically less than 10 percent — often far less. Does an entire state need to weigh in on whether El Paso County can tax itself to create a parks district (2011)? Important, perhaps, in El Paso County, but the other 253 have their own situations.

This year, every Texas voter can help decide whether to repeal a constitutional provision on creating a hospital district in Hidalgo County. Again, no small issue there, but elsewhere? Still, it’s on the list as Proposition 8 among nine amendments on the Nov. 5 ballot.

Unlike the U.S. Constitution — which has been amended 27 times — the Texas Constitution functions as a limiting document. With no equivalent of the “necessary and proper clause,” our state’s document has grown like kudzu. It may not be the longest in America, but it’s a contender (Alabama and California are even worse).

After Nov. 5, Texas voters will have weighed in on more than 660 amendments, many of the intensely local or fabulously obscure variety. To date, about 73 percent have been approved.

This editorial board will research and dutifully recommend outcomes on the nine amendments this year and publish them in the coming days. It’s the least we can do.

The least our leaders could do is give some serious thought to whether this is any way to run a state. If nothing else, asking each of Texas’ 254 counties to hold these elections every two years costs money that could better go elsewhere.