The Trust Texans Initiative
Trust Texans to decide.
No more middle men deciding our future. We are asking every Texas House and Senate seat to state, on the record, whether they will vote for it, before the Legislature gavels in.
In plain language
What the amendment actually does
It restores two rights Texans do not currently hold at the statewide level: initiative, the ability to propose a law or a constitutional amendment by petition, and referendum, the ability to repeal a law the Legislature has already passed.
Many states already give their voters one or both of those tools. Texas gives them neither. If a bill dies in committee here, or passes over broad public objection, the people it affects have no direct remedy until the next election, and often not even then.
If we trust Texans to work, raise families, and pay taxes here, we can trust them to vote on what affects them directly.
The mechanics, so nothing here misleads you
- Signature thresholds. A petition requires signatures equal to 5 percent of the vote cast for governor for a statutory measure, or 6 percent for a constitutional one, gathered statewide and within each state senate district. That district requirement is deliberate: it stops a handful of large metros from qualifying a measure the rest of the state never saw.
- Filing fee and review. A $1,000 filing fee, refundable on certification, plus a State Bar advisory review and a Legislative Budget Board fiscal note. These are nonbinding safeguards. They inform voters about what a measure would do and cost. They do not block a petition.
- Disclosure. Any entity spending or receiving more than $1,000 on petition or ballot activity must register with the Texas Ethics Commission, and contributions over $1,000 are publicly disclosed.
- What happens if the Legislature sits on it. If lawmakers do not act on a qualifying petition, it goes to voters at the next general election.
- The ballot date. The underlying constitutional amendment itself is slated for the November 2, 2027 ballot.
The pre session pledge
The accountability tracker
Every sitting member of both chambers is on the tracker from day one, defaulted to Undecided. As each one responds to the pledge, their name moves into Yes or No. What you are looking at is a call list.
Undecided
The starting status for every sitting member of the Texas House and Senate. No reply logged yet, or the pledge is still outstanding. This is the who do I need to call list.
Evidence to post itNone required. It is where everyone begins.
Yes
The legislator has stated, in their own writing or in recorded audio, that they will vote yes on the amendment.
Evidence to post itA direct written or recorded statement on file, dated and linked.
No
The legislator has stated, in their own writing or in recorded audio, that they will vote no on the amendment.
Evidence to post itA direct written or recorded statement on file, dated and linked.
Silence never counts as a no. A legislator who has not responded stays Undecided. Moving anyone into Yes or No takes their own statement, dated and linked, so every entry on this board holds up if someone challenges it.
Scope. The tracker follows a candidate from the primary through the general election under one continuous record rather than resetting, so a pledge made in the primary still counts if that candidate advances. Sitting legislators and challengers are listed as two clearly labeled groups, because only sitting members currently hold a vote.
The live tracker board goes up here once the pledge cycle opens. Until then, this page documents exactly what will and will not be posted.
Take two minutes
Ask your representative to sign the pledge
The pledge goes out to every incumbent and every challenger. The window for this first cycle closes before the Legislature convenes for its next regular session in January 2027, so positions are on record before the bill is ever formally filed.
A constituent email carries more weight than anything we could send. If your representative is still in the Undecided column, they have not heard from enough people yet.
For legislators and candidates
One line, in writing or on tape, settles it: will you vote yes on the joint resolution restoring initiative and referendum rights in Texas.
Answer either way and we will post it with the date and the link. We are not asking you to concede anything to the other party. We are asking you to be on record before the vote, not after.
A note on how we stay in our lane. Tracking and publishing legislators' positions on a specific bill is ordinary, well established issue advocacy for a 501(c)(4). The line we hold is the framing: this board says here is their position, not vote for or against this person because of it. The first is issue advocacy. The second starts to look like express candidate advocacy, which brings PAC style registration and reporting into play.
Because the 501(c)(4) determination is still pending with the IRS, we operate by that stricter line now rather than waiting for the determination letter to tell us to.
Before the Legislature acts, not after
Every seat starts undecided. The only thing that moves a name off that list is a legislator willing to say where they stand.