Sen. Ellis: It's about time. Credit: photo by Jana Birchum

Of course, they were actually killed off back in 1964, when most of the rest of the nation ratified the 24th Amendment.

However, Texas and a few other segregation-loving holdouts didn’t sign it. House Joint Resolution 39 by Rep. Alma Allen, D-Dallas, fixes that, and it just passed the Senate. It passed the House a few weeks back.

As a colleague on the press table just said, “Welcome to the 1960s, Texas.”

And as Senate sponsor Rodney Ellis, D-Dallas, put it: “I move passage, better late than never.”

This article appears in May 22 • 2009.

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