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Pledge of Allegiance to State Flag

    Honor the Texas flag;
    I pledge allegiance to thee,
    Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible.

Adoption of the Pledge of Allegiance

Along with specific rules regarding the display of the Texas state flag, the legislature adopted a state pledge to the flag in March 1933. House Bill No. 575 established

"an act for the purpose of making plain the salute to the Texas Flag and giving uniformity to the salute; providing a clear description of the Flag to the end that pupils in the lower grades of the elementary school will be able to draw or make the Flag; providing for the standardization of the star in the blue stripe in the dimensions used and its position in the stripe so that uniformity shall be the result hereafter in the making of Texas Flags; describing the method of construction of the star in language that is definite and clear; and outlining rules for correct use and display of the Texas Flag and declaring an emergency."

Regarding the salute to the flag, a small part of the legislation, it was defined in Section 3.

"Section 3. Salute to the Texas Flag
'Honor the Texas Flag of 1836;
I pledge allegiance to thee,
Texas, one and indivisible.'

The pledge, as adopted, incorrectly referred to the Texas national flag of 1836. Interestingly, it does not appear that anyone took notice of this error until 1951, when Senator Searcy Bracewell introduced a bill to correct this reference. It took the legislature another 14 years, until 1965, to finally correct the problem.

During the 80th Legislature Regular Session of the Texas Legislature in 2007, Representative Debbie Riddle (District 150) authored House Bill No. 1034 to amend the pledge of allegiance to the State flag. Her bill amended the words of the pledge to include “one state under God.”

House Bill No. 1034 was filed on February 1, 2007 and changed the wording of the pledge to read

Honor the Texas flag;
I pledge allegiance to thee,
Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible.

(1) ensure that students are not coerced to participate in the recitation of the pledge of allegiance under Subsection (b)(2); and
(2) require a sign to be posted in each classroom near the state flag that states a student may not be coerced to participate in the recitation of the pledge of allegiance under Subsection (b)(2).

The amendment failed to gain enough support to be added to the bill.

During discussion of the bill in the House of Representatives, Representative Riddle was challenged by Mr. Burnam regarding the purpose and the wisdom of making this change. He questioned the analysis that stated that the bill would acknowledge our "Judeo-Christian heritage" pointing out that today there are citizens that are Native American, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Baha i’, Zoroastrian, Wiccan, etc. He offered that there were 88 Buddhist, 34 Hindu, and 13 Sikh congregations in Texas. He asked, "Is it fair then to those individuals to put 'under God' in our pledge to any of the people that I v’e[sic] asked you questions about, the last ten or twelve questions. Is it fair to these individuals to impose this addition to the pledge?"

Representative Riddle replied, "The purpose of this bill is very simple. It is to simply have our state pledge mirror if you will, reflect our national pledge. Our national pledge says, 'one nation under God.' I think it is altogether right and appropriate for our state pledge to say 'one state under God.'"

House Bill No. 1034 was passed by the Texas House of representatives on May 4, 2007.

What took over three months to pass in the House, took only a little more than three weeks to pass through the Senate.

Governor Rick Perry signed the legislation on June 16, 2007.

Texas Statutes

The following information is excerpted from the Texas Statutes, Government Code, Title 11, Subchapter C, Sections 3100.101-3100.104.

GOVERNMENT CODE.
TITLE 11. STATE SYMBOLS AND HONORS; PRESERVATION.
SUBCHAPTER C. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO STATE FLAG.
CHAPTER 3100. STATE FLAG

Sec. 3100.101. PLEDGE. The pledge of allegiance to the state flag is: "Honor the Texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible."

Added by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1420, Sec. 7.001, eff. Sept. 1, 2001

Amended by: Acts 2007, 80th Leg., R.S., Ch. 650, § 1, eff. June 15, 2007.

Sec. 3100.102. OCCASIONS AT WHICH PLEDGE MAY BE RECITED.
The pledge of allegiance to the state flag may be recited at any:
(1) public or private meeting at which the pledge of allegiance to the United States flag is recited; and
(2) state historical event or celebration.

Added by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1420, Sec. 7.001, eff. Sept. 1, 2001.

Sec. 3100.103. ORDER OF RECITATION.
The pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States should be recited before the pledge of allegiance to the state flag if both are recited.

Added by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1420, Sec. 7.001, eff. Sept. 1, 2001.

Sec. 3100.104. RECITING PLEDGE.
If the pledge to the state flag is recited, each person who is present and:
(1) not in uniform should: (A) face the state flag and stand at attention with the person's right hand over the heart; (B) if wearing a head covering that is easy to remove, remove that head covering with the right hand and hold it at the person's left shoulder, with the person's hand over the heart; and (C) recite the pledge; or
(2) in uniform should remain silent, face the flag, and make the military salute.

Added by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1420, Sec. 7.001, eff. Sept. 1, 2001.

Source: Texas Statutes, (http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/statutes/statutes.html), June 10, 2005
Source: The Handbook of Texas Online, (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/), June 10, 2004
Source: House Journal -- 68th Day, Thursday, May 3,2007, p. 3055-3057
Source: State Names, Seals, Flags, and Symbols by Benjamin F. Shearer and Barbara S. Shearer, Copyright 2002
Source: State Songs America, Edited by M.J. Bristow, Copyright 2000
Source: State Names, Flags, Seals, Songs, Birds, Flowers, and Other Symbols by George Earlie Shankle, Ph.D., Copyright 1938

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