CLAYTON, Bill (b. 1928) | Oral History

CLAYTON, Bill (b. 1928)

Political Service: Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, 1975-82

Oral Histories

His personal views and experiences as speaker during the Sixty-fourth Legislature. Early political career; personal political philosophy; quest for the house speakership; personal observations of former Speakers Byron Tunnell, Ben Barnes, Gus Mutscher, Rayford Price, Price Daniel, Jr.; appointment of committee chairs; disposition of budget surplus; public school financing; public utilities regulation; constitutional revision.
Date of Interview: July 16, 1975

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Farmer-rancher-businessman. His personal views and experiences as speaker during the Sixty-fifth Legislature. Budget surplus; appropriations; highway bill; public school financing; Peveto bill and property taxation; government reorganization; House-Senate relations; comments about Governor Dolph Briscoe.
Date of Interview: June 29, 1977

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His personal views and experiences during the Second Special Session of the Sixty-fifth Legislature. Treasury surplus; sentiment for tax relief; influence of Proposition 13 in California; gubernatorial politics; homestead exemptions; taxation on agricultural land; Peveto bill; “Filthy Fifty.”
Date of Interview: November 16, 1978

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Farmer-rancher-businessman. His personal views and experiences as Speaker during the Sixty-sixth Legislature. Decision to seek third term as speaker; relationship with Governor William Clements; House organization; Budget Execution Act; reduction of state bureaucracy; zero-based budgeting; reduction of taxes; appropriations; school finance bill; personal and corporate income taxes; Peveto bill; interest rates; consumer protection legislation; comments about “Killer Bees”; initiative-referendum.
Date of Interview: August 27, 1979

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His personal views and experiences as speaker during the Sixty-seventh Legislature. Effects of elections of 1980; effects of Brilab; House rules; selection of committee chairs; initiative-referendum; interest rates; state water plan redistricting; law-and-order legislation; his political future.
Date of Interview: April 2, 1982

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