GIVE WE THE PEOPLE THE CONSTITUTIONAL POWER TO RECALL AND REMOVE PUBLIC OFFICIALS WHO BETRAY THEIR OATH
Petition to:
The Texas Legislature, the Governor of Texas, the United States Congress, the Legislatures of the several States, and all public officials with authority to advance constitutional reform.

WE THE PEOPLE DEMAND REAL CONSTITUTIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY
Public office belongs to the People.

A president does not own the presidency. A governor does not own the governor's office. A judge does not own the courtroom. A prosecutor does not own prosecutorial power. A sheriff does not own the badge. A legislator does not own a seat in government.

These positions carry authority that has been entrusted by the People.

Yet when public officials abuse that authority, violate the public trust, or deliberately betray the constitutional oath they voluntarily accepted, the citizens they serve are often forced to rely upon other government officials or institutions to hold them accountable.

That must change.

We are petitioning for constitutional reform establishing a People's Constitutional Accountability, Recall, and Removal Power so that qualified citizens have a lawful, secure, transparent, and enforceable means of withdrawing governmental authority from public servants who have seriously betrayed the public trust.

WHAT WE ARE DEMANDING
We call upon the Texas Legislature to advance the constitutional amendments necessary to establish this power in Texas, and we call upon Congress and the States to pursue the constitutional amendments necessary to establish comparable accountability for federal officials.

The reform should establish the following principles:

1. THE PEOPLE MUST HAVE A DIRECT RIGHT OF RECALL AND REMOVAL
Qualified voters should have the constitutional authority to initiate a removal petition against a public official exercising governmental authority over them.

Once a constitutionally established number of verified signatures is obtained and all lawful procedural requirements are satisfied, the question of removal should go before the appropriate voters.

Government may verify signatures, protect election integrity, enforce deadlines, prevent fraud, and administer the election.

Government should not have the discretionary power to simply refuse to let the People vote.

 
2. NO PUBLIC OFFICIAL SHOULD BE ABOVE ACCOUNTABILITY
This constitutional accountability should apply, as constitutionally appropriate, to officials exercising substantial governmental authority, including:

Presidents and vice presidents
Governors and statewide executive officials
United States Senators and Representatives
State legislators
Mayors and local elected officials
Judges and judicial officers
Prosecutors and attorneys general
Sheriffs, constables, police chiefs, marshals, and law-enforcement executives
Commissioners and regulators
Agency officials
Appointed officials exercising substantial governmental authority
Other public servants entrusted with authority affecting the rights, liberty, property, taxation, prosecution, regulation, or government of the People
No title, robe, badge, appointment, political party, government agency, or institutional position should create an untouchable class of public officials.

 
3. SERIOUS BETRAYAL OF PUBLIC TRUST MUST BE GROUNDS FOR REMOVAL
Constitutional removal procedures should apply to serious misconduct such as:

Willful violation of an oath of office
Corruption
Serious abuse of official authority
Criminal misconduct connected to public office
Knowing abuse of constitutional or statutory power
Deliberate deprivation of protected constitutional rights
Deliberate concealment or destruction of evidence to prevent accountability
Other comparably grave betrayals of the public trust
A recall or removal vote would determine whether an individual should continue to possess governmental authority.

It would not, by itself, constitute a criminal conviction.

 
4. WILLFUL BETRAYAL OF A CONSTITUTIONAL OATH SHOULD CARRY SERIOUS CRIMINAL CONSEQUENCES
We call for the creation, through lawful constitutional and legislative processes, of a narrowly defined felony offense for Willful Betrayal of Constitutional Oath.

This should apply when a public official, while exercising public authority and possessing the required criminal intent, knowingly and willfully uses that authority in corrupt or deliberate betrayal of a constitutional duty the official expressly swore to support, preserve, protect, or defend.

This must be narrowly written.

An official should not become a felon merely because:

A court later determines that the official made a legal error
The official supported an unpopular policy
Citizens disagree with the official politically
The official acted in good faith under unsettled law
A decision is later reversed on appeal
A felony conviction must require the protections of the criminal justice system, including proof of every required element and criminal intent beyond a reasonable doubt.

Political disagreement is not treason to an oath.

Knowing, deliberate, corrupt betrayal of sworn constitutional duties is something entirely different.

 
5. TAXPAYERS SHOULD NOT CONTINUE REWARDING AN OFFICIAL AFTER A QUALIFYING WILLFUL BETRAYAL IS FORMALLY ESTABLISHED
When a qualifying willful oath betrayal has been formally established through the constitutional procedures created by this reform, taxpayer-funded compensation and benefits attributable to public service after the proven date of betrayal should be subject to termination, forfeiture, recovery, offset, or clawback as constitutionally authorized.

This should include taxpayer-funded portions of:

Salary and wages
Stipends and allowances
Bonuses and severance
Employer-funded retirement contributions
Public pension subsidies
Government-funded annuities
Deferred-compensation matches
Post-employment taxpayer-funded payments
Taxpayer-funded health subsidies
Consulting or transition arrangements designed to circumvent forfeiture
Other taxpayer-funded benefits resulting from the forfeited public service
An official should not receive a financial windfall simply because an investigation, prosecution, petition, election, or review took years to complete.

Where constitutionally permitted, financial responsibility should relate back to the proven date of the qualifying violation once that violation has been formally established.

However, an official's own identifiable personal retirement contributions should remain distinguishable from taxpayer-funded subsidies. The objective is to end taxpayer-funded rewards for disqualifying public misconduct—not to confiscate privately contributed property.

 
6. A FELONY CONVICTION FOR WILLFUL OATH BETRAYAL SHOULD END FUTURE ELIGIBILITY FOR PUBLIC TRUST
Removal by the People should remove an official from the office at issue.

A final felony conviction for Willful Betrayal of Constitutional Oath should go further.

An individual convicted of intentionally and corruptly betraying the constitutional oath attached to public authority should be permanently disqualified from again holding an office or position of public trust requiring such an oath, subject to reversal of the conviction or other relief specifically authorized by the constitutional amendment.

 
7. THE PROCESS MUST PROTECT BOTH THE PEOPLE AND DUE PROCESS
Real accountability cannot mean mob rule.

The constitutional process should include safeguards such as:

Verified signatures
A substantial but achievable signature threshold
Publicly available evidence supporting the allegations
A meaningful opportunity for the accused official to respond
Secure elections
Protection against forged signatures
Severe penalties for fabricated evidence and election fraud
Protection against bribery and intimidation
Neutral election administration
Clear deadlines preventing intentional government delay
Protection against repetitive petitions based upon allegations already rejected by voters unless materially new evidence exists
Disclosure of significant funding used to support or oppose a removal campaign
Limited judicial review to correct fraud and genuine procedural or constitutional defects
Courts should protect the integrity of the process.

They should not be empowered to simply substitute their political judgment for the lawful decision of the electorate.

 
TEXANS ALSO DESERVE THE POWER TO PUT CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM BEFORE TEXANS
Texas declares that political power is inherent in the People.

But meaningful sovereignty requires more than words.

We therefore also call for a lawful citizen-initiated constitutional amendment process in Texas allowing a substantial number of verified Texas voters to place proposed constitutional amendments before the statewide electorate without first requiring the discretionary political approval of the very officeholders whose authority the amendment may seek to limit.

Safeguards should protect the process from fraud, deception, multiple unrelated subjects, and abuse.

But ultimately, Texans should possess a lawful mechanism to ask other Texans whether their Constitution should be changed.

 
THIS IS NOT ABOUT REPUBLICANS OR DEMOCRATS
This is not a Republican reform.

It is not a Democrat reform.

It is not conservative accountability or liberal accountability.

It is constitutional accountability.

Any power granted to citizens must apply regardless of which political party controls the government and regardless of which political party the accused official belongs to.

If we only want accountability when the other side is in power, then what we want is political power—not constitutional principle.

This reform must apply equally.

 
OUR FORMAL DEMAND
We, the undersigned, call upon:

The Texas Legislature to propose and submit to Texas voters constitutional amendments establishing a People's Constitutional Accountability, Recall, and Removal Power and a lawful citizen-initiated constitutional amendment process;

The United States Congress and the Legislatures of the several States to pursue the constitutional amendment procedures necessary to establish comparable direct public accountability for federal constitutional offices;

and

All elected and appointed public servants to recognize that government exists to serve the People—not to shield public officials from the People.

The existing lawful mechanisms of impeachment, prosecution, ethics enforcement, judicial discipline, civil remedies, legislative discipline, and other accountability systems should remain.

This reform would add something those systems too often lack:

THE PEOPLE'S OWN ENFORCEABLE CONSTITUTIONAL POWER TO WITHDRAW THE AUTHORITY THEY DELEGATED.
An oath of office should mean something.

Public trust should mean something.

The Constitution should mean something.

And when a public servant knowingly and willfully betrays the extraordinary authority entrusted to that office, We the People should possess a lawful constitutional means to take that authority back.

 
THE PEOPLE ARE THE SOVEREIGN.
PUBLIC OFFICIALS ARE TEMPORARY STEWARDS OF PUBLIC POWER.
WE THE PEOPLE SHOULD NOT HAVE TO ASK GOVERNMENT FOR PERMISSION TO HOLD GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABLE.
Please sign this petition if you believe public office is a public trust, constitutional oaths must carry meaningful consequences, and no person entrusted with governmental power should ever become untouchable by the citizens that government exists to serve.

Proposed by: Larry Wells
Original Resolution: People's Constitutional Accountability, Recall, and Removal
August 2026