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A seven-term state representative who was one of two speakers during the 31st Legislature, Austin Milton Kennedy (1866-1914) was the author of several pieces of legislation that have had lasting impact on Texas government. During the 1905 regular session of the 29th Legislature, he authored a revenue measure placing a tax on the gross receipts of business corporations, and then in the 1907 1st Called Session of the 30th Legislature, he authored a related measure enacting the state's corporate franchise tax. In the 1911 regular session of the 32nd Legislature, he proposed a "home rule" amendment to the Texas Constitution, which was approved by Texas voters the next year and allowed cities of more than 5,000 population to select their own form of municipal government. Austin Milton Kennedy was born in Alabama on July 16, 1866, and came with his parents to Texas in 1870, where the family settled in Limestone County. Kennedy had little formal education, but he was sufficiently self-taught to begin contributing articles to local newspapers while only a teenager. Still a youth, he also apprenticed as a printer. Kennedy fully launched himself into journalism in 1887 when he founded and became editor of the Mexia Democrat. He continued that paper for five years before disposing of it to purchase an interest in the Waco Daily Day. Manager of the Waco paper only briefly, he encountered political and financial problems when he supported Governor James Stephen Hogg over a Waco opponent in the Democratic primary of 1892. Kennedy subsequently was connected with several other newspapers, and he also retained controlling interest in a Mexia printing company. Active in Democratic politics, Kennedy was appointed secretary of the senate during the 22nd and 23rd legislatures. Following an unsuccessful legislative campaign in 1894, when he lost to a candidate of the Populist Party, Kennedy tried again and was elected state representative in 1898. As a resident of Mexia, he served in the 26th and 27th legislatures; as a resident of Mart, in the 29th and 30th legislatures; as a resident of Waco, in the 31st and 32nd legislatures; and as a resident of Kerrville, in the 33rd Legislature. In the 30th Legislature he was chairman of the committee on revenue and taxation, and at the beginning of the 31st Legislature he was elected speaker. Kennedy retained that office through the regular session but yielded it shortly thereafter, succumbing to the pressure of a house resolution calling for his resignation. Though accused of improper spending for staff and furniture, Kennedy was supported by about 50 fellow legislators who offered a substitute resolution that he was merely following custom and should only be reprimanded. The substitute failed, however, and on the last day of the regular session the house adopted the condemnatory resolution. Two days later, on March 15, 1909 (the second day of the 1st called session), Kennedy acceded to the will of the house majority by resigning as speaker. Despite the incident, he continued to be influential politically, and was elected to two additional terms in the house, during which he enacted his home-rule legislation. Reappointed chairman of the committee on revenue and taxation in the 32nd Legislature of 1911, he also chaired the committee on rules that same year. Kennedy remained in office as state representative through part of the 33rd Legislature, again serving as rules chairman. He died in Kerrville on July 19, 1914, before that legislature's 2nd called session. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Presiding Officers of the Texas Legislature, 1846-2002. [Austin, Tex.]: Texas Legislative Council, 2002. link: Austin Kennedy.
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