TEXAS — ABC13 recovered black and white film footage from the station's archives of the 60th legislative session of the Texas Legislature in 1967. The footage includes interviews with State Senators Chet Brooks and Barbara Jordan, as well as written remarks from House Speaker Ben Barnes.

Former State Senator Chet Brooks spoke to ABC13 in May 1967 during the final days of the session. He noted a change in how legislation was handled. "But the remarkable thing is, now that the sorry legislation that the public does not want, maybe some special interest or selfish interest group wants, is now being killed by a coalition of moderates and liberals," Brooks said. "Whereas in the old days, of course, all progressive legislation was just arbitrarily killed by the old guard or the old ultraconservative faction that completely dominated the Senate."

Brooks also discussed education, a top issue for the legislature that year alongside water infrastructure and quality. Seventy-seven education-related bills became law in Texas in 1967. "I think that there's no doubt about what we've done for education," Brooks said. "Although we didn't get exactly all we wanted, we didn't get nearly all we wanted for the public school teachers, we did get a pretty decent salary raise for them."

Former State Senator Barbara Jordan gave an interview to ABC13 reporter Garvin Berry regarding the session. A bill seeking to make annual voter registration mandatory in Texas was introduced in 1967, and it subsequently failed. "Well, my work against the proposed voter registration bill, which resulted in that bill being killed, is perhaps to me, the most significant achievement of my tenure here," Jordan said. "I considered the bill very restrictive. I did not feel Democrats could afford the luxury of a restrictive voter registration bill in 1968, and this was one of the reasons why I opposed it. I feel very pleased that that measure is dead for the 60th session."

Jordan also shared an overview of the legislative session. "If I could make any kind of overview of the 60th session, I would say that I wish we had public officials who could divorce personality from the best public interest, and if that could ever be achieved, I feel that the legislature would absolutely be a responsive body as far as the people are concerned."

House Speaker Ben Barnes wrote about the 60th legislative session's accomplishments and federal interference in state matters. "In recent years, there has been a good deal of talk about how state governments are failing to meet their responsibilities and how the federal government is assuming by default more and more powers which rightfully belong to the states," Barnes wrote. "I do not deny that there has been a strong trend in that direction."