Exam 3: Concepts from lecture Flashcards
Southern heritage
defn: Half of Texas’s background
sig: Makes Texans historically more religious and more violent
Western heritage
defn: Half of Texas’s background that is hypocritical and comprised of arid states
sig: western heritage brings hypocrisy because they are economically conservative but built on socialist water programs, this makes Texas politically conservative
historical context of constitution
defn: The history that the Texas constitution was written by southern white farmers who were deliberately creating a weak central government
sig: ridiculously long and complex because it specifies absolutely everything the govt can or can’t do
disintegrated executive
defn: Informal Term used to describe that the executive branch has several independently elected officials.
sig: This represents the tendency in Texas to weaken the Central government through the decentralization of power, often times making it less efficient. these people are all elected statewide independently form the governor, and they tend to compete with one another and don’t cooperate
Texas rank among state in expenditures
defn: Relationship of Texas per capita spending to per capita spending of govt of other states. Texas has a significantly lower budget
sig: the state ranks low in state spending because it does not have a state income tax, resulting in regressive sales taxes that mostly affect the poor
Texas rank among states in objective quality of life
defn: Texas ranks very low on objective measures
sig: the rank is objectively low, but the subjective quality of life is ranked highly among the citizens
Texas rank among states in subjective quality of life
defn: Texas ranks high on subjective measures
sig: the rank is objectively low, but the subjective quality of life is ranked highly among the citizens
tradition of one-partyism
defn: Texas didn’t let minorities vote, so it was all democratic, and beginning in 1980s, Republicans took over, and Democrats have not won a state-wide election since 1982
sig: Texas will always be a one-party republican state as long as minorities don’t turn up to vote
party organization
defn: the way the parties are organized that is so weak in Texas that it is almost irrelevant
sig: weak because candidates are nominated in primaries. State leaders have no control over who runs, and candidates have their own organizations
Tom Pauken
defn: chair of the State Republican organization in 1990s
sig: illustrates that the chair of the State Republican organization and the Republican governor do not necessarily agree on anything
Texas turnout
defn: % of eligible adults that actually go to the polls on election day to vote in Texas
sig: very low in Texas elections compared to other states
if minorities voted at the same rate as anglos, Texas would be a much more liberal state, would at least be a two-party state
minority turnout
defn: % of eligible adults of minorities who actually vote on election day. anglos tend to vote at noticeably higher rates than minorities
sig: if minorities voted at the same rate as anglos, Texas would be a much more liberal state, would at least be a two-party state
minority opinion
defn: The general trend that minorities tend to be more liberal on political issues.
sig: if minorities voted at the same rate as anglos, Texas would be a much more liberal state, would at least be a two-party state
140 days
defn: the amount of time the Texas legislature is allowed to meet according to the Texas constitution (and only on odd numbered years)
sig: One reason why Texas has an amateur legislature and why legislators do not have time to study issues
$7200
defn: The amount of money that legislators make per year, allotted by the Texas constitution
sig: One reason why Texas has an amateur legislature and why legislators do not have time to study issues
powers of presiding office
defn: the extent to which the Texas speaker and lieutenant governor can govern and take political action
sig: the Texas legislature is utterly unlike US Congress in that legislative power is centralized and is in two main presiding officers
David Dewhurst and Tom Craddick
(2005-6)
defn: Speaker is Craddick and L.gov was Dewhurst both disagreed over school finance reform. Argued all 2005 and in the end nothing happened.
sig: Illustrates power in Texas legislature is centralized in two presiding officers who must cooperate or the result is paralysis
Dan Patrick
defn: The 2015 Lt Gov who was more partisan in appointing more Republicans to committees in the Senate (over traditional 2/3)
sig: it is yet to be determined whether this breaking of tradition will continue with other lieutenant governors
“Bo” Pilgrim
(1989)
defn: One of most famous lobbyists in Texas Legislature handed 9 legislators checks for $10,000 to senators who said good things about the workers compensation bill
sig: Money and lobbying are still very important in the Texas Legislature
responsible poliycmaking
defn: The ability of the legislature to make policy that can be held accountable by the citizens.
sig: Unlike congress because Texas Leg. has centralized power, it can make responsible coherent public policy.
sources of state income
(2014-2015)
defn: Sales taxes, Federal transfers, severance taxes
sig: Texas makes no money from property taxes, so Legislatures had to raise other taxes
Texas govt is dependent upon federal govt
oil and natural gas severance tax
(1976-2015)
defn: a tax on the production of oil and gas
sig: As this production went down, Texas legislature had to raise other kinds of taxes
patterns of state expenditure
defn: #1 thing Texas govt spend money on: education
sig: Low tax rates in Texas mean that there is little money for education and when taxes/budgets are cut education suffers most
4 functions of state chief executives
defn: Chief administrator, Chief legislator, Head of the Party in that State, Commander in Chief, (commander of Texas police force)
sig: The Texas governor is weak in party leader, chief legislator, and head of administration, and commander in chief is essentially irrelevant
power of governor
defn: The extent to which the Texas governor has control over Texas political actions.
sig: The governor is weak except in a negative sense (strong there because they have a line-item veto) but a skillful politician can be more positively successful
governor’s control of administration
defn: The governor’s influence over law-making
sig: this power is very weak and only strong negatively
Board of Pardons and Paroles
defn: A state agency established in 1934 that has the power to grant pardons and paroles to prisoners.
sig: Power taken from the Governor despite public perception otherwise.
Illustrates Texas governor’s lack of administrative power, started out weak and got weaker.
Governor Ann Richards
defn: Texas Governor from 1991-1995 who wanted to get rid of corruption
sig: was a much more powerful administrator because she knew the formal constraints
chief legislator
defn: One of the 4 functions of the state chief executive consisting of being a participant in the legislative process.
sig: the power mostly only has negative strength via the line-item veto
Governor George W. Bush
defn: Texas chief executive from 1995-2000 who accomplished all he set out to do politically by negotiating with legislature.
sig: A good politician can overcome the restrictions of Texas constitution on the chief legislator.
Governor Rick Perry
defn: Texas chief executive from 2000-2015 who vetoed 301 bills.
sig: Illustrates one way a Governor can be the chief legislator, negatively by using the veto power
Comptroller
defn: state institution created by the Texas constitution to enforce the constitutional mandate that the budget be balanced
sig: authority to limit the legislature makes the comptroller powerful in state government; example of Texas’s disintegrated executive, which limits the power of the governor
Texas Office of Homeland Security
defn: an institution housed in the governor’s office to develop plans concerning terrorism and natural disasters
sig: the Texas governor oversees this position, and so since 9/11 the governor has slowly been accruing more power
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
defn: The top court of the criminal track in Texas
Texas Supreme Court
defn: The top court of the civil track in Texas
Letter Opinion 97-001
defn: The advisory opinion issued by the attorney general in 1997 until 2003 that outlawed all affirmative action decisions in universities
sig: The Attorney General has a huge amount of power in making decisions in the Texas judicial system because he made affirmative action policy for 6 years
Is Justice for sale?
defn: Texas judiciary is supposed to be impartial, but isn’t because judges are elected using money that lawyers raise
sig: Texas does not have the problem of democratic legitimacy, because its elected, but it does have the problem that lawyers’ money compromises impartiality of the judges’ rulings
school finance
defn: Recurring Issue starting in 1987-2005 and 2011-14 over the financial disparity between different school districts in which courts repeatedly held that the legislature violates the constitutional by permitting financial inequality.
sig: example of Judiciary imposing will on the legislature
tort reform
defn: (1995-2003) legislature changes for Civil lawsuits that made it harder to sue people and if you did win, there was a low limit on how much you could win in punitive damages
sig: the legislature imposes will on the judiciary
Cameron Todd Willingham
defn: Man who was wrongfully executed in 2004 for allegedly setting a fire in his house to kill his 3 daughters
sig: illustrates extremely flawed implementation of the capital punishment policy
Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA)
defn: a state institution that governs the use of water in the lower 400 miles of the colorado river(2009-2016)
sig: illustrates a conflict that will become more common in the future: cities vs farmers
whooping cranes
defn: a species of a large endangered bird that winters on the Texas coast near Aransas Pass (2008-2016)
sig: illustrates a conflict that will become more common in the future: Developemtn wins over whooping cranes
Texas Water Plan
defn: An extremely expensive, environmentally disruptive plan in 1969 to transport water from the Mississippi River to West Texas (Amarillo, Lubbock)
sig: illustrates a conflict that will become more common in the future: interbasin transfers cause enormous political resistance
Rule of Capture
defn: 2010 law that states that a land owner owns all the mineral rights under his/her property, including water
sig: This conflicts with the state regulation of water and the conflict has never been resolved, and the texas Supreme Court refused to do so
Rio Grande Compact
defn: 1938 agreement between Texas, Colorado, and New Mexico to share the water from the rio grande
sig: New Mexico is not living up to its agreements and Texas has sued them in federal court. This is an example of a kind of conflict that is going to become more common in the future: water politics: state vs state
Texas Water Development Board
defn: (1957-2001) the state institution that governs the 96 smaller Texas institutions that govern water within their territory. It wants to build dams to create reservoirs to keep water in Texas, but people on that land are opposed
sig: important because it is one thing to plan, entirely different to solve the political problem of opposition to dam building, farmers are always supported by environmentalists, more conflict like this expected in the future.
“Darwin vs Democracy”
defn: The conflict between fundamentalist christians and others about what to teach in public school biology classes
sig: This creates problems with democratic legitimacy because a minority is imposing upon the majority.
Edwards v. Aguillard
defn: 1987 US supreme court decision that creationism cannot be taught in public schools because it is religion not science.
sig: This creates problems with democratic legitimacy vs science
SBOE (State Board of Education)
defn: The Texas state board of education is a state agency responsible for choosing/recommending the textbooks allowed in Texas schools
sig: Arena for struggle between Darwin vs Democracy, that is between conservative Christians and those who advocate science. (Scientific elite suppress democracy)
