Exam 4: Texas Legislature Flashcards
What is the main purpose of the Texas legislature?
make laws for texas
What are some laws that can be made by states?
- Criminal laws: drug or murder laws
- Traffic laws
- marriage & divorce laws
- education laws
- laws that impact our lives
What is the structure of the Texas legislature?
Bicameral: (two chambers)
One House & One Senate
How many members are in the TX senate?
31
How are TX senate members elected?
elected every 4 years by a single member district
What is a single member district?
each senate member has their own unique area that they are going to represent
T/F: the TX senate works all year round.
FALSEE
they start a new session every 2 years
How is the senate structured?
they adopt new procedure rules every session
When does a new session begin in the Texas Senate?
every 2 years
Who “runs” the Texas Senate?
the Lieutenant Governor, DAN PATRICK
How is the Lieutenant Governor elected?
By the citizens of Texas
What are the duties of Lieutenant Governor
- appoint committee chairs and members
- adopt the rules: decide how laws are going to be made
- Voting in case of a tie: what he says goes!!
How many members are in the TX house?
150
How are TX house members elected?
elected every 2 yrs via single member district
Who “runs” the TX House of rep.?
the Speaker of the House, DAN PHELAN
Who is the TX speaker of the house?
DAN PHELAN
what is a regular session?
the time period were the TX legislative is making laws
What type of schedule does a regular session run on?
runs of a Biennial Schedule
what is a Biennial Schedule
were the legislature works *every 2 years on ODD number of years**
ex: they worked in 2023
How many days does the legislator meet during a regular session?
What months do they meet in?
meets for 140 days: January - June
During the time of a regular session what is being done?
the legislature has to pass budgets and laws for the next 2 years
When is a special session called?
called by the Governor to address items that were not decided on during session or has come up during interim (they time they were not working)
T/F: the Lieutenant governor calls a special session.
FALSE
the governor calls a special session
What could be a reason that the Governor calls a special session?
fro controversial topics, a special session has become more political
What are two examples of with the Governor called a special session for controversial topics?
- voting rights
- bathroom bill
What are the rules fro a special session?
- can not last more than 30 days
- can call an unlimited number of special sessions
What is the Base salary for TX legislature members per the TX constitution?
$ 7,200/ year
While in session how much do legislator members get paid?
$190 / day * 140 days = 26,000
26,000 + 7,200 = $33,800 yearly
How much do legislator members get paid, while they are NOT in session.
$190 a day, up to 12 days per month + base pay:
total per year = 61,160??
If a Member of the TX legislator goes into retirement and has been serving in the Senate for 15 years, how much would he or she get per year for retirement
$32,000 / year
If a Member of the TX legislator goes into retirement and has been serving in the House for 30 years, how much would he or she get per year for retirement
$ 64,000 / year
T/F: the speaker of the house is part of the plural executive
FALSE
the speaker is NOT part of the plural executive
How is the speaker of the house elected?
elected through membership = has to be a house member first, then the house of representatives, as a whole, elects one of their own to be speaker
(in essence the speaker can be changed every two years)
What are the duties of the speaker of the house?
- recognition power
- appoint committee chairs and members
- Can vote on bills
What is recognition power?
where the speaker gets to decide which members can and cannot talk
how is recognition power impactful?
the speaker can decide who debates a bill
What is a disadvantage of the Legislature salaries?
the average person cannot run since the salaries are low
this causes the Legislature to be very elitist
most members come from money
What are the 3 types of bills that can be passed through the legislative process?
- General Bills
- Local Bills
- Special Bills
What are general bills?
bills that apply to ALL people or property in Texas
What are some examples of general bills
education or criminal bills
What are local bills
bills that affect ONE unit/ area of the state
what are some examples of local bills
speed limit on state roads
hunting & fishing
A bill that creates a community college, since they are used to serve one specific area
What are special bills
bills that give an individual or corporation special exemption from state law
What are some examples of special bills?
- some areas were exempt from property taxes after a hurricane
- Hazel wood act
What is the Hazel Wood Act?
exempts military members or their dependent from paying college tuition
What are resolutions?
an expression of opinion on an issue by a legislative body
Which resolution is chamber specific?
Simple Resolution
what are the 3 types of resolution?
simple
concurrent
joint
Which resolution DOES NOT go through the legislative process
Simple Resolutions
What is a simple resolution
a document that details either chamber rules or recognizes citizens for their accomplishments
Which resolutions go through the entire legislative process?
Joint & concurrent resolutions
What is special about joint resolutions?
they are sent to citizens to be approved
What are joint resolutions?
Purpose Texas Constitutional Amendments
Why do constitutional amendments come through as a resolution and not a bill.
bc if it was passed as a bill then citizens will not have a say
How does a concurrent resolution work?
it is approved by the governor and then the governor “gives” the opinion to the US federal govt.
What is a concurrent resolution?
an official opinion of the legislature
**usually an opinion/ topic they cannot fix themselves
what can be an example of a concurrent resolution?
Can Texas fix the immigration issue? No it’s the job of the federal government. But they can send a concurrent resolution about immigration to the governor for it to be approved and be sent to the federal government
Who can only write bills?
the Texas Legislature
What chamber deals with taxation bills in texas?
the House of rep.
What are the steps for when a bill reaches the Texas House of Representatives?
1st part: drafting a bill
- House Introduction
- parliamentarian
- House Committees
- standing
committees - Chair Decides
- Public Hearing
- Mark up stage
(private
committee)
- standing
- House Floor Activity
** Calendar
committee**
* Open & close
rule
* majority vote
What occurs during the House Introduction stage?
The bill is read on the floor/ chamber of the house in front of all the house members
who is a parliamentarian
a hired attorney
What does a parliamentarian do?
determines the subject of the bill
How many house standing committees are there?
38
How many senate standing committees are there?
14
what is the role of standing committees?
review the bill
standing committees have
different subjects to determine a bill
Explain the process of when a bill goes through the house committee
- standing committee reviews the bill
- chair decides to reject or accept the bill
- public hearing: opinion of the citizens
- Mark up stage: private committee meeting where they decide to reject, accept, table, or amend a bill
Explain the House Floor Activity Stage.
- goes through the calendar committee to schedule the bill
- open or close rule: can decide to debate the bill or not
- Majority Vote: 50% + 1
* 150/ 2 = 75 + 1 = 76 votes total
Explain the process of a bill going through the Texas Senate.
- Step #1: Senate Introduction
1. on the senate floor
2. Parliamentarian = hired attorney
i. Determines the subject of the bill - Step #2: Senate Committees
1. 14 standing committees
i. Review those bills
2. Chair Decides
i. Accept or reject the bill
3. Public Hearing
i. Hear from citizens and there opinion of the bill
4. Markup Stage
i. Private Committee
1) Pass bill
2) Reject bill
3) Amend bill
4) Table bill - Step #3: Senate Floor Activity (difference)
1. Lieutenant governor, determines when the bill will be heard by the entire senate
- senate always debate: a filibuster can occur
- Cloture
- Floor Vote: Majority Vote
- 31/ 2 = 15.5 +1 = 17 yes votes
What is a filibuster
a strategy, where senators are going to continue to debate pass the past deadline
If the Governor of TX decides to sign a bill = law, when will the law go into effect?
September 1st
What is a pocket veto?
when a bill is not signed or veto within those 10 days, then it becomes a law
when nothing is done with the bill it becomes a law
Pocket vetoing is done with
controversial topics
how many days does the governor have to sign or veto a bill in the first 130 days of session ?
10 days
in the first 130 days of session a bill is
GOING THROUGH THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS
In the last 10 days of session the president has how many days to sign or veto a bill?
20 days
what is a post adjournment veto
when the governor has 10 days to veto a bill after the session has ended
Why would the governor use a post adjournment veto?
so that the legislature does not override his veto
What is a Line-item veto
used for the general budget bill
the governor can draw lines through specific areas, which delete it from the bill
(instead of vetoing a whole budget bill, the governor can just cross out parts he doesn’t like)
What are 2 main rules for a veto?
- the governor must explain his reasoning to veto to the legislature
- legislature can override with a 2/3 vote from each chamber
