SHORTENED Gov #3 Cards

Question 1

The House

Answer 1

21yo
2y state
1yr district
150 members
2yr term
speaker of the house

Question 2

The Senate

Answer 2

Lt Governor
26yo
5 state
1 district
31 members
4yr terms

Question 3

Governor Requirements

Answer 3

30yo
5yr in state

Question 4

Substantive Law

Answer 4

What?
What is the law?

Question 5

Procedural Law

Answer 5

How?
How to enforce and prove the law

Question 6

Special Committee

Answer 6

Temp
The standing committee cannot complete/doesn’t have the authority
Serve a special function and then dismisses

Question 7

Conference Committee

Answer 7

Iron out bills
One clean bill approved by everyone
temp

Question 8

Calendars Commmittee

Answer 8

Makes the calendar for the legislature
ranks bills by importance and priority

Question 9

Sunshine Advisory Committee

Answer 9

Evaluate state agencies
advise/recommend legislative on how to proceed

Question 10

What positions does the governor appoint?

Governor’s Power to appoint and remove?

Answer 10

Appoints SAM
-the secretary of state
-Available judicial offices
-members of boards/committees

• staggered terms= 1/3 of them every 2 yrs
• cannot remove past appointees by other governers
• can remove their own if okay by senate

Question 11

Governors Legistlative powers

Answer 11

o Can call Special sessions
o Veto power
o Threat of the veto

Question 12

Governor’s Veto Power
Can it be over ridden
Has that ever happened

Answer 12

o Can veto to stop bill from becoming a law
o Can be overridden by 2/3 vote
o Only overridden 4 times in 60 yrs

Question 13

Line-item veto
how often is it overridden

Answer 13

o Allows the governor to veto a specific line from an appropriation bill, but lets the rest of the bill go forward
o Which allows the governor to veto provisions related to funding for specific items or projects without killing the entire bill.
o Has never been overridden

Question 14

post-adjournment veto

Answer 14

o Up to 20 days after the legislature
o If he vetos, there’s nothing legislature can do bc they’ve adjourned
o Is fairly common

Question 15

Why does texas have a plural executive?

Answer 15

Jacksonian Democracy
Less power placed on one person
Weaker governor

Question 16

Lt. Governor’s powers and responsibilities

Answer 16

Lt = Senate
Appoint LBB
Most Powerful constitutionally
takes over for governor

Question 17

Duties of the Attorney General

Answer 17

o state’s chief lawyer
o mostly civil cases
o Provides legal advice and opinions on bills and local govt
o Legal clarification

Question 18

What is a Comptroller?

Duties of the Comptroller

Answer 18

Controller of finances

predict, invest, collect, approve
PICA budget

o State’s Chief budget officer
o Has to approve any state budget
o predict how much money the state will have for the next 2yrs
o Invests money
o Collects taxes

Question 19

Spoils System

Answer 19

-After winning an election,
-gives government jobs to its supporters, friends, and relatives
-reward for working toward victory
-keep them working for the party
-as opposed to a merit system

Question 20

Duties of the Railroad Commission

Answer 20

Oil & gas, severence tax, trucking

Regulates Oil & Gas o	Regulates Intrastate trucking o	Enforce severance tax on raw materials

Question 21

Purpose Of The Sunset Advisory Committee

Answer 21

agency that evaluates state agencies and makes recommendations to legislature on performance and improvements needed

Question 22

Duties Of The Agricultural Commissioner

Answer 22

o Enforce consumer protection laws
o Promote tx agricultural products
o In charge of weights and measures (gas and meat)

Question 23

Major Source Of Tax Revenue For Texas

Answer 23

Taxes on
o Sales
o franchise/businesses
o Motor vehicle-related
o Crude oil and natural gas production

Question 24

Severance taxes

Answer 24

production of raw materials such as oil and natural gas

Question 25

Regressive Tax

Answer 25

Tax rates decline as a person’s income increases.

Question 26

non-fiscal policy

Answer 26

Not involving government funds or financial matters

Question 27

Texas Budget Cycle

Answer 27

o 2 yr budget
o appropriations requests from agencies
o Legislature approves general appropriations act
o Budget it implemented

Question 28

Legislative Budget Board

Answer 28

o Develop the budget and policy
o Fiscal analysis, evaluations and reviews

2 most important bills passed:
o State’s budget
o Appropriations bill:
assigns federal funds to specific federal government departments, agencies
and programs.

Question 29

Property Taxes

Answer 29

o TX has some of the highest
o Assessed, collected and used locally

Question 30

Duties of Speaker Of The House

Answer 30

o Presiding Officer Of The Texas House Of Representatives
o Is elected by the house members
o Controls who sits on what committee chairs and what bills they get
o Is a member of the LBB

Question 31

Two basic gerrymander techniques

Answer 31

Cracking: spreading voters out so much= can’t win a district

Packing: the party into as fewer districts= less representatives

Question 32

Reynolds v sims

Answer 32

district representatives must be roughly equal in population

Question 33

Apportionment

Answer 33

proportionate distribution of elected representatives

Question 34

When is a regular session?

Answer 34

o 2nd Tuesday in January
o odd-numbered years
o 140 days
o Ends on May 31st

Question 35

Texas Legislature has # branches, called___ & ____making it ______

Answer 35

Two branches
House and Senate
Bicameral

Question 36

The legislative function?

Answer 36

o determine what is a crime
o establish the basis for a civil suit
o establish what services the state will provide
o supply the funding to carry out the state’s priorities