Ways Governors Exercise Control

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Ways Governors Exercise Control

A governor’s formal powers include the tenure of the office, power of appointment, power to veto legislation, responsibility for preparing the budget, authority to reorganize the executive branch, and the right to retain professional staff in the governor’s office. These institutional powers give governors the potential to carry out the duties of office as they see fit. However, the formal powers vary considerably from state to state (Bowman, Kearney, 2011). The governor of Texas is in general the most known state official and usually at the center of state government and politics. As such an important part of the Texas government, the governor has many powers, both formal and informal.

The formal powers of the governor are powers inherent to the person who holds the office. These powers include: the power to veto, appointing powers, budgeting powers, and the power to reorganize state agencies and departments. These powers are inherent to the person who holds the position. The power to veto is the governor’s ability to say no to legislation that they disagree with or are opposed to. This power is the most important power that the governor wields that can affect the lawmaking process.

There are also several types of vetoes, however the Texas government only has two: the line-item veto, or partial veto, is the ability to abolish or cancel certain parts of a bill; and the package veto, which allows the governor to veto the entire bill. The veto is a very important power of the governor because it allows the governor to have a say in the lawmaking process and because vetoes are rarely overridden, the bill will likely not go through. The veto is the governors’ power to say no to legislation that ...

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...s. One very important power is the media. The governor can use the media to convey their ideas and messages to the public. The governor can then hope that the public will be in agreement with them. Texas governors today have many powers and resources at their disposal. Without these powers, the governor would merely be a figurehead in government, but with these powers they can influence the way the state itself is run.

References

Bowman, A., Kearney, R., (2011). Governors. State and Local Government Eighth Edition, Ch.7, Retrieved from: https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/content/eBookLibrary2

Ferguson, M. R. (2013). Roles, functions, and powers of the governors. Retrieved from: http://governors.rutgers.edu/usgov/gov_intro_chpt2.php

Texas politics: The executive branch. (2013, March 17). Retrieved from:

http://texaspolitics.laits.utexas.edu/1_1_0.html

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