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Responsible for our everyday well-being and state society as we know it the Texas legislature takes on a lot of responsibilities that some may have a blind eye to. When it comes to Texas's governing body is crucial to know the different branches that come with the government. When talking about most policies that take place in Texas, it is very important to understand the Texas legislature and how it works. Here's everything you need to know about the Texas legislature and responsibilities that come with it.
What is the Texas legislature you may ask? The Texas legislature is what is known as a bicameral body which consists of 31 members of Senate and an additional 150 members of House of Representatives. Similar to most legislators the Texas
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House of Representatives consists of different houses. Texas has a House of Representatives and the Texas Senate, the two Chambers; the Texas Senate, and the Texas House of Representatives both have different roles when it comes to Texas legislature. The Texas Senate which is also known as the upper chamber and the Texas legislature is responsible for many things when it comes to Texas governing. Legislative responsibilities of the Texas Senate are comprised of reviewing and passing bills on matters of policy, set the budget for State spending, Senate is responsible for raising and lowering taxes throughout Texas, and voting to either uphold or dismiss vetoes. To qualify to be a senator one must be at least 26 years of age, one must also have been a citizen of Texas for five years before his or her election and a resident of their District in which they represent for one year before the election. Each Senator is only allowed to serve a four-year term. One-half of the Senate committee is elected every two years usually in the even-numbered years. What's the initial election has commenced, the Senate is then divided into two classes, one that is responsible for having a re-election after 2 years of serving, and the other class having a realization after 4 years of serving. The Texas House of Representatives which is considered to be the lower House of the Texas legislature consists of 150 members who typically are selected from different districts for a term of a total of 2 years. The House of Representatives holds its Council in Austin the capital of Texas. To qualify to be a representative in the Texas House of Representatives, one must be at least 21 years of age and must have been a citizen of Texas for two years before the election process. One must also have been a resident of their represented District for one year before the election. A representative of the Texas House of Representatives are elected for only two-year terms, usually running for re-election is taking place in the even-numbered years similar to the Senate. Texas has 31 State Senate districts each district is only allowed to have one senator, and many state legislators are responsible for creating congressional district lines.
Typically several states have only one district of congressional. Many other states employ what is known as independent commission to draw District Maps. An independent redistricting Commission is a council with the authority to drive to implement electoral District Maps.
Another key important aspect of the Texas legislature is in regards to the sessions that are held. Due to the Texas Constitution, this limits the regular session to 140 calendar days the Texas legislature will commonly meet and what is known as a regular season which consists on the second Tuesday in January and of each odd number year.
Now the legislature of Texas is what can be known as the law making part of Texas. The main responsibility of the Texas legislature is to provide laws that benefit health, general welfare, good public education, and an overall well-being of citizens native to Texas. The Texas legislature is also responsible for establishing public policy with the passing of different bills and the creation of resolutions, Also with the power to admit a Texas Constitution, which then is released to the citizens of Texas voters for agreement of the policy changes or the disagreement of the policy
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changes. When talking about the two houses of the legislature is also important to understand that each house has a speaker. The speaker of the Texas House of Representatives is elected by the legislature of Texas, through votes of the members of the time. Typically the members may nominate a fellow member which then can lead to a recorded vote which is held to determine who the speaker will become. Then the Secretary of State causes the House of Representatives to order and proceeds to act as overseer of the chamber until the new speaker is elected. Typically the Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives is responsible for a lot of duties. The speaker of the House of Representatives is the chief of said house. The Texas Constitution states that the house is required to choose one of its own members to serve as Speaker each time a new legislature is created. Speaker being the presiding officer it is his or her job to maintain order during debate of the floor, recognizing possible legislators who wish to speak about certain matters, and ruling on matters and how to proceed with them. As being part of a member of the Texas House of Representatives, the speaker has the authority to vote on all questions before the House of Representatives themselves. The Texas Constitution requires the speaker of the Texas House Representatives to sign all bills and possible resolutions passed by the legislature. Many other duties or responsibilities of the speaker are typically determined by the members of the House of Representatives in what is known as the house rules of procedure. The house rules of procedure which consists of a majority vote of Representative members at the beginning of each meeting of the Texas legislature. The speaker gets the authority to a point membership of each committee from the members. The speaker is subject to rules of seniority, he is also responsible to designate the vice-chair of each committee. The Speaker of the House of Representatives is also allowed to appoint conference committees, which then is responsible to select committees, and which in the term are responsible for directing committees to conduct certain studies when the legislature may not be in session. Now unlike the Texas House of Representatives, the Texas Senate does not have a house speaker. The Texas Senate is governed by the president of the Senate. Typically the lieutenant governor of Texas is who serves as president of Senate. The Lieutenant Governor's job includes appointing different chairs to committees, appointing different committee members, delegating and referring different bills to different committees, recognizing members during floor debates, and making rulings. The lieutenant governor also has the power to provide a vote whenever the Senate vote would possibly end in a tie. The different powers of selecting committee and assigning certain bills to certain committees the lieutenant governor can be considered to be one of the most power lieutenant governorships when it comes to the United States. Indifferent to all of the existing state legislators the Texas Senate does not include Superior leaders nor minority leaders. Rather, the position of president pro tempore is highly considered to be the following most powerful position aside from lieutenant governor, and you can be late to any political member in any chamber regardless of a majority or minority. Typically though, president pro tempore usually consists mostly of senior members of the Texas Senate. The president pro tempore presides only when the lieutenant governor is not to be accounted for, or when the Texas legislature is not in common session. Now we're talking about the Texas House of Representatives and the Texas Senate, it is equally important to understand what gives the Texas legislature power in the first place. This document is known as the Texas Constitution. The Texas Constitution first took effect on February 15th, 1876.
Before entering the United States, Texas had a few other existing constitutions, the Coahuila y Tejas, the 1836 constitution of the Republic of Texas, and a few others. The current Texas Constitution included nearly 289 sections which were then organized into 17 different articles upon being ratified in the year 1876. After this 211 additional sections have been included, but 66 of the original Texas constitution sections along with 49 of the newly added sections have thus been removed. Today in total the Texas constitution holds 385 sections. From the year 1876 to the year January 2015 it is noted that the Texas legislature has proposed more than or equal to 666 amendments to Texas's current constitution. The Texas Constitution is comprised of 17 different
articles. These articles include the Bill of Rights, power of the government, executive department, Judicial Department, suffrage, education, taxation and revenue, counties, railroads, municipal corporations, private corporations, spanish and mexican land titles, public lands and land office, impeachment, general provisions, and mode of amending the Constitution of the state of Texas. As mentioned before the Texas legislature gains its power from the Constitution, specifically article three of the Constitution of Texas. The power of Senate also comes from article 3 of the Texas Constitution. Not only the power of the Texas legislature comes from the Constitution but also the rules to which the legislature is bound by coming from the Constitution of Texas as well. The Constitution itself has been changing throughout the years many times. But what exactly goes into amending the Constitution and to what purpose does it really serve? When it comes to a man in the Constitution the Texas legislature typically has the authority to bring forth new amendments to the Texas Constitution. These proposed amendments then must be approved and what is known as a joint resolution of both the state Senate and also the House of Representatives of Texas. The joint resolution can either come from the House of Representatives or the Senate. At this point, the resolution must become adopted with a vote of at least two-thirds of membership and the Texas House of Representatives and in the house. This can come out to be a minimum of 100 votes and the Texas House of Representatives and 21 votes in the house of Senate. Any Bill composed and passed by the legislature will often take effect 90 days after it is passed. Unless while during the passing, a two-thirds vote of each house votes to either give the bill either immediate effect or to put the bill into it earlier effect. From there the legislature can provide an effective date that is after the 90-day rule. Quite commonly the most effective day for bills to be passed is September 1st in odd number years, September first is the start of the state's fiscal year. The fiscal year occurs for 12 months. That an organization can use for budgeting reporting and forecasting. The Texas legislature is responsible for an abundance of important things. From the establishment of new amendments to the Constitution to the passing of new bills the Texas legislature is a very complex system that allows our State Society to run as efficiently as it does. Although there are many more factors of government that contribute to our state government policies it is important to understand each area of our government and what role each part has.
The government officials have a scope of duties that they are required deal. The governor may create the budget, appoint executive boards, and declare martial law, so the scope of the governor’s duties range from budget to martial law. I believe citizens will find the budget very important because that is where their tax money is and people typically want to know where that is going. The lieutenant governor is the president of the Senate, which according to the textbook by Benson, Clinkscale, and Giardino, “many political scientist believe…is the most powerful position in the state,” (218). The senate is a part of the Texas legislature, so making laws is very important to the public because the citizens are the ones who have to abide by the law. The attorney general is elected by the public and basically the state’s lawyer, so his issues are important to the people because he deals with making laws (Benson, Clinkscale, and Giardino 220). The comptroller is “the state’s chief accountant and financial officer,” so the public should be interested in the financial aspects of the state (Benson, Clinkscale, and Giardino 221). The land commissioner manages leases and the state’s public land, so the issues that are under the title may not be as important as the comptroller or lieutenant governor’s
For almost fifty years, from 1827 to 1876, seven constitutions were adopted and implemented for Taxes and each one has its set of laws and contained specific ways, aimed at correcting the deficiencies and drawbacks of the previously adopted order. The Constitution of 1876 is the sixth one, which set the rules and laws for Texas government since the state has achieved its independence from Mexico in 1836. The constitution established the principles of Texas Democratic Government and specified the laws, which were applied to the three branches of government: legislative, juridical and executive.
Texas is a unique place with a colorful history of legendary cowboys and tall tales. The state stretches over the middle section of the southern United States. Texas has experienced shifts in governmental control within the United States. French, Spanish, Mexican, and Confederacy, and all having once been in charge, not to mention the time Texas spent as an independent republic. Texas has had many battles and wars within its borders, resulting in seven different constitutions within a span of fifty years between each document.
Our Legislative Branch has two chambers or as some will call it bicameral. The chambers consist of the Senate and the House of Representatives just like the National Legislative Branch. In our Senate we currently have a total of 31 members and there are 150 members in the House of Representatives. Senators hold their seat for 4 years and their election years are spread out while the House of Representatives are elected for two-year terms. In our Texas Legislature we have a few authority figures. “The Texas Constitution provides that the lieutenant governor shall serve as president of the senate, the presiding officer of that body. The lieutenant governor is elected statewide by voters of Texas and is the second-highest ranking officer of the executive branch of government”. (Texas Medical Associaton) In the House of Representatives we have a Speaker of the House who is chosen in each time a new legislature starts by its own members. “The speaker maintains order during floor debate, recognizing legislators who wish to speak and ruling on procedural matters.” (Joe Straus Speaker) There are also many committees who act as important gatekeepers and shape the proposed legislation. (University of Texas at Austin). The main pu...
The legislative process in Texas utilizes an introduction, a committee action, a floor action, and an enrollment in it's lawmaking process. This process can be complicated, however, it is a system that has been used for many years. Thousands of bills go through this organized process every other year and keep Texas modern and running
The Legislative Department’s primary function is to enact laws to provide for the health, welfare, education, environment, and economic and general well-being of the citizens of Texas. It also establishes public policy through the passage of bills and resolutions and proposes amendments to the state constitution, which are then submitted to the voters for approval or disapproval. This amount of power does not appear on the surface to be tremendous, however, with the ability to put into place all laws and public policy’s it makes it the strongest of the three
Texas politics is an interesting ecosystem of power, rules and regulations. Of course, in typical Texas fashion, most of the politics we engage in we do our own way. From governors who stay in office for a decade to our extremely diverse demographics, Texas is extremely unique. This uniqueness of course comes with its critics, benefits, and downsides. This is particularly true with the Texas Court system compared to both the federal courts and many other states.
The constitution establish major governing institutions, assign institution’s power, place explicit and implicit control on power granted. All this gives the political legitimacy. The U.S constitution gives the base model for state constitution for Texas.
Typically, when making Texas laws, government officials discount the political beliefs of its constituents; partly due to time constraints. Stretches in committee debates will allow the voice of Texans, that are currently being overlooked, the adequate attention that is necessary to introduce bills. Therefore, I support an increase in Texas Legislature’s regular sessions; it gives leaders more time to fully represent their constituents.
So finally, on 29 December 1846, the 29th Congress met and concluded in the Joint Resolution of Congress that the Republic of Texas was to be accepted as a new state in the United States under a republican government, equal to all of the original states before it and in every respect. Texas was entitled to two representatives in the House of Representatives until the government did a census of Texas’s people.
Our government here in Texas has three major parts that play a significant part in our decision making process. These levels have been deigned to decentralize power and make it more affective for the public's needs. The primary level is the Texas legislature. It is almost a given to say that everyone has at least heard of the legislature. Some variables that the legislature contains are the Lt. Governor, the Speaker of the house of Representatives and Committee Chairs. The Speaker acts as the presiding officer over the house and has two levels of power. These two levels are institutional powers which allow the officer to preside over the Legislative Audit Committee and Sunset Advisory Committee.
The Texas Executive is composed of seven offices, decentralizing the power to administer the state bureaucracy. “Presidents not only have responsibility for running the executive branch, they must also deal intensively with the legislative branch.” He along with the Vice President is elected through an electoral college in which every state has several seats proportional to its representation in the congress that comprises both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The President is elected for a term of four years and a President can serve maximum two terms. The President is not only the head of the state and the government; he is also the commander in chief of the armed forces. The President has the power to either pass the legislations approved by the Congress into laws or veto them to reject them. The President cannot dissolve the Congress, but has the power to enact executive orders. He also appoints judges to the Supreme Court in consent with the senate. “It is the president’s responsibility to demand that staff members analyze a full range of options and their probable consequences before they offer the president their
The most powerful members of Texas legislature is Lieutenant Governor of often know as President of the Senate even lieutenant governor of Texas is more powerful than the governor. Lieutenant Governor is an executive branch position that are elected separately of the governor. Ironically, the executive branch responsibility almost there in no existences except in the case of the death of governor, surrender, removal from the office or absence from the state. The responsibility is not transparent yet for the people because even in the governor the responsibility is not existences.
Overall the legislative duties and responsibilities consist of declaring war, raise and support armies; provide and maintain a navy; regulate commerce; borrow and coin money; establish and collect t...
It is the branch of government that is most closely related to citizens. They are typically elected by those in the district in which they represent, and they are expected to call to the needs of their district. If the executives represent the countries as a whole, the legislature represents the local areas of the country. They have six functions, each with their own level of responsibility. The six functions are representation, deliberation, legislation, authorizing expenditure, making governments, and oversight. In our political system, we decided on a bicameral (two-chamber)