In Texas the legislature is considered the most powerful branch of the state government. Texas entered the union in 1845. It is composed of two chambers the texas state senate, and the Texas House of representatives. There are 31 members on the state senate and 150 members in the house of representatives. Texas is a bicameral institution meant the legislature meets in regular session on the second Tuesday in january of each odd numbered year and limits their regular sessions to 140 days, the texas legislature was created by the texas constitution to write and regulate laws for the state and represent the public's wants, needs and concerns on government and state issues including taxes laws and political interest. Because legislature only has …show more content…
140 day of session there must be structure. In that structure there are different offices and officeholders along with committees. Officeholder includes the president of the senate or lt.governor who is in charge of appointing committee chairs assigning members to a committee refers bills to a committee and votes in case of a tie. The substitute for Leutienit Governor is called a president pro tempore, the speaker of the house sets the agenda for the house of representatives assigns bills to committees appoint committees and their chairs. The substitute for the speaker is called speaker pro tempore. Groups of legislators who combine to promote shared interest or concern are called legislative caucuses. They can be issue based, party based, demographic or ideology based. Legislature appoints committees to consider bills on specific subjects and does most of the work to make and pass a bill, different committees include standing committee, substantive committee, procedural committee, conference and interim committees, a standing committee is the most important committees in the texas legislature, and makes up different groups of legislation that divide the labor of bills to be researched in detail and reviewed or revised before being considered by the entire chamber, substantive committee can change the bills wording and make amendments, procedural committees focus more on the organizational aspects of legislature. Conference committee reconciles the differences between versions of bills. And interim committee provides oversight and monitors public policies. Each committee has an important role to play in their duties in the Texas Legislative Process. THere is sequential flow of a bill from the time it is introduced to the house (or senate) to the final passage and transmittal to the Governor. It all begins when an idea for a bill is presented by a variety of sources, for example, and individual citizen, special interest groups, corporations, a state legislator, or an interim committee. A bill can start in either the hours of representatives or the senate.
And is introduced by the speaker of the house and can be introduced as early as 60 days prior to session. It is numbered and is read for the first time, then assigned to a committee, each house has standing committees that consider their bills. Each committee has a chair ( from the majority) and a ranking member ( from the minority) they edit the bill so that it may pass onto the floor with different stages of review including analysis, and public hearing, then the house debates and votes, the bill os then sent to the calendar committee for assignment to a calendar. When the committee has reported the bill favorably to the floor the speaker determines which bills are discussed and for how long. Bills are then considered by the whole house at once, it's called, a ‘committee of a whole.’ Roll call votes are done electronically in the house or can be done by voice booting with a collection of “yeas” and “nays”. The bill then goes to second reading, editing, debating and then voted on again and then goes to a third hearing to make more changes before it is sent to the senate. The senate majority leaders determines which bills are scheduled when and for how …show more content…
long. The bill is then referred to the appropriate standing committee. Where it then undergoes the same reading, editing, debating and voting process 3 times. A simple majority vote of ⅔ in both houses is needed to pass a bill. Any differences must be ironed out and made into one bill. If the house refuses the senate's amendments to the bill they request an appointment of the conference committee and waits for the senate to grant the request and then is enrolled. If the house accepts the amendments to the bill it is then enrolled.
The house and the senate both have to pass the bill before it goes into enrollment. Failure to reconcile differences or gain a majority vote in either chamber results in a vetoed vill. After enrollment the bill is then signed in the presence of the house and sent to the governor to be signed. The governor can sign the bill to pass or he can refuse to sign it or he can veto the bill to either way, which the legislature may override by a ⅔ vote. The new or revised law goes into effect after 90 days of its passage, unless ⅔ of each house votes to give the bill either immediate effect or earlier effect. I believe this proves that legislature goes there during a regular session is to utilize their time and review the most urgent and most important matters of our state first. There are enough laws already so biennial sessions constitute a safeguard against unseemly legislative action, I think this system serves texas well. Texas has evolved and grown tremendously over the years but this process our legislature uses has been efficiently modified to utilize and manage time wisely in order to better serve our state. This structure forces politicians to prioritize and focus on what is most
important. And it allows for our Governor to call a special session in case there is an urgent matter to be taken care of.
Most individuals with a general background knowledge of the United States Federal Government system are aware that in order for a bill to become a law, it must first pass a majority vote in Congress. There is, however, a very important step in the legislative process that sometimes goes unnoticed. The committee system of the legislation process ensures that the appropriate attention is given to each bill introduced to Congress. Each member of both chambers are assigned to committees and subcommittees, and are expected to become subject matter experts in their respective roles as committee members.
Daniel Elazar created a classification scheme moralistic political culture of individuals, and traditionalistic to describe the political culture of the state. According to Elazar, Texas can be described as traditionalistic and individuals. Historically, the Texas political parties demonstrated a strong tradition, provincialism, and business dominance. The models, however, may weaken as the Republicans increase its power in the state and urbanization continues. Texas is the second largest state in the country and there are four different geographical regions: the Gulf coastal plain, the interior lowlands, Great Plains, and the basin and range province,
University of Texas at Austin. Texas Politics, The legislative Branch. Austin, 2nd Edition-Revision 94 2009, Liberal Arts Instructional Technology Services.
The House focuses is made up of several parties and bills are passed by a majority vote where in the Senate even though there is a majority vote the Senators themselves are quite influential. Each Senator holds a lot of power so there is more weight in what they say. For this reason the Senate runs off of unanimous votes, if a vote is not unanimous then the transaction at hand will not move forward.
Contrasts in the lawmaking methodology utilized as a part of the House and Senate reflect the distinctive size of the two chambers and individual terms of its parts. In the House, the dominant part gathering is inflexibly in control, stacking advisory groups with lion 's share party parts, and utilizing principles to seek after enactment supported by its parts. In the Senate, singular parts are better ready to hold up the procedure, which prompts lower similarity costs, however higher exchange costs. The complication of the lawmaking procedure gives rivals different chances to murder a bill, making a solid predisposition for the present state of affairs.
The Texas government is a complex system whose ultimate purpose is to serve its citizens. Oftentimes, its complexity in certain aspects causes problems in its efficiency in serving. The way the Texas Constitution is written, how local governments run, the judicial, legislative, and executive branches’ efficiency, as well as Texas public policy and fiscal policy result in a government that is not set up to best serve its citizens.
Every odd-numbered year, the legislature assembles to make new laws to fix modern issues occuring in the state. These meetings always begin on the second Tuesday of January and is called the regular session, which lasts up to 140 days. The Governor can direct the legislature on matters for no more than
The Texas Constitution delegates authority to three departments; Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. The Legislative Department consists of the Senate consisting of 31 members, and The
Functioning under the Tenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, it works as representative of the people of Texas, and has powers which can only be limited by the Texas and United States constitutions and valid federal laws. The legislative department is also the state 's policing branch, which promotes and safeguards the safety, health, morals, and welfare of the citizens of Texas. In addition, it has the traditional legislative power of the purse (to tax, spend, and borrow money for public purposes), and to organize and confer powers on the executive and the judiciary departments only as much as they are allowed in the Texas Constitution. Legislative powers of the State of Texas are under The House of Representatives and a Senate, which combine to make the Legislature of the State. The head of the House of Representatives is the Speaker of the house and who currently is Honorable Joe Straus. He is selected by the members of the House of Representatives from among their ranks and his main duties include conducting meetings of the House, appointing committees, and enforcing the Rules of the House. The proceedings in the Senate are run by the current Lieutenant Governor, Honorable Dan Patrick, who was elected by a statewide vote. He is the one who controls the work of the Texas Senate and controls the budgeting process as a leader of the Legislative Budget Board. Under the Texas
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.
The Texas Revolution is one of the biggest events that contributed to the founding of this country. Texas’s fight for independence from the Mexican government was very beneficial to the young and growing United States. The effects of this war play a crucial role in how this country came to be
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.
Democrats, Republicans, and Libertarians are perhaps three of the most prominent political parties within Texas. Within the pages of their party platforms, we see that each possesses a unique philosophy, with specific viewpoints and recommendations for shaping or reforming government policy. To be sure, the people of Texas face many challenges, two of the most compelling issues being the crisis in healthcare and in education. Not only are we lacking in these areas as Texans, but also on the national level. The parties’ stance on these two major issues defines them, giving us insight into the mind and intentions of each.
First, in the long process of a bill becoming a law is introducing a bill. After someone from Congress in either chamber has come up with an idea for a bill they must introduce it. For members of the House of Representatives this is easy. All they have to do is put their idea in a mahogany box at the front of the chamber called the hopper. Now for a Senator to introduce a bill they must either hand it to the clerk of the Senate or they must talk about it in a presentation to their peers in a floor speech. Sometimes though Senators can cut down this process by adding their bill as an amendment to legislation that is already being processed. This saves them a lot of time. Also, new ideas for bills are labeled depending on what chamber they come from. Bills from the house will always be labeled with an H.R. with its number behind it. Well bills from the Senate will always be labeled with an S. followed by its number.