Local governments in Texas can be broken down into three separate units: counties, cities, and special districts. At the heart of local government in Texas are counties. Texas has the most counties of all the states in the country with 254. These counties come in a wide degree of size and population. Counties can have populations from under 100 up to the largest with millions. They also range in size from hundreds of square miles to thousands. Despite this variance, counties across Texas operate under the same structure which is limited by the laws of the state.
Counties are divided into four precincts. Each precinct elects a commissioner to comprise the commissioners court. A county judge, who presides over the commissioners court,
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Apart from being a member of the commissioners court, the county judge has many other tasks. The judge is also a member of the election board and presides over the county court.
Municipalities consist of either two types of cities in Texas, home rule cities or general law cities. Home rule cities are larger cities with a population greater than 5,000 and general law cities are smaller with usually less than 5,000. Home rule allows a city to write its own city charter as long as it’s consistent with the state’s constitution and laws. The charter must also be approved by votes of citizens. General law cities are limited to the laws that the state imposes upon cities.
Home rule cities in Texas generally operate under two forms of government, council-mayor and mayor-council. Most cities have adopted the council-manager form. There is also a mayor-manager form and
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The counties that encompass a wide range of size in area and population is limited to a certain structure and not afforded the flexibility of home rule that cities have enacted. County governments are littered with officials elected through partisan elections. These are just some of the issues that can be addressed through consolidating local governments and their functions.
A city-county consolidation is when a city and county merge to form a single government. Although there are not many city-county consolidations, there have been 110 city-county consolidation attempts in the United States since 1970, and of those, 19 went through consolidation (Leland and Thurmaier 2). The National League of Cities suggests that consolidations can potentially to save costs, increase efficiency, improve resource base, enhance planning, and improve accountability.
Kansas City, KS and Wyandotte County have been consolidated under a unified government since 1997. Dennis Hays, who served as the administrator for 17 years claims that “quality of services has improved . . . taxes have been cut by 15 percent, and the combined workforce has been reduced by 20 percent” (qtd. in
Texas and Texans. 1. 1. New York, New York, Columbus, Ohio, Chicago, Illinois, Peoria, Illinois, Woodland Hills, California: National Geographic, Mc Graw Hill, 2003. 232-233. Print.
day federalism. In section 1 of the Fundamental Orders, an executive office as well as a judicial branch is elected. The person with the most votes becomes the governor, and the next six runners up would hold positions as magistrates in the general court. The representative branch is established in section two where it is stated that the next runners up to the magistrates shall be the public officers to the people of their town. These three branches of government are exactly the same in present day, but how they are elected and appointed to their position is the only difference.
The American way of living and thinking in Texas have changed tremendously over the past century. Political ideals are one thing that changes with time, and have transformed with the changing times well. The Texas constitution of 1876 was a landmark for the state and has been part of the state’s history since then. The Texas constitution of 1876 is still in use today but with all its harsh restrictions it is considered one of the most confusing of all the state constitutions. The constitution became one of the most prominent changes to Texas education system and politics.
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...
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.
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.
Texas is unlike any other culture in the United States. Inside the state of Texas, many different forms of dialect, ways of life, and even land forms can be found. Texas in unique because it is both a culture and a co-culture. Both platforms are very important to overall life in Texas. Texas residents are also very ethnocentric. Texas as a whole is considered a culture because, most residents share certain traits and beliefs. For example, Texas is set apart from other states because of the strong pride that comes with being a resident, their unique dialect, and the love for football. As a co-culture, Texas is represented by differencing land forms
Arizona’s constitution affects its counties in many ways; first off they need to follow the generic design prescribed by the state constitution and statutes. According to the Constitution of Arizona section XII, it states that each county shall have the following elected officials: sheriff, county attorney, recorder, treasurer, assessor, superintendent of schools, and at least three supervisors. Each of these positions holds a four year in office term, and each supervisor is nominated and elected by a district within the county. The state of Arizona has fifteen counties all of which were established during the territorial period, when towns were relatively small and far between each other. Counties of more than 500,000 residents may form a county charter to determine county laws, which helps strengthen county governments by allowing them to make their own decisions and not having to ask the state legislature. Each county is governed differently depending on its size, each county brings with it its own challenges, but they still have to hold true to the state constituti...
The judges that are a part of this group has many different roles, some of which are to issues warrants, making a determination of probable cause in evidence, denying or granting bail to offenders, overseeing trials, making rulings on different motions and even overseeing hearings. The prosecuting attorney is the one who will represent that state in c...
Texas has a rich and long history and much of it has passed through the state over the years to become a part of its folklore. This Texas folklore is part of many cultures within the state and has even filtered outside the state. The first cultural influence on Texas was from the Paleo-American Indians. When these Indians arrived they were in a bit of a culture shock when they met the Spanish in the 16th century. In the following centuries, more people began to arrive in Texas and they brought new ways of talking, believing and doing things. The Spanish and the Mexican set the patterns south of Nueces and along the Rio Grande. Anglos brought their ways of life from the British Isles to the South and Eastern part of Texas. African Americans who came to work on the plantations on the Brazos and Trinity bottoms brought songs, stories and beliefs that came with them from Africa. Germans came directly from the Old World to the Hill Country, Cajuns came from France and eventually through Louisiana and settled in Southeast Texas. The Dutch, Danes, Polish, Czechs, Norwegians who also came here brought with them their ways of life and they all became bound together to become part of Texas. By the year 2000, Texas was made up of 54.5% Anglos, 31% Hispanic, 11.4% African Americans and another 3.1% of other ethnicities.
Have you ever really payed attention to the people who fund your school, jails, and fire departments? These are the jobs of our county commissioners. The county commissioners fund county’s niceties and form the county budget. So, have you ever really thought about how the big things in your life they organize and fund impact you. County Commissioners set common goals to improve your county and, make your everyday environment possible.
Texas is an intricate state with deep roots embedded in limited government authority. Almost all, Texans, favor the limited government between citizens and state. The two most important cultures in Texas are individualistic and traditionalistic culture. Individualistic views are summoned by limited government and that politics are the root of malicious acts, and is usually responded with negative reactions from the community. The individualistic cultures’ vision is egotistical for ones self-interest. The individualistic culture is viewed as priority in private independent business rather that those of the community as a whole. Unlike individualistic views, traditionalistic culture is motioned by conservatism. This cultures vision is supported by the common wealth of society’s privileged. Its beliefs are usually of distrust in its bureaucracy. Traditionalistic culture maintains an obligation to its family hierarchy. The traditionalistic subculture has a lower voting turn out rate compared to the opposition. These distinctive cultures were bestowed upon Texans in the 1800’s, when Texas was changing into a diverse and demographically society. Individualistic and traditionalistic cultures are the outline of ideology and certainty to the way Texas government is administrated. This has a huge impact on the way the Texas structures its government and why people support such a structure. And Texas is viewed as both subcultures.
The Texas Constitution delegates authority to three departments; Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. The Legislative Department
The Circuit Court is where most criminal and civil court cases take place. There are twenty Circuit Courts in the state of Florida. According to the Florida Courts website, “The Constitution provides that a circuit court shall be established to serve each judicial circuit established by the Legislature. Within each circuit, there may be any number of judges, depending upon the population and caseload of the particular area.” (FL Courts, n.d.) Lastly, the final court system, and the second of two Trial Courts in Florida, is the County Courts. There is a County Court in each of Florida’s sixty-seven counties. County Court judges serve a six-year term and may be assigned to help out in Circuit Court cases if needed. The number of judges in a County Court varies because the populations of each county are different, some being larger than others. Florida Courts website states, “The county courts are sometimes referred to as "the people's courts," probably because a large part of the courts' work involves voluminous citizen disputes, such as traffic offenses, less serious criminal matters (misdemeanors), and relatively small monetary disputes.” (FL Courts,
The rise of Urban America began in the mid 1800’s with the dawn of the industrial revolution. With it came a rapid increase in the population of cities. This movement towards cities did not last forever, and after WWII, much of the population of cities moved to the suburbs. With the growth and decline of urban environments, and the growth of suburban environments, there has become a mixture of different types of local governments, some of which overlap the same geographical areas. Some view this hodgepodge as a problem, and have offered various solutions. To understand the different types of local governments and how they overlap, one must first understand the development of urban areas, and the movement from urban to suburban areas.