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Bicameral legislature essay
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Bicameral legislature essay
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Texas Legislature
Question 1
The Texas legislative is the dominant branch of the state government of Texas and works within the constitutional structure of separation of powers. As it is the representative of the people of Texas and under the 10th amendment to the USA constitution it implements the authoritative powers that only works for the US constitution and Texas and federal law that are applicable (Dye, Gibson & Robinson, 2010). It also has the authority to put into practice the necessary police rule to promote the safety, moral, health and welfare. The Legislature is a bicameral body that consists of the 31 representatives of member of council and 150 members of House of Representatives. The effects of bicameralism are: it helps to stabilize
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the order; it helps to even out wide spectrum issues with local issues; it also supports the constitutional rights minority along with the interests of majority though bicameral legislative is more expensive to maintain (Dye, Gibson & Robinson, 2010). Seventeen member body is a policy maker that supervise the organization.
The members include the chair of Senate and House administration committees. Four senators selected by the lieutenant, nine representatives are chosen by the House speaker and the Lieutenant governor and the Speaker who serve as a chair and vice chair, respectively. Three standing committees manage the Council activities that are the executive, the finance and subject matter committees. The executive committee supervises all the operations of the legislative council, the finance mange the expenditures and support salaries and financial plan (Dye, Gibson & Robinson, 2010). Lastly, the subject matter committee analyzes and prioritizes the study projects or even works as a study committee. The Texas Legislature regular session meets in January on the second Tuesday of each odd-numbered …show more content…
year. Question 2 The executive branch is referred to as “Plural Executive” because the branch of government has its offices elected by the Texas voters. The executive department of the State is composed of Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, the Comptroller of Public Accounts, the Commissioner General Land Office, the Attorney General and the Secretary of State; these are selected by the Secretary of the State but the Secretary of the State is elected by the Governor (Dye, Gibson & Robinson, 2010). The Office of the Governor is very weak due to the Reconstruction Republican Government after the civil war. The Radical Government took over the Government in taxes during the Reconstruction and established Marshall Law. The Governor at that time, Edmund J.
Davis who later on became the Union General and the new constitution was written that gave the Governor the right to appoint more than 9,000 offices, imposing on the local government and the will of the people. Later, in 1876 a new constitution convention held and developed the constitution that weakened the State Government and remained the shadow of its previous identity (Dye, Gibson & Robinson, 2010). The Governor has the staff of 250 individuals to aid in carrying out the duties of the office that includes a Chief of Staff and a deputy Chief of Staff, a general counsel and a press secretary.
Texas governor has to address with the constitutional requirement of the public. Governor has to deliver the message to legislative session in order to open the biennial budget message including retirement message at the session end. Governor has informal power to address any emergency situation. However, the formal power authorizes the Governor to put personal agenda and views to attempt to persuade the
issue. Question 3 The judicial branch of Texas implements and arbitrates laws in overlapping federal, State and local jurisdictions. Texas has two Supreme Courts; the Court of Criminal Appeals and the Supreme Court of Texas (Dye, Gibson & Robinson, 2010). The Court of Criminal Appeals deals with the criminal matters and the latter handles civil cases and causes related to juvenile. The Judicial power of State is being served by Supreme Court, a Court of Criminal Appeals, 14 court of appeal; First Court of Appeals, Second Court of Appeals, Third Court of Appeals, Austin, Fourth Court of Appeals, Fifth Court of Appeals, Dallas, Sixth Court of Appeals, Texarkana, Seventh Court of Appeals, Amarillo, Eighth Court of Appeals, El Paso, Ninth Court of Appeals, Beaumont, Tenth Court of Appeals, Waco, Eleventh Court of Appeals, Eastland, Twelfth Court of Appeals, Tyler, Thirteenth Court of Appeals, Corpus Christi and Fourteenth Court of Appeals, Houston. Supreme Court is the appellate court of last resort (Dye, Gibson & Robinson, 2010). The Court of Criminal Appeals has the final appellate jurisdiction over all criminal issues. The Texas Appellate courts are different to US because it has Common Law system and other British colonies; common law is like continental system that exists in much of Europe and America. The appellate courts in Texas have intermediate jurisdiction in both criminal and civil cases that re directly appealed from the country or district courts. Each court is different in terms of jurisdiction divided on the basis of geographic of the State. However, the chief justice presides over all courts along with two other justices at least. On each Court, specific number of justices is defined by statute. It ranges from three to maximum of thirteen justices in particular cases. Question 4 Different types of city government create different political opportunities and problems. Using the different city government types, describe the particular political environments Different cities have different challenges, different resources, and different future plans. According to current challenges, resources and future plans the city government provides different political opportunities (Dye, Gibson & Robinson, 2010). Further to this, the mandate of political party also matters in this case because the weak mayor represents the weak mandate and strong mayor represents the strong mandate. Political opportunities of a city is dependent on the mayor and mayor is dependent on the mandate of his political party (Dye, Gibson & Robinson, 2010). For example, if the mayor of a city is week, the he or she cannot dominate over the national distribution of resources as comparative to other cities (Dye, Gibson & Robinson, 2010). However, the strong mayor represents his strong mandate and it attracts more national resources that defines the different political opportunities form city to city, city government to city government and strong to week mayor. In a weak Mayor system the council is both legislative body and an executive body .Council Members recruit administrative officials, they make policy with this, the Mayors power are weak because it lacks Executive power. The strong Mayor form of government usually composed of an executive branch. Mayor has total administrative authority that’s why it is strong.
The role of an executive branch is to carry out the law. Many states switched to the plural executive form of government because state governors were known for abusing their power when appointing friends to political positions or handing out favors when they requested. A plural executive system which means the power of a governor is limited and distributed among other government officials. Which means, that there is not an government official in Texas that has the solely responsible for the Texas Executive Branch. Some of the members of the Texas Plural Executive and their roles are Lieutenant Governor serves as the presiding officer is first in line of succession for governor, is elected to 4 years terms by the public with no terms limits. Attorney General serves as the lawyer for the state also represents the state on civil matters and is responsible for the interpretation of the
The office of president of the Republic of Texas was superseded and the state governor was first established in the Constitution of 1845 (“Phillip, Fry,” 2010) The Constitution of 1845 vested executive power in the governor and the election was done by the qualified voters of the State. In comparison, the Constitution of 1876 created plural executive, dividing the executive power among a governor, lieutenant-governor, Secretary of State, comptroller of public accounts, treasurer, commissioner of the general land office, attorney general and all of the officers of the executive department. All of these positions are elected by qualified voters except the Secretary of State who is appointed by the governor. The governor remains the commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the State and the militia in both the Constitutions. Also, the Constitution of 1845 placed a limit on the governor’s salary to two thousand dollars annually, which was amended on November 2, 1954 removing this limit. Although there has not been much change in the requirements to become a governor, the Constitution of 1845 limited the governor to two two-year terms in six years compared to the four-year term in the Constitution of 1876 (“Constitution of Texas,” n.d.; “Texas Constitution,” n.d.)
Texas Constitution is long and detailed, containing a range of statutory provisions that specify exactly what the government is allowed to do and is prohibited to do. In case of any public policy challenges, public
The legislative branch is responsible for making laws and includes Congress, the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate has 100 members, two from each state. The house of representatives is made up of 435 members, and the larger the population of the state is, the more representatives it will have. The House and the Senate are also known as Congressional Chambers, and they both have particular exclusive powers. The consent of both chambers is required to pass any legislation. But it can only become law if it is signed by the President. The President has the power to veto a bill though, which will deny the legislation and kick the bill back to Congress. It may then only be passed if 2/3 of both houses of Congress vote to pass the bill.
In my analysis of the Texas Constitution I will assess the three branches of our State Government, the Legislative Branch, Executive Branch and finally the Judicial Branch. Our State Government resembles our National Government in various ways but also in very different ways which we will review in this essay. I will identify a handful of criticisms and problems associated with the provisions in each of these branches of our State Government and identify suggested reforms that many feel are needed.
An informal power is a power which is not stated in laws, which gives the governor additional abilities. An informal power the governor has in the business of vetoing is the ability to threaten to use a veto. Another informal power the governor has, if utilized correctly, is the capability to use any form of media to influence voting citizens and other political powers. Using the media is a strong power that compensates for the limited powers he or she has. A governor may also bargain or pre-cession bargain to get what he or she wants.
To amend the Texas Constitution, the legislature has to approve a joint resolution by a two-thirds vote in both chambers. Then the Secretary of State prepares a statement of the proposed amendment. The statement is approved by the Attorney General and then posted in official state notices in newspapers and courthouses. Then, in a general or special election, voters must approve the proposal for it to become an amendment (Brown et al.
With wonderful learning opportunities, a team of sharp and intelligent classmates and teachers, and specialized equipment, the Governor’s School at Innovation Park is the ultimate dream of all determined math/science devotees. With my natural curiosity for mathematics and science and eagerness to take on challenging ideas, I can collaborate with the team at Governor’s School to develop our wide spectrum of ideas and abilities into a highly sophisticated product.
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.
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.