Ch 7 TX Govt
The Texas legislature meets in regular session
140 days each odd-numbered year.
The Texas legislature consists of a
150-member House of Representatives and a 31-member Senate.
Members of the Texas House of Representatives serve ________ terms.
2-year
There are __________ members of the Texas Senate, and state senators serve a __________ year term.
31; 4
This type of bill applies to all the people and/or property in the state?
A general bill
Which state official, in large part, determines the amount of money the legislature may appropriate?
Comptroller of public accounts
What kind of bill is an approved measure sent to the Governor for signing?
Enrolled
The Texas Constitution grants the __________ veto power.
Governor
The agenda for a special session of the Texas legislature is set by the __________.
Governor
Texas House members differ from Texas Senate members because
House members represent small districts and are subject to more frequent elections.
The __________ is empowered to impeach members of the executive and judicial branches of government; the trial takes place in the __________.
House; Senate
When do most bills pass the Texas Legislature?
In the last hours of the session, most with little or no debate
A regular session in the Texas legislature starts __________ and lasts for __________ many days.
January of odd numbered years; 140 days
Which kind of resolution is used to either propose an Amendment to the Texas Constitution or ratify an Amendment to the U.S. Constitution?
Joint
Which of the following is a joint legislative committee that provides legal advice, bill drafting, program evaluation, and other services to the members of the Texas Legislation?
Legislative Council
Which of the following is true concerning term limits for Texas legislators?
No legislator is subject to term limits.
What role do Republican and Democratic Party caucuses play in determining the chairs of legislative committees?
None, the presiding officers have sole power to choose the committee chairs
The Lieutenant Governor gets his or her powers from the __________.
Senate
The two most powerful political figures in the Texas legislature are the:
Speaker of the House and the lieutenant governor.
________ do most of the work during the legislative sessions.
Standing committees
The one-person, one-vote principle was brought to Texas by the
Supreme Court in their rulings in Baker v. Carr and Reynolds v. Sims.
Although technically the Governor's job, who really prepares the budget in Texas?
The LBB
What is the outcome for the vast majority of bills that are assigned to committees in the Texas Legislature?
They die
Message power gives the Governor what ability in the legislative process?
To put forth a vision for Texas and what legislation will accomplish that vision
How many special sessions can the Governor call the legislature to attend?
Unlimited
The framers of the Texas Constitution wanted
a biennial (every other year) legislature to limit the power of the legislature.
The Texas Legislature is
a low cost, part-time body.
Local bills
affect only units of local government, such as a city, county, or special district.
The ability of the Lieutenant Governor and the Speaker of the House to control the final outcome of legislation comes from their power to
appoint members of conference committees.
A State Senator represents
approximately 819,000 constituents; State Senators represent more people than does a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Conference committees
are joint committees created to work out a compromised on House and Senate versions of a piece of legislation.
When a bill receives a referral, it is
assigned to the appropriate committee by the Speaker or the Lieutenant Governor.
As in all but one state, the Texas legislature is
bicameral; it has two bodies (the House and the Senate)
The joint committee created to work out a compromise on House and Senate versions of a piece of legislation is called a __________,
conference committee
The responsibility of lobbyists are to
convince legislators to support the interest he or she represents.
The constitutional goal of redistricting is to
create districts with equal-sized populations.
The Speaker of the Texas House is
elected by members of the House of Representatives.
Direct and supervisory powers allow the Legislature to
have power over the executive branch through, for example, determining the size of appropriations for state agencies.
The requirements for becoming a member of the Texas Legislature are in keeping with the political philosophy of those that wrote the state's Constitution. They believed
holding public office required little or no formal training and should be open to most citizens.
In recent years, the level of partisanship in the Texas houses has
increased substantially.
The power, exercised by the House, Senate, or both chambers jointly, to investigate problems facing the state is called __________.
investigative powers
The level of partisanship in the Texas legislature
is less than the level demonstrated in the U.S. Congress.
In Texas, the purpose of a filibuster is to
kill a bill by refusing to allow a vote on it.
When a committee chair pigeonholes a bill, he or she
kills the bill by setting the bill aside and not bringing it up before the committee.
Because of the desire of that legislative service be a part-time job and the goal to limit of the power of the legislature, the Texas legislature
meets on a biennial (that is, every other year) basis.
Revenue bills
must begin in the House of Representatives.
The __________ provides the governor with a powerful tool with which to bargain with the legislature.
post-adjournment veto
Which one of the following committees is a temporary creation of one chamber of the Texas legislature that addresses a specific problem?
special committee
When a bill receives a line-item veto
specific provisions (or lines) of an appropriations bill are vetoes; the rest become law.
Republicans are a majority in
the Texas House.
The typical Texas legislator is
white, male, Protestant, college-educated, and affluent.
