Gov 2306

Unlike in the U.S. House of Representatives, the vote for the Texas Speaker is usually bipartisan and lopsided. True or False

true

A member of the legislature that sees his or her role as acting in the constituents' best interests rather than their strongest wishes, substituting his or her judgment for theirs, is best described as a

trustee

State senators and representatives earn an annual salary of

$7,200

created by a 1948 amendment to the Texas Constitution, this group steps in if the state legislature is unable to pass a redistricting plan or when a state or federal court invalidates a plan submitted by the legislature; the LRB is active only with respect to redistricting of the state legislature.

Legislative Redistricting Board (LRB)

a formal change to a bill made during the committee process or during floor debate in front of the whole chamber.

Amendment

the presiding officer of the Texas Senate, elected directly by the voters. Also serves as a member of the Texas executive branch and assumes the duties of the governor when the governor is out of state, dies in office, resigns from office, or is impeached.

Lieutenant governor

the ability of the executive to selectively veto only some parts of a bill; in Texas available only on spending bills.

Line-item veto

a type of election in which a candidate must receive 50 percent of the vote plus one additional vote to be declared the winner; simply winning the most votes is not sufficient.

Majority election

an election district in which the majority of the population comes from a racial or ethnic minority.

Majority-minority district

process whereby a committee goes line-by-line through a bill to make changes without formal amendments.

Markup

special legislative caucuses in the state legislature that represent the unique concerns and beliefs of women and ethnic groups across a broad range of policy issues.

Minority and women's caucuses

an election system in which the state is divided into many election districts, but each district elects more than one person to the state legislature.

Multi-member district (MMD)

Which is of the following groups comprises a higher proportion of the Texas Legislature than it does of the Texas population as a whole? African Americans, Women, Hispanics, None of the above

None of the above

a system of drawing electoral district lines that attempts to remove politics from the process of redistricting.

Nonpartisan or bipartisan independent commission

shorthand term for the requirement of the U.S. Supreme Court that election districts should be roughly equal in population.

One person, one vote

the process whereby the legislature reviews policies and decisions of the executive branch to make sure that the executive branch is following the intentions of the legislature.

Oversight

a candidate's identifiable membership in a political party, often listed on an election ballot.

Party affiliation

a party leader whose main job is to organize party members to vote for legislation on the floor.

Party caucus chair

the organization of the members of a specific legislative chamber who belong to a political party; normally shortened to party caucus.

Party legislative caucus

an electoral contest to win a political party's nomination for the right to appear as its candidate on the ballot in the general election.

Party primary

a type of election in which the candidate with the most votes wins the election.

Plurality election

an elected official who is expected to follow the wishes of the electorate on some issues but on others is permitted more decision-making leeway; a hybrid of the trustee and delegate.

Politico

a presiding officer elected by the members of the Texas Senate; takes over when the lieutenant governor is unavailable.

President pro tempore

a legislature that meets annually, often for nine months of the year or more; a professional legislator is provided a professional-level salary and generous allowances to hire and keep support and research staffs.

Professional legislature

a legislature that consists of two separate chambers or houses.

Bicameral

a proposed new law or change to existing law brought before a legislative chamber by a legislative member.

Bill

a bill regularly introduced in the Texas Senate to serve as a placeholder at the top of the Senate calendar; sometimes called a "stopper."

Blocking bill

the act of delaying action on the current bill before the Texas House of Representatives to prevent action on an upcoming bill.

Chubbing

a citizen-initiated petition that forces consideration or votes on certain legislation and amendments, rather than having these actions come from the legislature.

Citizen initiative

a legislature that attempts to keep the role of a state legislator to a part-time function so that many or most citizens can perform it; normally, a citizen legislator is provided minimal compensation, offered few staffing resources, and has short or infrequent legislative sessions.

Citizen legislature

a rider that is not made public until after the legislature has voted on the bill; it is made public either when the bill goes to conference committee for reconciliation or when the governor prepares to sign the bill into law.

Closed rider

unity within a group; in politics, when members of a political party or special caucus vote together on a bill or resolution.

Cohesion

a formally organized group of legislators that assists the legislature in accomplishing its work, allowing a division of labor and an in-depth review of an issue or a bill before review by the entire chamber.

Committee

a legislative act that expresses an opinion of the legislature; must pass in both houses.

Concurrent resolution

an official legislative work group that meets on a limited basis to reconcile the different versions of a bill that has passed in the Texas House and Senate.

Conference committee

an effort to kill a bill by engaging in unlimited debate and refusing to yield the floor to another member, ultimately preventing a vote on the bill.

Filibuster

period during which a bill is brought up before the entire chamber for debate.

Floor debate

a party member who reminds legislators of the party's position on a bill and encourages members to vote with the rest of the party caucus; the floor leader is assisted by one or more deputy floor leaders.

Floor leader

the practice of incumbents creating very oddly shaped electoral districts to maximize their political advantage in an upcoming election.

Gerrymandering

a special legislative caucus in the state legislature that promotes an ideological agenda.

Ideological caucus

a type of election in which second-place votes are considered in instances where no candidate has received a majority of the vote; a winner is determined by adding together the first- and second-place votes.

Instant runoff

a legislative work group that is created during periods when the legislature is not in session to provide oversight of the executive branch and monitor public policy.

Interim committee

to officially bring a bill before a legislative chamber for the first time. Introducing a bill is the first step in the formal legislative process.

Introduce [a bill]

a special legislative caucus in the state legislature that promotes bipartisan and cross-chamber support for policies and bills advocating positions inside a relatively narrow range of policy areas or political issues.

Issue caucus

a legislative act whose approval by both chambers results in amendment to the Texas Constitution; a resolution must be approved by voters at the next election.

Joint resolution

language added to a bill on an unrelated or controversial topic in order to make the bill unacceptable to the majority of the legislature who will then vote against the bill.

Killer amendment

the group that develops a proposed state budget for legislative consideration.

Legislative Budget Board (LBB)

the minimum number of members in a legislative body who need to be present for it to conduct business; in the Texas Senate, a quorum is eleven members. In the Texas House of Representatives, a quorum is 100 members.

Quorum

the periodic adjustment of the lines of electoral district boundaries.

Redistricting

meetings of a legislature that are required by a constitution or law. In Texas, the Texas Legislature meets every other year for 140 days.

Regular session

the relationship between an elected official and the electorate.

Representation

a legislative act that expresses the opinion of the legislature on an issue or changes the organizational structure of the legislature.

Resolution

an addition to a bill that deals with an unrelated subject, such as changing some aspect of law or public policy or spending money or creating programs in a specific member's district.

Rider

a form of voting for which a permanent record of each member's vote is created; used with more important votes.

Roll call vote

a type of election in SMDM that is held when an election fails to yield a clear majority winner in the initial balloting; the runoff is limited to the top two vote-getters from the initial election, ensuring a majority win.

Runoff election

Whereas the 150 members of the Texas House of Representatives are elected by voters in districts, the Speaker of the House is elected by the members of the Texas House. True or False

True

an elected official who is entrusted to act in the best interests of the electorate based on his or her knowledge; he or she is understood to be generally better informed than the broader electorate.

Trustee

when current officeholders step down from office and are replaced by new officeholders; turnover may result from retirement, defeat in an election, or term limits.

Turnover

The Texas Senate requires _________ for consideration of a piece of legislation on the floor to suspend the regular order of business; thus, bills may die lacking this support.

a two-thirds vote

Among the typologies of state legislatures, the type that describes what the framers of the Texas Constitution intended for Texas is a "professional" legislature. True or False

false

Calendar committees are of relatively equal importance in the House as they are in the Senate. True or False

false

Chubbing is a technique used in the Texas Senate to prevent the passage of the bill currently being debated. True or False

false

In the Texas House of Representatives, multi-member districts are used. True or False

false

Power in the Texas Legislature is diffused among the individual members of each chamber with no specific concentration of power in the hands of a few. True or False

false

Redistricting in Texas in the twenty-first century has been a bipartisan affair, where the drawing of competitive districts is the priority. True or False

false

The Texas Legislature meets more often and for a longer time period than most other state legislatures. True or False

false

The governor is allowed to call for a single, sixty-day special session at the conclusion of the regular session. True or False

false

The mark-up session takes place during floor debate to make changes to bills without offering formal amendments. True or False

false

The principle of one-person, one-vote establishes that representative legislative districts must be roughly the same geographical size, regardless of population. True or False

false

An individual who reminds legislators of her party's position on a bill is the

floor leader

The authors' example of the right-to-carry legislation in the introduction to the chapter on legislative process was used to demonstrate that

popularly supported ideas often fail to become law

The Texas Constitution requires that proposed legislation be given ____ readings in each chamber before being enacted into law.

three

What is the function of the Calendar Committee of the Texas House?

to schedule when bills that are eligible will be taken up for House consideration after being reported out of committee

A delegate theory of representation tends to go along with geographic representation. True or False

true

A major criticism of imposing term limits on state legislators is they do not allow citizens to reelect their member of the legislature and this denies the legislature the benefit of experienced legislators. True or False

true

Party caucuses have become increasingly important in recent years for constructing legislative majorities. True or False

true

The Texas Senate has ____ members, while the Texas House of Representatives is made up of ____ members

31, 150

Most oftern, Texas legislative seats are filled through

single-member district elections

The governor's line-item veto power can be used only on what types of bills?

spending

In which type of committee does most of the work take place on bills?

standing

A permanent, chamber-exclusive formal work group, such as the State Affairs Committee in both the House and Senate, that typically exists across sessions and across elections is a

standing committee

The Texas Legislature meets every two years in regular session for __ days

140

the advantage derived from incumbents' ability to point to positive outcomes for which they are responsible.

Credit claiming

an elected official who acts as an agent of the majority that elected her or him to office and carries out, to the extent possible, the wishes of that majority.

Delegate

language that makes a bill effective immediately upon being signed into law rather than subject to the customary ninety-day waiting period.

Emergency clause

a temporary legislative work group created by the lieutenant governor or Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives for a special purpose; called a joint committee when the lieutenant governor and Speaker create a select committee with members from both chambers.

Select committee

an election system in which the state is divided into many election districts, and each district elects just one person to the state legislature.

Single-member district (SMD)

meetings of a legislature that occur at times other than those required by a constitution or law; in Texas, special sessions are called by the governor and last for thirty days.

Special session

a majority that is larger than a simple majority of 50percent plus 1; supramajorities include requirements of 60 percent, two-thirds, three-fourths, or 80 percent to make a decision.

Supramajority

a legal limitation on the number of terms an elected official may serve in office.

Term limit

Members of the Texas Senate serve ____ -year terms, and members of the Texas House of Representatives serve ____ -year terms

four, two

A committee created to provide oversight of the executive branch and monitor public policy during periods when the legislature is not in session is a(an)

interim committee

Every ten years, after the national census, the legislature must redraw the boundaries for the districts from which its members and U.S. representatives are elected. This process is called

redistricting

Which of the following statements about bills and resolutions is true?

resolutions have accounted for a larger percentage of successfully passed items since the 1990s than have bills

Which of the following is a legitimate difference between the Texas House and Texas Senate?

the age requirement for serving in the House is lower than for the Senate

Which of the following is a mechanism in the Texas Senate to allow bills to be considered out of the order in which they were introduced?

the blocking bill

The presiding officer of the Texas Senate is

the lieutenant governor

The Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives is chosen by

the members of the House of Representatives

Which of the following statements is not true regarding the presiding officer of the Texas Senate?

the presiding officer represents a senatorial district and acts as a voting member of the Senate

What did the "Killer Bees" of 1979 "kill" to help achieve their political goals?

the quorum