Chapter 7 questions
In 2005, in addition to the regular session ___ special sessions addressed school finance.
two
Senate rules require that ___ members of the standing committee that considered the bill must be appointed.
two
It is the governor's responsibility to sign or _____ legislation.
veto
standing committee are considered the _______ if the legislature.
workhorses
Many members devote more than __ hours a week to legislative business in addition to maintaining their full-time jobs.
40
The governor vetoed __ of the bills passed by the legislature.
42
In 2017 there were 11 Democrats and 20 Republicans in the Texas Senate and __ Democrats and __ Republicans in the Texas House of Representatives.
56, 94
Texas Representatives receive a salary of only _________ per year. Legislator also receive a payment of $190 a day when the legislature is in session.
7,200
In the twenty-first century, Texas is a modern state with more than __ percent of its population living in metropolitan areas.
80
Governor ______ used the line-item veto in 2015 to cut $298 million, or 0.1 percent, from the state budget.
Abbott
Step 5
Action by conference committee and approval by both houses.
step 6
Action by governor
________ of the Senate Rules requires a vote of two-thirds of the members present to suspend any rule of the Senate unless the rules specify a different majority.
Article 22
Signatures if the Speaker and lieutenant governor are required by ____________, of the Texas Constitution.
Article 3, Section 38
In Texas, the typical __________ is white, male, Protestant, college educated, and affluent and has a professional or business occupation.
Legislator
Like the U.S. congress and the states except ___________, Texas has a __________, legislature, with two Chambers: the Texas House of Representatives and the Texas Senate.
Nebraska, Bicameral
In 2003, Governor _____ called three special sessions of the legislator to address congressional redistricting.
Perry
Not until the U.S. supreme Court's decisions in ____________(1962) and ___________(1964), compelling the legislature to draw new districts, were boundaries drawn that represented that population fairly.
Baker v. Carr, Reynolds v. Sims
Its leader ________, a former legislator, is one of the most influential policy makers in Austin.
Bill Hammond
The longest filibuster was in 1977 by a Senator ________, who spoke for 43 hours.
Bill Meier
In the house, bills referred by a standing committee go next to the ________________________, which after consulting the speaker, schedules bills for debate.
Calendars committee
Members of the ______ must be at least 21, U.S. citizens, qualified voters, and residents of the state for two years and of the district for one year.
House
Revenue bills must begin in the ___________________.
House of Representatives
All other bills may start in either the _______ or the _______.
House, Senate
Republican representative _________ of San Antonio is currently the Speaker of the House.
Joe Straus
____________ of amendments of the U.S. constitution requires a majority vote in both in Texas House and Senate.
Ratification
The last 20 years of the twentieth century saw the growth of the _________________ in both in the house and Senate.
Republican Party
__________ control both houses of the Texas legislature.
Republicans
__________ of bills and resolutions are introduced into the legislature during a regular sessions, and the 140-day limitation places a considerable restrictions on the legislature's ability to deal with the workload.
Thousands
As the Texas Senate has become more partisan, it is not surprising that Lieutenant governor Dan Patrick was able to successfully change senate rules to _______ the two-third rule in 2015.
abolish
In 2013 two special sessions were called to deal with Texas _______________.
abortion laws
If the governor wants to veto a bill that comes to him or her form day 131 to day 140, the governor simply waits until the legislature _______ to exercise the veto.
adjourn
Because the governor has no leader in the legislature, the membership does not owe ________________ to party leader in the legislator, the membership does not come centralized in the speaker and lieutenant governor.
allegiance
If the bill does die, it most likely is _____________.
amended
In 1991, Texans adopted an __________ allowing the Texas Ethics Commission to propose changes in legislative salaries, which then require voter approval.
amendment
Since bills must pass the House and Senate in exactly the same form, the Speaker and the lieutenant governor can exercise still another important influence on policy through their power to _____________________________.
appoint conference committees
Districts must be roughly ______ in population. House districts each contain 165,000 people, while Senate districts contain about 800,000.
equal
Elections are held in November of _____________ years, and senators and House members take office in January of ____________ years.
even-numbered, odd-numbered
Debate in the Senate is unlimited, which means it is possible for a senator to _______________.
fili-buster
After undergoing __________, the bill is assigned to a standing committee by the speaker.
first reading
Texas has averaged ____ special session a year since 1876, although years may go by with no special sessions, whereas in some years there may be three or four sessions.
one
The legislature is not _______ along party lines the way the U.S. congress is.
organized
If a bill cannot be killed in one house, it can be killed or modified in the _____________.
other body
Not only do the speaker and the lieutenant governor have vast committee assignment powers, but committees in the Texas legislature also have __________________.
overlapping jurisdiction
Only two vetoes have been _______ in more than 70 years.
overridden
When the legislator is not in session, legislators may claim up to 12 days per month of __________ pay if they are in Austin on official business, or 16 days if they are committee chairs.
per diem
Vetoing legislation after legislative adjournment is call a ______________, or a strong veto, sine the legislature has no opportunity to overturn the veto.
post-adjournment veto
If the people believe their elected officials are representing them well, legislators are ___________. A legislator who fails to live up to expectations might not be __________.
re-elected, re-elected
_________ is the Senate rule allowing unlimited debate decreases the lieutenant governor's power in this area.
recognition
Rules of the legislature require that the bill be read on ______ separate occasions.
three
Unlike the speaker, the lieutenant governor is not a member of the Senate, simply its a presiding officer, who may vote only to break a ____.
tie
Each member of Texas House represents approximately ________ people.
168,00
In the last 10 days of a session, the governor has __ days from the the time the bill arrives on his or her desk to sign or veto the legislation.
20
During the first 130 fays of a regular session, the governor has 10 days from the time a bill arrives on his or her desk to_____ or _____ the legislation.
sign, veto
If the legislature does not complete its agenda before the end of the legislative session or if problems arise between regular sessions, the governor may call a _______________.
special session
Every bill introduced in the Texas legislature is assigned to a ____________ committee.
standing committee
Conference committees have __members: 5 members from the House appointed by the Speaker, and 5 members from the Senate appointed by the lieutenant governor.
10
In the Past 72 Years, There Have Been More Than ___ filibusters.
100
A review of each agency of state government takes place every __ years.
12
For a few years, legislature were encouraged to end their work early by being paid for only ___ days of service.
120
The Texas legislature's __ House members and __ senators in regular sessions for 140 days every odd-numbered year.
150, 31
As speaker, __________ was accused if micromanaging the house, of taking discretion away from the committee chairs, and of insisting that members support his view on key issues even when contrary to the desire of constituents.
Craddick
Lieutenant governor ___________ campaigned successfully to rid the Senate of the two-thirds rule
Dan Patrick
A ______ must be a U.S. citizen, a qualified voter, and a resident of the state for at least 5 years and of the district for a least one year, plus 26 years old.
Senator
The _________ of the Texas House of Representatives and lieutenant governor are two of the most powerful political figures in the state.
Speaker
One of the most important sources of power of the Speaker and the lieutenant governor is the committee ___________________.
assignment power
About one-third if the members of the legislator are ___________.
attorneys
Most of the powers of the speaker of the lieutenant governor are granted by the rules that each __________________ votes on at the beginning of the legislative session.
chamber's membership
Another tactic used in both the House and the Senate to prevent or delay passage of a bill is called _______. Here, one or more members debate bills at length to slow down the legislative process.
chubbing
A legislator introduces a bill by placing copies of the bill with the _____ of the House.
clerk
The _______________ of public accounts issues revenue estimates to inform the legislature of the amount of money it can spend in the next two years.
comptroller
Each senator represents over 811,000 ________.
constituents
A lobbyist's responsibility is to __________ legislator to _______ the interest the lobbyist represents.
convince, support
Today, it is ___________ for a bill to be introduced in the House and the same ball, a ______________, to be introduced in the Senate at the same time.
customary, companion bill
There are 150 Texas House _______ and 31 Texas Senate districts.
districts
There is no ____ or _____ during a filibuster. Senators must stand at their desks and may no lean, sit, or use their desk or chair in any way.
eat, drink
The Texas constitution ________ borrowing money to conduct the daily operations of government.
forbids
The lieutenant governor is elected statewide to a _________________.
four-year term
It is possible to show that increasing ____ between Democrats and Republicans by using _________ votes cast by members of the Texas House over time.
gulf, roll-call =====> Dem -0.34, Rep 0.67
It was not until 2011, when the Texas Senate again abandoned the two-thirds rule, that the voter _______________ bill became law.
identification
If the legislature wants to spend more than the comptroller estimates, it must enhance revenue- that is, ______ and ______.
increase taxes, fees
Federal and state courts __________ the legislative agenda.
influence
The lieutenant governor and speaker can usually _____ legislation they oppose, and often they have the power to ____ legislation they support.
kill, pass
Hundreds of bills pass in the _________ of a legislative session, most with little or no debate. More ___ in the end-of-session crush of business because there isn't time to consider them.
last hours, die
If the governor neither signs nor vetoes the bill in the 10 days, it becomes _____ without the governor's signature.
law
In the 2015 regular _________________, for example, 6,276 bills were introduced and 1,322 passed.
legislative session
The speaker determines the ______ of debate in the house. Customarily, each member is allowed 10 minutes of debate.
length
There are no ______ to the number of special sessions a governor can call, and governor sets their agenda.
limits
The governor also has a ________ that allows him or her to sign a bill and draw lines through specific items,, deleting them from the bill.
line-item veto
During a regular session, roughly 1,800 individuals register as _________ and attempt to influence legislature.
lobbyists
When chairs and vice chairs of important committees are appointed, usually only the most _________________ and allies of the speaker and lieutenant governor are chosen.
loyal friends
Newly drawn districts for the Texas House and Senate must contain an almost equal ________________________ in order to ensure equal representation.
number of people
Because of the stake involved, one of the most controversial and partisan issues is ___________ - the redrawing of district lines for the Texas House, the Texas Senate, and the U.S. House of Representatives, which must be done at least every 10 years, after the federal census.
redistricting
Straus has stated that one issue important to him when appointing chairs and members of committees is to ensure that the committees ______________________.
reflect the geographic and demographic diversity of Texas
In order to conduct business, especially when dealing with legislation that is controversial, this __________ blocks consideration of legislation because it can be considered only if the senate suspends this rule requiring consideration in order.
regular order
The Texas Senate has a rule that bills generally shall be considered according to the _______________.
regular order of business
As mentioned earlier, the Senate has a _____ that for votes to be taken on bills, the bills must be taken in order, or for a bill to be taken out of order, there must be a three-fifths votes.
rule
The ability to _____________ if the legislature and actions of state agencies unconstitutional gives courts significant power over issues the legislature addresses.
rule acts
Few bills leave the committee in the ______ form as they arrived.
same
in 2004 a fourth special session was called to address ___________.
school finance
