Chapter 7 InQuizitive: The Legislature

In what ways can a member of the public act as a lobbyist?

Making phone calls writing letters or emails scheduling a meeting

Who makes up the legislative redistricting board?

The Legislative Redistricting Board (LRB), composed of the lieutenant governor, speaker of the house, attorney general, comptroller, and commissioner of the general land office

Texas legislators and the governor have direct involvement in the lawmaking process, but which of the following players are involved indirectly?

The media interest groups the public

Why are delay tactics like chubbing and the filibuster effective tools for forcing compromise or killing a bill?

They use up critical limited time in the legislative session

The [blank] was eliminated by [blank] in 2015 when Republicans could not collect enough votes to overcome Democratic objections to bills in the Texas Senate.

Two-thirds rule Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick

If a review of a legislator's record shows that they sponsor over 400 bills during any given legislative session, it may be a sign that the legislator is engaged in what activity to help their chances for re-election?

credit claiming

Starting in the [blank] legislative session, committee chair appointment decisions became [blank] partisan. Lieutenant Governor [blank] ended his predecessor's practice of awarding committee chairs to Democrats in [blank] proportion to their numbers in the Senate.

2015 more Patrick equal

What is the first step a person can take if they want to begin to have an impact on what state legislators do?

identify who represents them and what they believe

a 30-day legislative session focused on governors agenda

special session

The governor of Texas can use the veto in various ways to reject acts by the legislature, and different types of vetoes have specific features. Label each description with the type of veto that it best and most closely describes. 1. used on select portions of omnibus spending bills 2. cannot be overridden by the legislature 3. rejection of legislation that can be overridden by a two thirds vote of the legislature

1. line item veto 2. post-adjournment veto 3. veto

The - members of the Texas legislature meet in regular session for - each odd-numbered year. In the 2019 legislative session, they successfully passed - of all proposed legislation.

181 140 calender days less than 20 percent

In what way has Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick most significantly differed from his predecessors in the office of lieutenant governor?

Party polarization

The redrawing of district and precinct lines following the national census to reflect population changes defines which of the following terms?

Redistricting

The Texas Constitution creates a [-] form of government with a [-] legislature made up of officials elected in [-] to serve during regular legislative sessions that last for [-].

Republican Bicameral November of even-numbered years 140 calendar days

The [-] is required to redistrict after every [-]

State legislature Census

If the [-] adjourns the regular session after the census without redrawing district maps, the [-] is responsible for completing the task

State legislature Legislative redistricting board

composed of two chambers or houses

bicameral

Occurs every two years

biennial

a 140 day period occuring only in odd- numbered years

regular session

By creating a bicameral legislature, what outcome did the framers of the Texas Constitution hope to achieve?

to force compromise between competing ideas