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Political Science 2 - Collins > Exam 4: Texas Legislature > Flashcards

Exam 4: Texas Legislature Flashcards

1
Q

What is the main purpose of the Texas legislature?

A

make laws for texas

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2
Q

What are some laws that can be made by states?

A
  1. Criminal laws: drug or murder laws
  2. Traffic laws
  3. marriage & divorce laws
  4. education laws
  5. laws that impact our lives
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3
Q

What is the structure of the Texas legislature?

A

Bicameral: (two chambers)
One House & One Senate

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4
Q

How many members are in the TX senate?

A

31

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5
Q

How are TX senate members elected?

A

elected every 4 years by a single member district

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6
Q

What is a single member district?

A

each senate member has their own unique area that they are going to represent

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7
Q

T/F: the TX senate works all year round.

A

FALSEE

they start a new session every 2 years

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8
Q

How is the senate structured?

A

they adopt new procedure rules every session

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9
Q

When does a new session begin in the Texas Senate?

A

every 2 years

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10
Q

Who “runs” the Texas Senate?

A

the Lieutenant Governor, DAN PATRICK

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11
Q

How is the Lieutenant Governor elected?

A

By the citizens of Texas

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12
Q

What are the duties of Lieutenant Governor

A
  1. appoint committee chairs and members
  2. adopt the rules: decide how laws are going to be made
  3. Voting in case of a tie: what he says goes!!
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13
Q

How many members are in the TX house?

A

150

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14
Q

How are TX house members elected?

A

elected every 2 yrs via single member district

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15
Q

Who “runs” the TX House of rep.?

A

the Speaker of the House, DAN PHELAN

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16
Q

Who is the TX speaker of the house?

A

DAN PHELAN

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17
Q

what is a regular session?

A

the time period were the TX legislative is making laws

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18
Q

What type of schedule does a regular session run on?

A

runs of a Biennial Schedule

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19
Q

what is a Biennial Schedule

A

were the legislature works *every 2 years on ODD number of years**

ex: they worked in 2023

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20
Q

How many days does the legislator meet during a regular session?

What months do they meet in?

A

meets for 140 days: January - June

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21
Q

During the time of a regular session what is being done?

A

the legislature has to pass budgets and laws for the next 2 years

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22
Q

When is a special session called?

A

called by the Governor to address items that were not decided on during session or has come up during interim (they time they were not working)

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23
Q

T/F: the Lieutenant governor calls a special session.

A

FALSE
the governor calls a special session

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24
Q

What could be a reason that the Governor calls a special session?

A

fro controversial topics, a special session has become more political

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25
Q

What are two examples of with the Governor called a special session for controversial topics?

A
  1. voting rights
  2. bathroom bill
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26
Q

What are the rules fro a special session?

A
  1. can not last more than 30 days
  2. can call an unlimited number of special sessions
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27
Q

What is the Base salary for TX legislature members per the TX constitution?

A

$ 7,200/ year

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28
Q

While in session how much do legislator members get paid?

A

$190 / day * 140 days = 26,000

26,000 + 7,200 = $33,800 yearly

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29
Q

How much do legislator members get paid, while they are NOT in session.

A

$190 a day, up to 12 days per month + base pay:

total per year = 61,160??

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30
Q

If a Member of the TX legislator goes into retirement and has been serving in the Senate for 15 years, how much would he or she get per year for retirement

A

$32,000 / year

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31
Q

If a Member of the TX legislator goes into retirement and has been serving in the House for 30 years, how much would he or she get per year for retirement

A

$ 64,000 / year

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32
Q

T/F: the speaker of the house is part of the plural executive

A

FALSE

the speaker is NOT part of the plural executive

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33
Q

How is the speaker of the house elected?

A

elected through membership = has to be a house member first, then the house of representatives, as a whole, elects one of their own to be speaker

(in essence the speaker can be changed every two years)

34
Q

What are the duties of the speaker of the house?

A
  1. recognition power
  2. appoint committee chairs and members
  3. Can vote on bills
35
Q

What is recognition power?

A

where the speaker gets to decide which members can and cannot talk

36
Q

how is recognition power impactful?

A

the speaker can decide who debates a bill

37
Q

What is a disadvantage of the Legislature salaries?

A

the average person cannot run since the salaries are low

this causes the Legislature to be very elitist

most members come from money

38
Q

What are the 3 types of bills that can be passed through the legislative process?

A
  1. General Bills
  2. Local Bills
  3. Special Bills
39
Q

What are general bills?

A

bills that apply to ALL people or property in Texas

40
Q

What are some examples of general bills

A

education or criminal bills

41
Q

What are local bills

A

bills that affect ONE unit/ area of the state

42
Q

what are some examples of local bills

A

speed limit on state roads

hunting & fishing

A bill that creates a community college, since they are used to serve one specific area

43
Q

What are special bills

A

bills that give an individual or corporation special exemption from state law

44
Q

What are some examples of special bills?

A
  1. some areas were exempt from property taxes after a hurricane
  2. Hazel wood act
45
Q

What is the Hazel Wood Act?

A

exempts military members or their dependent from paying college tuition

46
Q

What are resolutions?

A

an expression of opinion on an issue by a legislative body

47
Q

Which resolution is chamber specific?

A

Simple Resolution

48
Q

what are the 3 types of resolution?

A

simple
concurrent
joint

49
Q

Which resolution DOES NOT go through the legislative process

A

Simple Resolutions

50
Q

What is a simple resolution

A

a document that details either chamber rules or recognizes citizens for their accomplishments

51
Q

Which resolutions go through the entire legislative process?

A

Joint & concurrent resolutions

52
Q

What is special about joint resolutions?

A

they are sent to citizens to be approved

53
Q

What are joint resolutions?

A

Purpose Texas Constitutional Amendments

54
Q

Why do constitutional amendments come through as a resolution and not a bill.

A

bc if it was passed as a bill then citizens will not have a say

55
Q

How does a concurrent resolution work?

A

it is approved by the governor and then the governor “gives” the opinion to the US federal govt.

56
Q

What is a concurrent resolution?

A

an official opinion of the legislature

**usually an opinion/ topic they cannot fix themselves

57
Q

what can be an example of a concurrent resolution?

A

Can Texas fix the immigration issue? No it’s the job of the federal government. But they can send a concurrent resolution about immigration to the governor for it to be approved and be sent to the federal government

58
Q

Who can only write bills?

A

the Texas Legislature

59
Q

What chamber deals with taxation bills in texas?

A

the House of rep.

60
Q

What are the steps for when a bill reaches the Texas House of Representatives?

A

1st part: drafting a bill

  1. House Introduction
    • parliamentarian
  2. House Committees
    • standing
      committees
    • Chair Decides
    • Public Hearing
    • Mark up stage
      (private
      committee)
  3. House Floor Activity
    ** Calendar
    committee**
    * Open & close
    rule
    * majority vote
61
Q

What occurs during the House Introduction stage?

A

The bill is read on the floor/ chamber of the house in front of all the house members

62
Q

who is a parliamentarian

A

a hired attorney

63
Q

What does a parliamentarian do?

A

determines the subject of the bill

64
Q

How many house standing committees are there?

A

38

65
Q

How many senate standing committees are there?

A

14

66
Q

what is the role of standing committees?

A

review the bill

67
Q

standing committees have

A

different subjects to determine a bill

68
Q

Explain the process of when a bill goes through the house committee

A
  1. standing committee reviews the bill
  2. chair decides to reject or accept the bill
  3. public hearing: opinion of the citizens
  4. Mark up stage: private committee meeting where they decide to reject, accept, table, or amend a bill
69
Q

Explain the House Floor Activity Stage.

A
  1. goes through the calendar committee to schedule the bill
  2. open or close rule: can decide to debate the bill or not
  3. Majority Vote: 50% + 1
    * 150/ 2 = 75 + 1 = 76 votes total
70
Q

Explain the process of a bill going through the Texas Senate.

A
  • Step #1: Senate Introduction
    1. on the senate floor
    2. Parliamentarian = hired attorney
    i. Determines the subject of the bill
  • Step #2: Senate Committees
    1. 14 standing committees
    i. Review those bills
    2. Chair Decides
    i. Accept or reject the bill
    3. Public Hearing
    i. Hear from citizens and there opinion of the bill
    4. Markup Stage
    i. Private Committee
    1) Pass bill
    2) Reject bill
    3) Amend bill
    4) Table bill
  • Step #3: Senate Floor Activity (difference)
    1. Lieutenant governor, determines when the bill will be heard by the entire senate
  1. senate always debate: a filibuster can occur
  2. Cloture
  3. Floor Vote: Majority Vote
    • 31/ 2 = 15.5 +1 = 17 yes votes
71
Q

What is a filibuster

A

a strategy, where senators are going to continue to debate pass the past deadline

72
Q

If the Governor of TX decides to sign a bill = law, when will the law go into effect?

A

September 1st

73
Q

What is a pocket veto?

A

when a bill is not signed or veto within those 10 days, then it becomes a law

when nothing is done with the bill it becomes a law

74
Q

Pocket vetoing is done with

A

controversial topics

75
Q

how many days does the governor have to sign or veto a bill in the first 130 days of session ?

A

10 days

76
Q

in the first 130 days of session a bill is

A

GOING THROUGH THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS

77
Q

In the last 10 days of session the president has how many days to sign or veto a bill?

A

20 days

78
Q

what is a post adjournment veto

A

when the governor has 10 days to veto a bill after the session has ended

79
Q

Why would the governor use a post adjournment veto?

A

so that the legislature does not override his veto

80
Q

What is a Line-item veto

A

used for the general budget bill

the governor can draw lines through specific areas, which delete it from the bill

(instead of vetoing a whole budget bill, the governor can just cross out parts he doesn’t like)

81
Q

What are 2 main rules for a veto?

A
  1. the governor must explain his reasoning to veto to the legislature
  2. legislature can override with a 2/3 vote from each chamber

Political Science 2 - Collins (26 decks)

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