Test 4 Flashcards
(201 cards)
1
Q
Local governments are creations of which level of government?
A
State governments
2
Q
What is Dillon’s rule?
A
In texas local governments are subordinate to and under the control of the state governments and have only the power that the states allow them and have many functions given to them by the state
3
Q
What are preemption laws? Are they a new trend or an old one? What is slightly ironic about them?
A
Legislature considered and passed many laws reducing local decision-making they have been contemplated as cities become more “liberal”. The irony is that historically conservatives have supported the idea that gov’t control should be as low as possible.
4
Q
What is a city charter and what does it do?
A
Establishes the institutions of city gov’t establish the powers of municipal officers
5
Q
What is the difference between a home-rule city and a general law city?
A
Home -rule cities have much greater freedom and flexibility than general law cities they make more policies regarding anything not expressly forbidden by state law(or in violation to const.)
6
Q
Referendum
A
where the legislature proposes an ordinance and the voters approve or reject it
7
Q
Initiative
A
citizens draft and propose a measure and then voters approve or reject it
8
Q
Limited annexation
A
allows a city to extend its zoning planning
9
Q
Who is the executive in a mayor-council form of city government?How is the mayor chosen in a mayor-council form of city government?
A
The mayor, he is elected in a city-wide election
10
Q
What is the legislature?
A
Have the authority to make laws passed many laws reducing local decision-making “preemption laws”
11
Q
What powers does a strong mayor have?
A
Has the power to appoint and remove dept. heads
12
Q
What are the argued advantages of the strong mayor-council form of city government?
A
Providing strong leadership and is said to be more responsive to the full range of the community
13
Q
How is a weak mayor-council form of municipal government different from a strong mayor-council form?
A
The mayor shares appointments and removal power of bureaucrats with the city council the mayor may not have the power to veto council actions or the city council may be able to override mayor’s veto
14
Q
What is the mayor’s role in the Council-Manager form of municipal government?
A
The mayor presides over the city council has few formal administrative powers
15
Q
Who is the legislature?
A
City council or commission
16
Q
What does the city council do?
A
Responsible for making general policy for the city(budget)
17
Q
What does the city manager do?
A
Responsible for implementing the council decisions and managing the bureaucracy often prepares the annual budget and gives recommendations on policies
18
Q
What is an argued strength of the Council-Manager form of city government?
A
There is a professionally trained administrator for the city
19
Q
What is an argued weakness of the Council-Manager form of city government?
A
There is no one leader that citizens can bring demands and concerts to since mayor is weak and city manager is supposed to be “above” politics
20
Q
What is a non-partisan election?
A
An election where all candidates for an office are listed on the ballot without party labels
21
Q
What are the advantages of non-partisan of elections?
A
Supposed to reduce the power of political parties in local elections may reduce the cost of campaigning
22
Q
What are the disadvantages non-partisan of elections?
A
Lower voter turnout and reduced minority representation
23
Q
What different types of electoral systems do cities use?
A
At-large districts single-member constituency districts
24
Q
How does voting in at-large districts work?
A
All offices are filled by all city voters casting one vote for each vacant office
25
How does voting in single-member constituency districts work?
City is divided into discrete districts and voters in each district elect one member of a policy-making body to represent them
26
How does cumulative voting work?
All candidates for office run together in an at large district each voter gets a certain number of votes and can divide those votes among the candidates as they see fit
27
What is the primary disadvantage of at-large voting?
Lead to the underrepresentation of ethnic minorities
28
What is the primary advantage of cumulative voting?
Increased minority representation and lead to more accurate representation of voters
29
Cities generally provide services and regulate. Be able to recognize examples of services that cities often provide.
police/fire protection, streets, water, sewer and sanitation parks and recreation, libraries, airports, hospitals, community development, housing
30
Be able to recognize examples of the type of regulating cities generally do.
zoning, construction, food service
31
What are the sources of tax revenues for municipalities in Texas?
Property taxes, sales taxes, fees, traffic fines, various licenses, TX gov’t, U.S. gov’t
32
What sets the basic structure for county governments?
TX constitution
33
What does the county judge do in county government?
Chair of the commissioner’s court and presides over it responsible for most county agencies that do not have another head
34
What is the commissioners’ court?
The governing body of each county
35
What does the commissioners’ court do?
Passes country ordinances, adopts the county’s budget, sets county tax rates, decides what “optional” programs have
36
What functions are performed by counties?
County attorney, county sheriff, country clerk, county tax assessor-collector, county treasurer, county auditor
37
What does the county tax assessor-collector do?
Collects taxes and fees
38
What does the county treasurer do?
Receives and pays all county funds authorized by commissioners court
39
What does the county auditor do?
Checks the books and accounts of all officials who handle county funds
40
What does the county clerk do?
Keeps records and files for county courts and commissioners court
41
Where do counties get their revenue?
Property taxes, sales, taxes, fees, traffic fines, bonds, TX gov’t, U.S. gov’t
42
What are unfunded mandates and what do county governments think of them?
When a county is told by the state to do something but isn’t provided the funding to do it counties are seeking an amendment in TX constitution to band unfunded mandates
43
Special districts
local govt bodies that usually have one function and serves a particular group of people in a particular geographic area
44
Be able to recognize the types/subtypes of special districts we have in Texas?
Educational: Independent school districts community college districts. Non-educational: water, sewage, parks, housing, fire protection, mass transit
45
Criminal justice
the delivery of justice to those who have committed crime
46
What is the criminal justice system?
A series of gov’t agencies and institutions whose goals are to identify and catch unlawful individuals and to inflict a form of punishment on them
47
What is meant by graded penalties?
Different criminal actions result in different levels of penal code violations
48
What is meant by enhanced punishment?
People who engage in organized crime repeat offenders
49
Plea bargain
the state agrees to charge the defendant with a reduced charge if the defendant pleads guilty
50
What problems can an overreliance on plea bargains have in our justice system?
Many defendants feel pressured to accept the plea bargain rather than risk a harsher sentence by exercising their constitutional right to trial some who plead guilty are actually innocent
51
Bail
money or collateral that a defendant puts up as a guarantee that he or she will show up for trial and allows defendants to be released from jail while awaiting trial
52
How can requiring bail lead to problems in the justice system?
Many defendants who cannot afford bail spend considerable lengths of time in jail awaiting trial many choose to plead guilty to avoid spending time in jail awaiting a trial
53
How has the State of Texas sought to address high incarceration rates for drug offenders?
Easing parole criteria for nonviolent offenders establishing in-prison treatment options
54
What effect has these changes in policy had?
These provided highly supervised probation options combined with drug treatment
55
Hate crime
criminal acts against another person motivated by bias or prejudice against a group of which the victim was a member
56
How does Texas’s incarceration rate compare to the U.S. average? To other states?
TX has a higher incarceration rate than U.S. as a whole
57
Have incarceration rates in Texas been increasing or decreasing since 2010 as a result of changes in our criminal justice policies?
Increasing
58
Texas Department of Criminal Justice
the state bureaucracy in charge of corrections and rehabilitation
59
What is the TDCJ’s four-part mission?
provide for public safety, promote positive behavioral changes, reintegrate offenders into general society, assist crime victims
60
How does the TDCJ try to promote positive behavioral changes in inmates?
Training and instructional programs are used every prisoner is given a job
61
Which two agencies are responsible for overseeing convicts who serve all (probation) or part (parole) or their sentence in the community rather than in prison?
The Community Justice Assistance Division and Parole Division
62
What are some factors that complicate successful reintegration of offenders into society?
Legal employment discrimination
63
What can the Crime Victim’s Compensation Fund provide money for?
Medical treatment, counseling, burial expenses
64
How does per capita spending per prisoner in Texas compare with the U.S. average?
In Texas is lower than the U.S. average
65
What methods had Texas used to keep the costs of incarcerating convicted criminals down?
Using prisoner labor not only to supply services but to produce good to be sold for profit, not building new jails, high inmate-to-guard ratio, low salaries for prisoner guards, no air conditioning in prisons, charging prisoners for fans, shorts, doctor’s visits
66
What problems might result from high inmate to guard ratios?
Not enough guards to watch inmates
67
What problems might result from low salaries for prison guards?
Guards won't want to work for a low salary
68
What other problems might result from ways Texas uses to keep the costs of imprisonment low?
The annual turnover rate for correctional officers is nearly 30% per year demand for corrections officers has lead to hiring candidates who have not been properly screened and fail to meet physical requirements for the job
69
Explain the difficulties that the TDCJ and its prisons face regarding their workforce or staff.
Low staffing puts both inmates and prison staff at risk
70
How are inmates in Texas prison different demographically than the general population in Texas?
Blacks are overrepresented, mostly male with a small percentage of women, average age of inmates is higher
71
Who has oversight responsibility for county jails?
Texas commission of Jail standards
72
Who has oversight responsibility for private prisons?
Private facility contract monitoring/oversight division of TDCJ
73
How many private state prisons and jails are there in Texas?
7 private prisons and 4 private state jails
74
Approximately what percent of Texas’s inmates are housed in Private Prisons?
7.8%
75
How does the number of prisoners in private prisons in Texas compare to the number of prisoners in private prisons in other states?
They have more people in private prisons than any other state does
76
How do treatment and rehabilitative programs in private prisons in Texas compare to those in state-run prisons?
Private prisons offer few rehabilitative/treatment programs compared to state-run prisons
77
Has using private prisons saved Texas money?
The cost isn’t reduced
78
What is the Texas Juvenile Justice Department (TJJD)?
Oversees rehabilitation, training, and probation of delinquent youth
79
What significant changes in juvenile justice policy have been initiated since the creation of the TJJD in 2011?
The focus in Juvenile Jusitce has also switched from punishment to rehabilitation Juvenile offenders are more likely to be kept with their families or close to home rather than sent to far away juvenile facilities
80
How does the number of people executed in Texas between 1982 and 2019 compare to that of other states?
they executed more people than any other state
81
In order to sentence someone to death in Texas, a jury must first find the person guilty of a capital offense, and then decide if the convicted individual should receive life in prison without the possibility of parole or be put to death. By what margin (or percentage) must the jury decide for a death sentence to be imposed?
They must agree the convicted individual’s crime merits the death sentence, instead of life in prison without the chance of parole
82
Lethal injection is the method used to execute convicted capital felons in Texas. What problems has Texas faced related to the drugs used for lethal injection?
Limited drug availability, relying on pharmacies, expired drugs, executions, ethical and legal concerns
83
Explain concerns about racial and gender bias in death sentences
Members of an ethnic minority are more likely to receive a death penalty males are more likely than females to get a death penalty
84
What two classes of individuals may not be legally executed in the U.S.
children and those with intellectual disabilities
85
What problems within our justice system might be responsible for wrongful convictions?
Texas has more exonerations than any other state exoneration is not easy many innocent people will not achieve it
86
If a person has been wrongfully convicted what types of compensation are they entitled to?
$80,000 per year of wrongfully imprisonment, $25,000 per year for wrongful parloe of required registry as a sex offender, a lifetime annuity, health insurance tuition for training/college
87
What changes have been made to try to address the problem of wrongful convictions?
Improving legal processes, increasing accountability, raising public awareness
88
What does the Texas Forensic Science Commission do?
To investigate negligence and misconduct in criminal cases
89
What is the Justice Gap?
The difference in the amount of justice who can pay get versus those who cannot
90
What are the reasons for the justice gap in criminal cases? In civil cases?
In criminal cases the main reason is lack of adequate representation for those who cannot afford a lawyer even with constitutional rights. In civil cases is riven by the high cost of legal representation and a lack of the right to counsel leaving individual to handle matters on their own.
91
What is fiscal policy?
A policy regarding taxing and spending
92
What are regressive taxes?
Lower income earners pay a higher % of income than higher income earners
93
Approximately what percent of Texas’ total revenues are generated by sales tax?
27%
94
What types of services are taxed by sales tax?
Fuel, vehicle registration, alcohol, cigarettes, entrance fee, hotel rooms, car rental, retail sale, motor boats
95
How much additional revenue might be generated by taxing most or all services?
$8 billion per year
96
What companies who sell items to Texas residents over the internet are currently required to collect sales tax for the state?
Any company that has $500,000 in sales
97
What interstate compact could Texas join to get more internet retailers to collect sales tax for it?
Interstate commerce
98
Are revenues from sales tax fairly stable from year to year or are they volatile changing a lot from year to year?
Can increase state tax revenue
99
Is sales tax progressive regressive or flat?
Regressive
100
Is sales tax in Texas higher or lower than in most other states?
Higher
101
What is severance tax?
Tax paid when natural resources are removed from earth
102
Are federal funds largely discretionary or restricted in use? What three programs do most federal funds go to? Health and human services
Restricted in use
103
What happens when Texas cuts state funding to programs that benefit from federal contributions?
Reduced services, increased financial burdens for low income, reduced state revenue, challenges for local gov
104
What activity generates the largest share of revenue generated by public land?
Oil and gas leases
105
Is Texas’ per capita debt high or low compared to other states?
It is lower
106
Is Texas’s overall system better classified as flat regressive or progressive?
Regressive
107
Which group (quintile) of Texans pays the highest proportion of their income in state and local taxes?
People with lowest income pay the highest % in state and local taxes
108
What is the General Revenue fund?
It is like our general bank accounts less than half of state revenues go into general revenue fund
109
What are dedicated funds?
Funds reserved for one specific purpose more than half of the revenue tha TX receives goes into dedicated funds
110
How many dedicated funds does Texas have?
More than 200
111
Why do we have so many dedicated funds/ What is the purpose of having dedicated funds rather than putting most of our revenue in the General Revenue fund?
Dedicated funds serve to further decrease the discretion or freedom of law makers to decide what state revenues will be spent on how much will be spent on each program
112
What does it mean to say that Texas has a biennial budget?
A budget for 2 years
113
What is meant by the balanced budget requirement?
The legislature cannot pass a budget that authorizes more spending than expected revenues
114
What is a dual budgeting system?
TX constitution requires the legislature to make a budget statute requires the governor to prepare and submit a budget to legislature, gov’s budget typically ignored or emphasised in favor of LBB’s budget
115
Whose budget, the governor’s or the legislature’s, does the legislature prefer?
the legislature's
116
Who prepares the budget the Governor introduces?
the governor
117
What is the difference between these two budgets?
The LBB budget is a current-services-based budget and the Governor’s budget is traditionally policy based
118
What is a current-services-based budget?
The budget projects the costs of meeting the anticipated service needs of Texans over the next two years
119
What is a policy-based budget?
It presents objectives to be obtained with the budget and then a spending plan to achieve the objectives
120
What role do state agencies play in the preparation of the budget?
Preparing departmental requests or estimates
121
Which two committees in the Texas Legislature work on the budget?
Senate Finance Committee(SFC)& House Appropriations Committee(HAC)
122
How can a budget be changed once it is already in effect?
Governor must make proposed modification public, LBB may ratify the proposed modification(approve it)
123
Who must approve of most state borrowing?
The Texas Legislature
124
What are some accounting tricks that have been used to “balance” Texas’s budget?
a) refusing to spend funds so that total government spending is not more than revenues taken in b) transferring unspent money from dedicated funds to the general revenue fund c) delaying payments to next fiscal year to make the budget appear balanced d) intentionally underfunding programs to make the budget look balanced
125
What other ways has the government tried to balance the state budget since 2006?
Cutting spending on major programs like public education, higher education, children’s protective services, Texas has a “Rainy Day” fund but has refused to use it during this latest recession except to fund initiatives to lure businesses to Texas, across the board cuts for all state administrative agencies
126
What is the Economic Stabilization Fund?
A rainy day fund- set aside for economic emergencies
127
From where does the Economic Stabilization Fund get money?
From any money left in the General Revenue Fund at the end of the 2 years and oil and natural gas revenues
128
What kinds of things has money from the Economic Stabilization fund been used for?
To provide temporary support to education system, justice system, to attract new businesses to TX and to partially fund the Emerging Tech Fund, some money was moved to the State Highway Fund
129
Is per capita state spending low when compared to per capita spending in other states.
Texas has a very low per capita state spending rate
130
What two broad areas of public policy account for the largest part of state spending in Texas?
Health/Human Services and Public Education
131
Why did the writers of Texas Constitution create and the legislature maintain such a fragmented state bureaucracy?
To avoid centralized power
132
What are possible negative effects of this fragmentation?
Makes the bureaucracy harder for the public to oversee and control makes it easier for interest groups to get access to and have influence over the policy-making process
133
Many state agencies are governed by boards. Why was this arrangement decided on?
This is meant to keep partisan politics out of public administration, but probably has not
134
Most of Texas’s bureaucracies’ boards are not full-time and many are unpaid. In such cases who generally overseas the day-to-day operations of the bureaucracy?
The board appoints a full-time executive director
135
Under Texas’ centralized compensation and classification system what policies (salaries, wage scales, benefits, hiring, promotion, firing) does the Legislature decide regarding state agency employees?
Salaries, wage scales and benefits
136
Which of these (salaries, wage scales, benefits, hiring, promotion, firing) are left to the bureaucracies themselves?
Hiring, promotion, benefits
137
How do state employees’ salaries in Texas compare to salaries in comparable private sector jobs?
State gov’t salaries tend to be lower than comparable private sector jobs
138
How does the number of state employees per resident in Texas compare to other states? Is the number increasing or decreasing?
Texas has a low number of state employees and this number is decreasing
139
What is the sunset review process?
Each agency will start with a budget of zero dollars and must reanalyse the needs and costs of each of it’s functions
140
What is the mission of the Sunset Advisory Commission?
to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of state government by periodically reviewing state agencies and recommending changes
141
What is meant by “agency capture”?
When a bureaucracy is more concerned with serving the interests of the industries they are meant to regulate than serving the interests of the public
142
Be able to recognize examples of agency capture.
Even if there are enough nursing home inspectors the ties between nursing home companies and top agency administrators usually ensure that infractions are not met with serious penalties
143
What does the Texas Workforce Commission do?
A state agency that offers services to workers and employers
144
What does the payroll tax collected by the Texas Workforce Commission fund?
Covers unemployment benefits to those who qualify
145
What does the Railroad Commission do? n
Regulates oil and gas industry and has jurisdiction over surface coal mining and uranium exploratio
146
Who regulates electricity providers in Texas?
The public utility commission
147
What is deregulation?
The freeing of businesses from restraints letting market conditions decide rates and relying on competition to protect the public interest
148
What affect did deregulation have on telephone rates in the U.S.?
has led to tremendous growth in cell phone technology, led to lower consumer prices for telephone services
149
What affect has deregulation had on electricity prices in Texas?
Has led to higher prices
150
What does the Department of Insurance do?
Regulates the insurance industry in texas
151
What is the state-level bureaucracy in charge of building and maintaining Texas’s highways?
The Texas Dept. of Transportation (TxDOT)
152
Previous to implementing these funding increases what two strategies did the Texas Legislature frequently rely on to get more highways in Texas?
By borrowing or toll road taxes
153
What state-level bureaucracy is responsible for the Texas State Park System?
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
154
What state-level bureaucracy is tasked with ensuring an adequate water supply for the state of Texas?
Texas Water Development Board
155
What state level bureaucracy regulates the quality of Texas’s air and water?
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ)
156
Which state-level bureaucracy selects the textbooks that are approved for Texas’s public schools?
State board of Education
157
Which state-level bureaucracy manages the investments of the Permanent School Fund?
State Board of Education
158
Which state-level bureaucracy overseas the development of the statewide curriculum for grades k-12?
Texas Education Agency (TEA)
159
Which state-level bureaucracy rates public schools?
Texas Education Agency
160
Which state-level bureaucracy oversees testing of K-12 students?
Texas Education Agency
161
Who are local ISDs governed by?
By an elected non-salaried board of trustees
162
Who sets a school districts tax rate?
Local ISDs board of trustees
163
Who hires a school district’s superintendent?
The board of trustees
164
What does the superintendent do?
Administering the school district
165
Who provides the funding for K-12 schools in Texas?
Federal state
166
What is the permanent school fund? What is “permanent” about it?
It invests incomes from public lands aside for public education. The dividends and interests from these investments, not the actual income from the public lands, are put into the Available School Fund
167
What is the available school fund?
Gets additional income from ¼ of the motor fuels tax levied in TX this is used partially to pay for textbooks and funds left over are distributed to local school districts based on average daily student attendance
168
What is the purpose of the Foundation School Program (as established by the 1949 Gilmer-Aiken Law)?
Intended to provide a minimum level of state support for every public-school student in Texas
169
On what basis are funds from the Foundation School Fund (through the Foundation School Program) distributed to ISDs?
Based on a weighted daily attendance that takes into account district and student characteristics
170
What was the Property Tax Relief Fund established to do?
Funds are used to replace income for local school districts that otherwise would come from taxing at maximum allowable school district property rates and to equalize funding among school districts
171
What is the biggest problem resulting from a heavy reliance on local property taxes to fund public education?
Better funded schools tend to offer better programs and have better educational outcomes than less well funded schools
172
In Rodriguez v. San Antonio, the first court case introduced challenging unequal funding of education across ISD’s in Texas, what did Mr. Rodriquez, the plaintiff, argue? What did the Supreme Court rule?
Ruled in a 5-4 decision that Texas system of school finance DID NOT violate the U.S. Constitution
173
After failing in Federal Courts, the plaintiffs introduced a similar case in the Texas State Court system arguing what?
Arguing that Texas’s school finance system violated Texas’s Constitutional guarantee of an “efficient education system of free public schools”
174
What was the first way the state legislature sought to create more equal funding for k-12 education?
through the creation of county education districts
175
In 1993, the Texas Legislature created a wealth equalization plan, dubbed “Robin Hood” by its critics, to create more equal funding across ISD’s. What did this plan require?
It requires the wealthier ISDs to transfer money to poorer school districts
176
Did Texas courts find this plan constitutional or unconstitutional?
unconstitutional
177
In 2005, opponents of the “Robin Hood” plan again challenged its constitutionality saying that it created a state-wide property tax, thus violating the Texas Constitution. When the Courts agreed, how did the Texas Legislature repair the funding scheme to eliminate the unconstitutional “state-wide property tax”? A special session was called by Gov Perry on April 17, 2006. The Legislature created the property tax relief fund to take over a portion of school funding
A special session was called by Gov Perry on April 17, 2006. The Legislature created the property tax relief fund to take over a portion of school funding.
178
What is the Higher Education Coordinating Board?
State-level bureaucracy that provides statewide direction for all public colleges and universities
179
Who governs Texas’s public universities and State Technical Colleges?
Boards of regents
180
Where do public universities in Texas get their funding from?
From the general revenue fund, tuition and fees, donations, and the federal gov't
181
Who governs Texas’s Community Colleges?
By an elected board of trustees
182
Where do community colleges get their funding from?
From property taxes, state appropriations, tuition, fees, the federal government, and private donations
183
What is the state-level bureaucracy in charge of health and welfare programs in Texas?
Health and human services commission
184
Who heads this bureaucracy?
The Executive Commissioner of the HHSC
185
What programs are directly administered by the Health and Human Services Commission?
Dept of Aging and Disability Services, Dept of State Health Services, Dept of Family and Protective Services, and Dept of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services
186
What is Medicaid? (That is who does it provide services to and what types of services does it provide?)
intended to provide medical care for people whose income falls below the poverty line- over 65, disabled, pregnant or have dependent children under 19, or if caring for a disabled, dependent relative and are low-income.
187
What is CHIP? Children’s Health Insurance Program
supposed to provide insurance to children whose parents income falls below twice the poverty line
188
What is Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF)?
Designed to provide support for families with children under 18 who have been deprived of support due to absence, disability, or un- or underemployment of one or both parents
189
What is SNAP?
food stamps, provides assistance to purchase food for people whose income are up to 130% of the poverty line
190
What is WIC?
Women, Infants, and Children, provides food assistance, nutrition counseling, and health care screening to extremely low-income pregnant women and children under the age of 5
191
Crime
Violations of the penal code
192
What are flat taxes?
Everyone pays same % regardless of income
193
What type of tax generates the most income for the state of Texas?
Federal grants-in-aid
194
What is the franchise tax?
Tax on certain business profits
195
What are so-called “sin taxes”?
Taxes on alcohol, cigarettes, entrance fee to “gentlemen’s clubs”
196
What three programs do most federal funds go to?
Health and human services, highway construction/transportation, education
197
What type of gambling generates a significant amount of money for the state of Texas?
lottery
198
When polled, what types of taxes do Texans most support?
sales tax
199
Who created Texas many dedicated funds?
The Texas Constitution or the State Legislature
200
Who prepares the budget the Governor submits to the legislature?
The LBB and the governor, its joint
201
What are progressive taxes?
Higher income earners or wealthier pay a larger %
