GOVT chapter 7

Like many other people with public service jobs throughout the country, toll booth operators in Texas have been increasingly replaced by __________. Drivers on toll roads either pay for electronic toll tags, which they place on their vehicles, or they are billed by mail after automated cameras snap photos of their license plates as they pass through tolling locations. As it has with a number of other public services, Texas has contracted the job of handling its toll billing operations to a _______ company. In 2014, the Texas Department of Transportation, or TxDOT, awarded corporate giant Xerox a five-year, $100 million contract for that responsibility. TxDOT had experienced some problems with a previous group of vendors, but Xerox would be more _________ and provide more customer satisfaction, transportation officials promised.

automation

private

efficient

Several months later, however, TxDOT administrators were standing before an angry state Senate committee, trying to explain why the billing system was still entangled in problems. More than ___ million toll charges, some more than two years old, had not been processed in a timely manner, and another 30,000 drivers who had already paid to put TxTag electronic toll tags on their windshields had been mailed erroneous bills. Thousands of angry drivers had overwhelmed the single call center that Xerox had established in Austin. They faced long waits for calls to be answered or were placed on hold for long periods. Xerox added call centers in Houston and San Antonio, but they didn’t stem the outrage. One senator told transportation officials that he had been charged about $30 in late fees for a 65-cent toll that had been delayed in the accounting quagmire. Another senator said that one of his constituents waited less than three minutes for a call to the call center in Austin to be answered but was then put on hold for 14 minutes. TxDOT blamed much of the problem on the previous vendors, but the agency also fined Xerox $177,000 for failing to meet deadlines and contractual requirements and said additional fines were likely.⁵¹⁰

3.5

The toll billing contract is only one of a number of state contracts with private vendors that have sparked controversy in recent years, as we will discuss later in this chapter. All of them doubtlessly have played into the hands of the __________ critics who contend that government services—whether conducted by employees directly on the public payroll or by private venders—are conduits for _______ tax dollars.

bureacracy

wasting

Attacking government bureaucracy has been a common theme in political _________ in Texas and other states for decades, with candidates vowing that government agencies can be _______ and the number of public employees reduced. Such campaign pledges play particularly well with many Texas voters and the state’s dominant conservatism, derived, as it was, from a frontier legacy of self-help and _____________. Complaints about public employees may even have ________ during the pandemic as many Texans responded in anger and frustration to government policies, such as masking, aimed at controlling the spread of COVID-19. Except for a handful of years, however, government employment in Texas has increased as the state population has grown and demands for public ________ have increased.

campaigns

trimmed

individualism

worsened

services

The federal government, for example, imposes requirements and restrictions—often described as ________ or preemptions—on Texas and other state governments for health care services, environmental protection, and a host of other programs. The state also has enacted legislation and regulations applicable to these same ______ issues. Procedures for cooperation and interaction among the different governments must be worked out within a ______ framework. When functions or responsibilities are shared, _______ issues must be addressed, accountability among governments must be established, and procedures for review must be put into place. Organizational structures can vary among different levels of government, but all governmental agencies share some ______ administrative characteristics, which we discuss in the section that follows.

mandates

policy

formal

funding

common

bureaucracies

the agencies of government and their employees resonsible for carrying out policies and providing public services approved by elected officials

Max Weber, a German sociologist writing in the early part of the twentieth century, regarded _____________ as efficient means of organizing large numbers of people to carry out the required tasks for accomplishing specific goals.⁵¹² Bureaucratic structures are inevitable in large, complex societies that have a lot of individual and group _______________. To a large extent, these complex organizations are “superior to other methods of organizing people to perform tasks.”⁵¹³

bureaucracies

interdependence

Scholars have identified a number of characteristics of bureaucracies, the first of which is ____. Size in terms of cost alone can be staggering when you consider providing public services for Texas’s more than 29 million residents. In one representative month in 2020, the payroll for 376,038 full- and part-time state employees was $1.8 billion. That same month, local governments in Texas spent $5.4 billion to pay another 1.35 million employees.⁵¹⁴ And these sums did not include taxpayer dollars paid to private companies to perform public services under government contracts.

size

Whether defined in terms of the number of employees, size of budgets, or number of programs administered, size also suggests complex relationships among the people working for an _____________. Employees of some large state agencies are scattered among many cities, and both the size and geographic __________ of these agencies contribute to their organizational _______.

organization

dispertion

hierachy

Bureaucracies require a ________ __ _____ among employees and encourage the development of expertise based on experience and education. State agencies break down the responsibilities given to them by the ___________ into narrowly defined tasks for their employees. Thousands of workers become ___________ in a limited number of activities.

division of labor

legislature

specialists

The specialization and division of labor in large organizations require rules and procedures to coordinate the activities of many individuals. Rules reduce the need for continual ___________ of employees and lay the foundation for standardized ________. They define how tasks are to be carried out, who is responsible for carrying them out, and who qualifies for the organization’s or agency’s services.

supervision

behavior

Contemporary bureaucracies also are characterized by impersonal relationships, which is why people often complain about having to deal with “________” bureaucrats. Responsibilities within an agency are assigned to positions, which can be held by several workers who are supposed to be able to provide the requested service. When you obtain a voter-registration card or have your driver’s license renewed, the name of the person assisting you should make no difference. People come and go in large organizations, and the ongoing _________ of organizations do not depend on specific individuals.⁵¹⁷

faceless

functions

The sheer size of state government and the fragmented structure of the executive branch contribute to problems in the state ___________. No single elected official is ultimately responsible for the overall ______ of public services performed by every agency. A loosely connected and often confusing network of more than 200 state agencies and universities is responsible for carrying out programs and policies approved and funded by the legislature and the ________. Programs often are developed and agencies established with little thought for policy ___________ between departments. The organization of many agencies is influenced by interest groups that believe agencies should serve their specific needs, not those of the _______ public.

bureaucracy

quality

governor

coordination

general

The legislature and the governor enact the broad ________ of public policy, but hundreds of state agencies and local governments must transform those policies into specific programs, based on rules and procedures set by those agencies and local governments. The legislature meets in regular session only five months every other year. So systematic legislative review and oversight of every state agency is impossible. Moreover, the governor has only limited administrative control over most agencies in the executive branch. At the federal level, the president of the United States has the Office of Management and Budget to assist in reviewing federal agencies and their regulations, but the governor of Texas has no comparable ________. The part-time boards and commissions that oversee most state agencies can exercise considerable independence in interpreting policies and determining the character and the _______ of public services. Although the boards are independent, many depend heavily on the guidance of veteran administrators and career bureaucrats within the agencies they oversee.

outlines

resource

quality

Office of Management and Budget

assists in reviewing federal agencies and their regulations

As noted, many people associate bureaucrats and bureaucracies with red tape, waste, inefficiency, indifference, or incompetence. Many candidates for elected office campaign on promises to reduce governmental waste and spending, streamline government, and reduce the number of people on public payrolls. Once elected, however, most public officials soon realize that governments run not on rhetoric but on the work of the same public employees, or bureaucrats, against whom they __________.

campaigned

Modern, interdependent societies require large bureaucracies to provide the range of services demanded by citizens. These bureaucracies, through the uniform application of rules and procedures designed to provide comparable treatment to ________, contribute to the maintenance of a __________ society. Unlike people in other political systems in which bribery is widespread, we have come to expect routine public services without having to slip money under the table, in part because we have laws providing strong criminal penalties for _______. Abuse and malfeasance can be found in some governmental agencies, but most agencies effectively carry out policy mandates, despite limited oversight from the legislature and the governor.

everyone

democratic

bribery

State and local agencies have an aging workforce with many workers nearing retirement. Some students of public administration have written about the “silver tsunami,” in which the number of employees retiring in the very near future will dramatically ________. Many governments are not prepared for the loss of these experienced workers and the potential difficulties of _________ them.

increase

replacing

Texas State Auditor Office

the state agency responsible for managing state employment data

National studies of public employment have indicated that millennials are turned off by the _________ structure of government agencies and prefer employment in organizations that emphasize individual ___________ and creativity.

hierarchial

development

Criticizing bureaucrats for political reasons doesn’t help the employment picture for public agencies in Texas either. It has helped convince many young people that a career in public service is ____________. Effective administration of public services requires competent employees, but some scholars argue that we have created an environment of “bureaucracy bashing” in which government at all levels will have a difficult time recruiting new employees who are among the best and the brightest of their generation.

undesirable

The growth in public employment would have been greater had not the recession in 2008–2011 forced governments to ______ employment and postpone hiring new workers

reduce

Local governments have a larger number of public employees per capita because they are responsible for a wide range of services, including ______ schools.

public

Although the rate of spending growth outpaced growth in the state’s population, Texas ranks among the ______ five states in per capita government expenditures. In 2018, the state spent approximately $4,024 per person. When combined state and local spending are compared, Texas’s ranking rises slightly, thanks in part to the large share of public school costs borne by local taxpayers. In such key areas as per capita state spending on public health, education, and welfare, Texas ranks _____many other states.

lowest

below

The state and many local governments contract with private companies to carry out some public services. Contractors’ employees are not ______ employees and are not counted in the public employment census data, although they are paid indirectly with tax dollars.

public

The attorney general’s office and the Health and Human Services Commission are among other state agencies dealing in recent years with private contracts that have resulted in cost overruns, allegations of _______ influence, and other problems.

insider

In a recent legislative session, state representative Garnet Coleman of Houston, who did not run for reelection in 2022, said the legislature needed to provide state agencies enough resources to effectively ______ how well private vendors were carrying out their contracted responsibilities.

monitor

The bureaucracy does more than carry out the policies set by the legislature. It is involved in virtually every stage of the policymaking process because lawmakers depend on the expertise of agency employees in drafting new ___________ and creating new programs to address various issues and problems. Legislators also ask agency experts to help evaluate the _____________ of new laws and programs.

legislation

effectiveness

In a large number of instances, the legislature broadly defines a program and gives the affected agency the responsibility for filling in the details.⁵³¹ The expansive responsibilities and authority delegated to agencies by the legislature have resulted in what is generally understood to be administrative ___. Administrative agencies can sometimes interpret a vaguely worded law differently from its original legislative purpose. Although the legislature can use oversight committees and the budgetary process to exercise some _______over the bureaucracy, agencies often have resources and political influence that protect their prerogatives. Many appointed agency heads have political ties to interest groups affected by the work of their agencies, and these officials help develop policy alternatives and laws because legislators depend on their technical expertise.

law

control

Implementation is the conversion of policy plans into _______. Although one state agency may be primarily responsible for translating legislative intent into a specific program, other governmental bodies are involved. The courts, for example, shape the actions of the bureaucrats through their _____________ of statutes and administrative rules. Jurisdictional and political battles may occur between different agencies over program objectives. Such conflicts often result from Texas’s plural executive system of government, in which the ________ and several other statewide officials are elected independently and appointed boards and commissions head numerous other agencies.

reality

interpretation

governor

Establishing rules and standards at the agency level for carrying out programs enacted by the legislature is a complex process that also involves the legislative sponsors, interest groups, sometimes specific businesses, and other interested parties. Rules and procedures are not hatched in a vacuum. The task is highly political and subject to intense negotiations; often contentious, it requires political adroitness by administrators to ensure a program’s _______.

success

Some legislative policies may be misdirected, with little potential for producing the intended results. Or economic and social conditions may change, making programs inappropriate. Administrators also may find that approaches different from those outlined by the legislature would have worked better. In addition, the legislature frequently fails to fund programs adequately. In some cases, those charged with carrying out a new policy may not have the knowledge or the resources to make it work. Finally, programs often produce unanticipated _______.

results

Well-designed policies that could potentially serve the needs of large numbers of citizens can be gutted or diluted by the efforts of interest groups or businesses that challenge an agency’s actions. These efforts include litigation, appeals to members of the legislature, or any number of delaying tactics designed to wear out the public’s interest in an issue or exhaust the resources of those individuals who were the original targeted ______________ of the policies.

beneficiaries

Thanks to the clout special interest lobbyists have with the legislature, the majority of members on the boards that oversee regulatory agencies are often from the professions or industries they are supposed to regulate. Taxpayers may think that this system is merely a legalized way of letting the foxes guard the henhouse. It is an extension of the “iron triangles” concept, whereby special interests seek to influence not only the ___________ responsible for enacting laws but also the ________ responsible for enforcing them.

legislators

agencies

The legislature delegates much authority for carrying out state policy to __________ agencies; regulation, in turn, takes various forms. Regulations, in pursuit of the public interest, are intended to _______ or constrain the activities of organizations or individuals.

regulatory

control

One regulatory function involves economics. Economic regulation is one of the more __________ regulatory functions of state government and affects the practices of some businesses, including the prices they can charge for their services. Not all economic regulations are perceived to be hostile to those businesses subject to regulations, and there are numerous instances in which businesses seek regulations to stabilize the markets in which they operate. Major state regulators in this area include the Department of Insurance, which oversees rates that can be charged for automobile and homeowners insurance, and the Public Utility Commission, which has authority over some practices of electric and water utilities and telecommunications companies.

significant

A second regulatory function is the licensing of professions and franchising of corporations. Under state law, some occupations require formal training, testing, and subsequent licensing from a state agency. These include doctors, dentists, nurses, accountants, lawyers, barbers, and a host of other professions. Companies also must have state licenses to operate funeral homes or nursing homes, among other businesses. Licensing implies regulation, and the acceptance of a license implies a willingness to ______ with state controls. On the local level, contractors are required to meet building codes established by city councils.

comply

State agencies regulate the allocation of natural resources and safeguard their quality. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is charged with enforcing state laws protecting air and water quality. Water districts throughout the state regulate the conservation of groundwater supplies, although their regulatory powers were curtailed by a major Texas Supreme Court decision in early 2012, holding that owners of property above an aquifer also own the groundwater. Two farmers successfully challenged governmental restrictions on how much water they could pump from a well on their own land. In another crucial conservation area, the Texas Railroad Commission establishes the rate at which a well can pump oil from the ______.

ground

Additionally, state and local governments are involved in regulation by providing operating subsidies to businesses, including tax ______ that are subject to limitations imposed by the legislature. These incentives are usually offered for specified periods to encourage businesses to locate or expand in a specific community. In return, the businesses may agree to conditions imposed on them by the participating government. Cities grant franchises to cable television systems, which agree to provide a specific level of service in return for the operating rights.

breaks

State agencies also regulate companies for fairness and competition. Although many federal laws deal with price fixing, monopolies, and unfair competition, state statutes also relate to the competitiveness of the state’s economy. The Texas State Securities Board, for example, regulates the __________ industry. Additionally, the state is involved in what some writers call social regulation. Much broader than the economic regulation just described, social regulations affect “the __________ under which goods and services are produced and the physical characteristics of products that are manufactured.” Although the federal government has preempted many state policies in these areas, some state agencies are involved in regulating workplace safety and consumer protection.

investment

conditions

co-optation

influence over state regulatory boards by the industries they are supposed to regulate, often to the detriment of the general public

Licensing agencies may seek to adopt unfair regulations designed to restrict new ___________ from entering an industry.

competitors

Governor Ann Richards highlighted the “fox in the henhouse” approach to state regulation when she demanded that the Texas Department of Health crack down on deplorable conditions in some nursing homes. State inspectors had repeatedly found unsanitary conditions in three nursing homes partly owned by a member of the Texas Board of Health. The board member, an appointee of former Governor Bill Clements, denied any allegations of improper care but resigned after moving to another state. Texas law then required that one member of the eighteen-member health board be involved in the nursing home industry and the remaining board members be appointed from other health care professions. The board has since been __________.

restructured

housands of appointed positions must be filled during a governor’s tenure, and in order to effectively control and direct administrative agencies, the governor makes appointments on the basis of party loyalty, shared political and philosophical views and an appointee’s skills, expertise, and links to key sectors of the state’s _________.

economy

Every two years, the legislature sets the budgets for state agencies, but its review over spending between legislative sessions is _______. The Legislative Budget Board (LBB), which includes the lieutenant governor, the speaker of the House, and eight other legislators, has some oversight. The LBB can join with the governor to transfer appropriated funds between programs or agencies, if necessary, to meet ___________ when the legislature is not in _______. Legislative committees also can hold hearings _______ sessions and question agency administrators about spending. When drafting state budgets, legislators include a number of line items that give agencies specific spending instructions or impose specific spending ____________.

limited

emergencies

session

between

restrictions

Facing a large revenue shortfall in 1991, the legislature directed Comptroller John Sharp to conduct performance reviews, or management audits, of all state agencies to determine ways to eliminate mismanagement and inefficiency and to save tax dollars. Sharp recommended $4 billion worth of spending cuts, agency and funds consolidations, accounting changes, some minor tax increases, and increases in various state fees to more accurately reflect the costs of providing services. Pressure from _______ interests killed many of the recommendations, but the legislature adopted about $2.4 billion of them. Sharp produced follow-up reports in 1993, 1995, and 1997, and his successor, Carole Keeton Strayhorn, continued the performance reviews after she took office. In 2003, the legislature transferred the responsibility for conducting performance reviews from the comptroller’s office to the LBB, which also conducts performance reviews of ______ districts.

special districts

school districts

Texas was one of the first states to require formal, exhaustive _______ of how effectively state agencies are doing their jobs. The sunset process, enacted in 1977, was so named because most agencies have to be periodically _________ by the legislature or automatically go out of business. Relatively few agencies have been abolished, but the review has produced some significant structural and ______ changes in the state bureaucracy. It also has expanded employment opportunities for lobbyists because special interest groups have much at stake in the ______ process. Sometimes, special interests have succeeded in protecting the status quo.

reviews

recreated

policy

sunset

sunset review

the process under which most state agencies have to periodically reviewed and recreated by the legislature or be eliminated

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board is subject to ______ review, but individual universities are not. Also exempted from sunset review are the courts and state agencies created by the ____________, such as the governor’s office, the attorney general, the ___________, and the General Land Office.

sunset

constitution

comptroller

Supporters of the sunset process believe it has served to slow down the ________ of new agencies.

creation

The sunset review process has helped rid state government of some obsolete agencies, modernized state laws and bureaucratic procedures, and made some agencies more responsive to the public. For example, under sunset review provisions, members of the public have been added to the boards of numerous small regulatory agencies that previously included only representatives of the professions or industries they regulated. The Sunset Advisory Commission concluded that boards consisting only of members of regulated professions may not respond adequately to public _________.

interests

The largest agencies and those with influential constituencies usually are the most difficult to change because special interests work hard and make large political contributions to protect their turf. The lobby’s influence prompted Governor Ann Richards and some legislators to suggest that the sunset process should be changed or repealed because it was being abused by special interests. But consumer advocates, who value the sunset process, blamed the problem on legislators who had difficulty saying no to _______ ________ lobbyists.

influential

special interest

A major sunset battle erupted in 2009 over the Texas Residential Construction Commission, which had been created several years previously with the strong support of homebuilders. The agency was intended to establish uniform building standards and crack down on shoddy construction in exchange for giving the homebuilding industry legal protections against lawsuits from unhappy customers. But consumer advocates complained that the agency functioned mainly to protect homebuilders. The Sunset Advisory Commission recommended that the agency be recreated with new consumer protections, but the legislature let the agency ___.

die

revolving door

the practice of former members of state boards and commissions or state employees of agencies leaving state government for more lucrative jobs with the industries they used to regulate

the revolving door theory raises questions about…

undue industry influence over regulatory industries

An early step in slowing the revolving door was part of the 1975 law that created the PUC. This law prohibited PUC commissioners and high-ranking staffers from going to work for regulated utilities immediately after _______ the agency. A 1991 ethics reform law expanded the restriction to other agencies.

leaving

whistleblower

a government employee who publically reports wrongdoing or unethical conduct within a government agency

list the rules for “working the bureaucracy”

• remember that you are dealing with people

• find the right agency or person(s) authorized to provide solutions

• be patient

• be tenacious

• know your rights and act on them

• occassionally you have to be adversarial

political patronage

the hiring of government employees on the basis of personal friendships or favors rather than ability or merit

Although other states have developed comprehensive, statewide employment or personnel systems administered by a single agency, the reform movement in Texas has not been as successful. Improvements have been made, but state government in Texas continues to function under a ___________ personnel system.

decentralized

Merit-based public employment was inconsistent with the _____________ views of government, politics, and public administration evolving from the dominant political subcultures of Texas. The plural executive system worked against efforts to centralize and coordinate personnel policies because the various elected executive officeholders jealously guarded their prerogatives to hire and fire the people who worked for them.

individualistic

Governmental functions have expanded in modern times, and carrying out public policy has become more complex and technical.⁵⁴⁸ Many programs require highly specialized skills, not political hacks who have no formal training or expertise for technical jobs. Furthermore, the public has gradually developed ______ expectations of its government and reacts unfavorably to incompetent public workers.

higher

Additional pressure for merit employment has come from the federal government. Since the 1930s, numerous federal grants have required the state to enact a merit system for state employees administering them. In compliance with federal law, Texas created the Merit System Council in 1940 with limited jurisdiction and authority. The legislature eliminated the council in 1985 and assigned each agency the responsibility for developing its own merit system. While elements of merit-based employment have been adopted throughout most state agencies, employment practices are not developed or administered through a single civil service commission. The state’s personnel system is highly decentralized and __________.

fragemented

Ultimately, the legislature has the legal authority to define personnel practices, and the biennial budget is the major tool used by legislators to establish several hundred job classifications and corresponding salary schedules. The technical work on the state’s classification schedule is assigned to the State Classification Office, a division of the State Auditor’s Office. This is an agency of the legislature, not the executive branch, supervised by the Legislative Audit Committee, a standing joint committee of the legislature. The legislature also establishes policies on vacations, holidays, and _________.

retirement

Within this highly decentralized personnel system, the primary responsibility for carrying out personnel policies is still delegated to the various state agencies. An administrator can develop specific ________ for an agency as long as the agency works within the general framework defined by the legislature. Some agencies have developed modern personnel plans—including employee grievance procedures and competitive examinations for placement and advancement—whereas others have not.

policies

All state job openings are required to be listed with the ______ __________ __________

Texas Workforce Commission

Large metropolitan counties also have tried to structure their employment systems on the basis of merit, but the ________ election of county officials thwarts the full implementation of merit systems.

partisan