Government By the People: State and Local Government Chp. 5 ( State Legislatures) and Chp. 6 (State Governors) Quiz

Which of the following is a function of state legislators?

ratify proposed amendments to the U.S. Constitution

State legislators can ________.

modify and approve budgets

The New Hampshire legislature has a House of Representatives and a Senate. This is an example of a(n) ________ legislature.

bicameral

Which of the following states has a one-house unicameral legislature?

Nebraska

Which of the following statements is true of the state legislators?

The number of women legislators has increased over the last few years.

Gatekeeping power is ________.

the power exercised by committees to prevent proposals from being considered or passed by the entire chamber

Which of the following states has the least polarized legislators?

Louisiana

A meeting of the members of a party in a legislative chamber to select party leaders and develop party policy is known as ________.

party caucuses

The right to lobby is secured by the ________.

First and Fourteenth Amendments

Which of the following represents a rule that lobbyists live by?

it's easier to kill a bill than to pass it

The two sources of influence for lobbyists are ________.

information and campaign resources

Which of the following is the primary source of campaign funds for incumbent state legislators?

interest groups

Usually, the greatest influence on legislators comes from ________.

their constituents

State representative Jane Doe personally believes that cigarette taxes should be increased. However, she votes against such an increase because the constituents of her tobacco-growing district oppose it. This is an example of a ________.

delegate

Legislators who view themselves as ________ would vote independently based on their judgment of the circumstances.

trustees

Which of the following does NOT reflect a change in state legislatures in recent decades?

Longer terms in office

What is the etymology of the word "gerrymandering"?

It comes from an odd-shaped district (that resembled a salamander) in Massachusetts, redrawn when the governor's name was Gerry.

What is malapportionment?

when legislative districts have unequal populations

In Baker v. Carr (1962), the Supreme Court ruled that ________.

voters have standing to challenge legislative apportionment

In Reynolds v. Sims (1964) the Supreme Court ruled that ________.

even state senates were subject to equal population requirements for their districts

On what basis has the U.S. Supreme Court put restraints on the implementation of majority-minority districts?

Though state legislatures may take race into account, if it becomes the overriding motive in drawing districts then white voters' constitutional rights would be violated.

________ is the most common path to governorship.

Being elected as a state legislator

What is the percentage of incumbent governors that were reelected between 1998 and 2010?

over 80%

What do election reformers suggest concerning state gubernatorial elections and presidential elections?

They should be held separately to avoid state politics being swamped by the tides of national politics.

In the late 1700s, how were US governors chosen for office?

elected by the state legislature

Unlike elected Presidents, state governors generally:

Apart from the governor, with whom else does budgeting influence lie?

the executive branch agencies

Which of the following arguments best describes the level of control that the governor has over the budgetary process?

Governors can only affect expenditures at the edges of the overall budget.

________ is the rejection by a president or governor of legislation passed by a legislature.

Veto

________ provides an executive the right to veto parts of a spending bill approved by a legislature without having to veto the entire bill.

Line item veto

________ provides governors in a few states the power to return a bill to the legislature with suggested language changes, conditions, or modifications. Legislators then decide either to accept the governor's recommendations or to pass the bill in its original form over the veto.

Amendatory veto

________ is a directive issued by a president or governor that has the force of law.

Executive order

In most states, ________ is typically required for a state legislature to overturn a governor's veto.

two-thirds majority

Under which of the following events is the governor in charge of and directs the state national guard?

disaster relief operations

Where does most of the funding for the state National Guard come from?

the U.S. Congress

Which of the following arguments is used by critics to oppose the reorganization of state administrations?

Reformers often fail to foresee the risks in creating a powerful chief executive with no check.

In nearly half the states, the ________ is elected on the same ticket as the governor and the job and its influence depend very much on the discretion of the governor.

lieutenant governor

What is the role of a state's attorney general?

represents the state before the courts

Which of the following is the most common method of choosing treasurers?

popular election

Which of the following is the role of the secretary of state?

publishes the laws

Though most secretaries of state have varying responsibilities based on states, which of the following activities comes under the purview of all secretaries of state?

supervising state elections

What is the role of the treasurer?

acts as the guardian of the state's money

What is the role of an auditor in the state government?

authorizes payments from the state treasury

The "preaudit" process is increasingly being assigned to the state's ________.

comptroller

Which of the following is expected of governors in the present day?

to act as chief booster to attract business and tourism