The State of Texas: Government, Politics, and Policy

Essential vocabulary flashcards covering the institutions, political culture, elections, judiciary, public policy, and financing of Texas state and local government.

Gonzales Flag

A historic flag raised by Texan defenders in 1835 featuring a cannon, a lone star, and the phrase 'Come and Take It,' which symbolized open revolt against Mexican forces.

Traditionalistic Subculture

A political subculture in which government is viewed as a mechanism to maintain the existing political order for the benefit of a small, established elite.

Individualistic Subculture

A political subculture that emphasizes a marketplace conception of politics, where government is created for utilitarian reasons to handle functions demanded by the people and intervention in the private sector is kept to a minimum.

Moralistic Subculture

A political subculture in which government is viewed as a positive force to achieve the common good and advance the general welfare of all citizens.

Empresario

A person who contracted with the Spanish or Mexican government to recruit new settlers to Texas in exchange for the ability to claim land.

Majority-Minority

A demographic status in which racial and ethnic minority groups combined make up a majority of the state's total population.

Flag of 1824

An early Texas revolutionary banner displaying the number '1824' superimposed on the Mexican tricolor, symbolizing Texan demands to restore the federalist Mexican Constitution of 1824.

Federal System of Government

A political structure dividing power between a national government and regional or state governments.

Necessary and Proper Clause (Elastic Clause)

The provision in Article 1, Section 8, Clause 18 of the U.S. Constitution providing Congress the authority to pass all laws necessary and proper for carrying out its enumerated powers.

Tenth Amendment

An amendment to the U.S. Constitution that reserves powers not delegated to the federal government, nor prohibited to the states, to the states or to the people.

Full Faith and Credit Clause

A clause in Article 4 of the U.S. Constitution requiring each state to recognize and respect the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state.

Privileges and Immunities Clause

A constitutional provision in Article 4 that prevents states from discriminating against citizens of other states and guarantees them equal treatment under state law.

Plural Executive System

A governmental structure in which executive power is fragmented and distributed among several independently elected statewide officials rather than concentrated in a single governor.

Social Contract Theory

The philosophical premise that all individuals possess inalienable rights and voluntarily submit to government authority to protect those rights.

Biennial Sessions

Legislative meetings that take place every two years, established in the Texas Constitution as lasting for $140$ days in odd-numbered years.

Sine Die

A Latin legislative term meaning an official adjournment at the end of a regular legislative session without setting a day for reconvening.

Single-Member District (SMD)

An electoral district that sends a single representative to a legislative body rather than electing multiple representatives at large.

Gerrymandering

The drawing of legislative district boundary lines to secure a partisan political advantage or favor a specific racial or ethnic group.

Legislative Redistricting Board (LRB)

An ex officio state board composed of five statewide officials that draws new district maps for the Texas House and Senate if the state legislature fails to act.

Conference Committee

A joint committee composed of five members from the Texas House and five from the Texas Senate appointed to reconcile differing versions of a bill passed by both chambers.

Trustee

A model of representation in which a legislator makes policy decisions using their own judgment about what is best for constituents rather than strictly mirroring voter preferences.

Delegate

A model of representation in which an elected legislator views their primary obligation as voting to reflect or mirror the specific wishes of their constituents.

Senatorial Courtesy

An unwritten legislative custom allowing a state senator to block a governor's political appointee from confirmation if the senator represents the appointee's home district.

Line-Item Veto

The constitutional authority granted to the governor to strike out specific expenditures in an appropriations bill without vetoing the entire piece of legislation.

Legislative Budget Board (LBB)

A 10-member joint legislative agency chaired by the lieutenant governor and speaker of the house that drafts the state budget in Texas.

Sunset Advisory Commission

A 12-member legislative agency that conducts comprehensive reviews of most state agencies roughly every $12$ years to recommend whether they should be continued, reorganized, or abolished.

Trial de Novo Courts

Courts that do not keep official written records of their proceedings, meaning that any appeal taken to a higher court requires an entirely new trial.

Merit System (Missouri Plan)

A judicial selection method where a screening committee nominates qualified candidates, the governor appoints a judge, and the judge subsequently faces periodic retention elections.

Stare Decisis

A fundamental common-law principle meaning 'to stand by that which was decided before,' requiring courts to adhere to earlier legal precedents.

Preponderance of the Evidence

The civil court standard of proof requiring the plaintiff to demonstrate that a claim or allegation is more likely to be true than not true.

Texas Penal Code

The statutory law that defines criminal offenses, establishes graded penalties, and specifies ranges of punishment in Texas.

Enhanced Punishment

The application of the next most serious penalty category for repeat and habitual offenders under the Texas Penal Code.

In Loco Parentis

A Latin legal doctrine meaning 'in the place of a parent,' imposing a legal duty on the state to act as a guardian to protect a child's best interests.

Parens Patriae

The inherent sovereign power of the state to serve as a legal guardian and protect persons who are legally incapable of protecting themselves, such as minors.

Exoneration

The official legal absolution of a false criminal conviction, accompanied by release from custody and restoration of civil rights.

Creatures of the State

The legal status of local municipal and county governments, meaning all their authority and existence derive entirely from the state without inherent independent powers.

Home Rule City

A municipality with a population of at least $5,000$ whose voters have adopted a local charter allowing them to pass any ordinance not prohibited by state law or the constitution.

Extraterritorial Jurisdiction (ETJ)

The legal authority of a municipality extending beyond its municipal borders by one-half mile up to five miles to regulate development and reserve land for potential annexation.

Council-Manager Form of Government

A municipal structure where elected city council members and a mayor formulate policy and appoint a trained, professional administrator to manage day-to-day city operations.

Commissioner's Court

The five-member governing and legislative body of a Texas county, consisting of an elected county judge and four county commissioners.

Special Purpose District

A local unit of government created to provide a specific service or set of services (such as water, sewage, or fire protection) not adequately supplied by other governments.

Agenda Setting

The media's power to influence which issues, topics, and problems the public and policy makers view as important by giving them prominent coverage.

Framing

The media's attempt to focus attention on specific aspects of an event or issue and place it within a particular interpretive context to shape public perception.

Net Neutrality

The regulatory principle that Internet service providers must treat all online content and applications equally without blocking, throttling, or favoring specific products or websites.

Voting-Eligible Population (VEP)

A turnout measure calculated by adjusting the voting-age population to exclude noncitizens and disenfranchised felons who are legally ineligible to vote.

White Primary

A discriminatory practice used from 1923 to 1945 by the Democratic Party in Texas to exclude African Americans from participating in primary elections.

Office Block Format

A ballot design that lists offices first followed by candidate names and party affiliations beneath each office, discouraging straight-ticket voting.

Sore Loser Law

A Texas statutory restriction preventing a candidate who was defeated in a primary election from running as an independent or minor-party candidate in the subsequent general election.

Crossover Voting

An electoral behavior occurring when a voter registered with or aligned with one political party casts a ballot in the primary election of an opposing party.

Party Realignment

A significant, durable shift in the partisan loyalties and attachments of voters that reshapes the political landscape and results in one party achieving long-term dominance.

Duverger's Law

A law in political science indicating that single-member district plurality electoral systems structurally condition and perpetuate a two-party system.

Astroturf Organization

An interest group or advocacy campaign that mimics a spontaneous grassroots movement but is actually created, directed, and funded by a corporation or industry group.

Rent Seeking

The practice by individuals, corporations, or interest groups of securing economic benefits and wealth through political influence, legislation, or regulation rather than productive market activity.

Agency Capture

A condition in which a government regulatory agency falls under the heavy influence or control of the very industry or interest group it was created to regulate.

Eminent Domain

The legal power of government to take private land for a public purpose, provided the property owner receives just compensation under the Fifth Amendment.

Top Ten Percent Plan

A Texas statutory policy guaranteeing automatic admission to any public university in the state for students graduating in the top $10\%$ of their accredited high school class (amended to top $6\%$ at UT Austin).

Public Goods

Goods or services characterized by nonexcludability and nonexhaustion, which the private market fails to provide adequately.

Regressive Tax

A tax structure that consumes a proportionally larger share of annual income from lower-income individuals than from higher-income individuals, such as general sales taxes.

Tax Shifting

The economic process of passing the burden of a tax from the entity upon which it was originally levied to another party, such as from businesses to consumers or employees.

Income-Elastic Taxes

Taxes whose revenue collections fluctuate quickly in proportion to economic growth or contraction, such as sales, severance, and excise taxes.