State Legislatures and Governors Ch 3 and 4

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 is a function of state legislators?

administer public policy programs directly

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

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

authoritarian

delegates

lobbyists

proletariat

trustees (Y)

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

Higher salaries

More effective committee systems

Move toward longer annual sessions

Growth of staff support (Wrong)

Longer terms in office

Usually, the greatest influence on legislators comes from ________.

interest groups (WRONG)

their constituents

political parties

governors

foreign countries

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

Higher salaries

More effective committee systems

Move toward longer annual sessions

Growth of staff support (WRONG)

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 ________.

state legislatures could be malapportioned as long as the most populous district had no more than twice as many residents as the least populous district

voters have standing to challenge legislative apportionment

majority-minority districts were unconstitutional(WRONG)

apportionment cannot be on the basis of regions or geography in state legislatures

it is legal to take race and ethnicity into consideration when redistricting

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.

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

less than 20%

between 20% and 50%

around 50%

between 50% and 80% (WRONG)

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 people

appointed by the state senate

elected by the state legislature

appointed by the President

appointed by the federal congress (WRONG)

________ is the most common path to governorship.

Being elected as a state legislator

Unlike elected Presidents, state governors generally:

do not have line item veto power.

lack the power to pardon or grant clemency to criminals.

lack appointive power.

share executive power with other elected officials.

are allowed to be in that position for an unlimited period of time. (WRONG)

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 control the overall process completely. (WRONG)
The process is completely controlled by the state legislature.

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

The budgetary process is entirely controlled by the President.

The state executive-level agencies control most of the process.

________ 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

________ 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?

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

State legislators can ________

modify and approve budgets

In most states, ________ handle misdemeanors.

minor courts of limited jurisdiction

James, a 16-year-old boy from California, has just committed a minor offence and is expected to appear before a magistrate. In which of the following courts is he most likely to appear?

juvenile court

Which of the following courts is most likely to have original jurisdiction over a felony?

trial courts of general jurisdiction

________ refers to a serious crime, the penalty for which can range from imprisonment in a penitentiary for more than a year to death.

A felony

Original jurisdiction is defined as ________.

the authority of a court to hear a case "in the first instance"

All states have a court of last resort, usually called the ________.

supreme court

Which of the following is the most common method of selecting state and local judges in the United States?

election

Which of the following is true for nonpartisan judicial elections?

In at least half of the states with nonpartisan judicial elections, parties actively campaign on behalf of candidates.

The U.S. Supreme Court decision in ________ allowed interest groups to become much more active in judicial elections.

Citizens United v. FEC

Which of the following refers to a system for selecting judges that combines features of the appointive and elective methods?

the Missouri Plan

John Thatcher has recently been selected as a judge by the governor of Missouri, which follows the Missouri Plan for selecting judges. At the next general election, John Thatcher can be expected to ________.

run in a noncompetitive retention election

In the context of judicial selection systems, judges and attorneys tend to prefer ________.

merit selection plans

Which of the following consists of eligible adult citizens from outside the legal profession that decides on the outcome of a case?

juries

Which of the following best describes an assigned counsel system?

It is an arrangement whereby attorneys are provided for people accused of crimes who are unable to hire their own attorneys.

A defendant refers to ________.

a person accused of committing a crime

In general terms, victims in the U.S. tend to be ________.

black or another minority

Which of the following best describes plea bargain?

It is a common practice in which the prosecution offers to reduce the seriousness of the charge and/or sentence if the defendant affirms that he/she has committed a lesser crime.

Which of the following is an advantage that plea bargaining offers to judges?

It enables judges to dispose of cases on their dockets more rapidly.

Which of the following best describes due process?

t is the principle of upholding the rights of all those involved when making a judgment or ruling, including those of the accused or convicted.

Which of the following is the major purpose of sentencing in contemporary times?

rehabilitation

Which of the following countries has the highest prison population in the world?

The United States

Which of the following countries has the highest incarceration rate in the world?

The United States

The ________ refers to a constitutional arrangement in which power is concentrated in a central government.

unitary system

Local government units exist only as agents of the state and exercise only those powers expressly given to them by their respective state governments. This relationship is known as ________.

Dillons Rule

________ refers to state constitutional authorization for local governments to conduct their own affairs.

Home rule

Which of the following is true of the local government in the United States?

Local governments are not mentioned in the U.S. Constitution.

Which of the following refers to a municipality?

a local level of government within counties that are usually organized around population centers

Which of the following refers to a metropolis?

a large city or municipality that serves as an economic and cultural center for a region

Which of the following refers to an exurb?

a community on the fringe or an urban area, defined by relatively high levels of commuting to the urban area, low housing density, and high population growth

Which of the following refers to a suburb?

a residential area, typically within commuting distance of a city

________ are the largest jurisdictions within a state and are among the oldest and most stable local governments in terms of their boundaries not changing.

Counties

Which of the following is NOT an example of an administrative officer of a county?

county judge

What is meant by eminent domain?

the power a government has to take private land to use for a public purpose

What is meant by a charter?

a city "constitution" that outlines the structure of city government, defines the authority of the various officials, and provides for their selection

What is meant by the weak mayor-council form?

a form of local government in which the members of the city council select the mayor, who then shares power with other elected or appointed boards and commissions

Which of the following is true of the weak mayor-council form?

The mayor must usually obtain the council's consent for all major decisions.

Which of the following is true of the strong mayor-council form?

The mayor enjoys almost total administrative authority.

Which of the following is true of the role of the mayor?

The main job of the mayor is legislative in the broadest sense of the term.

Which of the following is true of child poverty in the United States?

It occurs at a higher rate in cities than in suburban or nonmetropolitan areas.

What is meant by gentrification?

a gradual change in property ownership with wealthier people buying property and moving into neighborhoods, leading to the revitalization of the area

What is meant by "edge cities"?

cities built on the boundary of metropolitan areas often in unincorporated areas of counties

Which of the following is a method used by suburbs to oppose economic growth and development?

They adopted building and zoning codes and land use regulations.

In the context of strategies to govern metropolitan regions, what is meant by agreements to furnish services?

It refers to the practice of a few cities sharing a single activity.

Which of the following is true of special districts?

They are units of government typically established to provide one or more specific services.

What is meant by city-county consolidation?

It is a means of overcoming the fragmentation of metro regions by merging the city with the county.