The legislature in Texas and governors of Texas

What type of legislature does the Texas congress have

A citizen based non professional legislator that meets biannually

What is a regular session of the Texas legislature and how long does it last?

Constitutionally mandated covening of the members of Congress to perform legislative work in 140 days every other year

Who has the authority to call for a special session?

The governor

What about a special session and it’s length

These are sessions that occur outside of the regular biannual meetings that last 30 days

What is one of the key functions of any legislature?

Representation

What is representation in the US based on? how do we divide up who members represent

Geography

What is a single member district

The electoral system where you divide a state into district based on population and each district elect one representative to win

What is a multi member district and it’s advantage relative to a two party system that utilizes SMD districts

electoral system where you divide a state into district based on population, but where each district can elect more than one representative

What is the legislative redistricting board?

System allowing a board to step in if the state legislature is unable to pass a redistricting plan or when a state or federal court invalidates plan submitted by legislature

Who is the presiding officer of the Texas Senate in which branch of government are they from?

The Lieutenant governor, who is part of the executive

Why are political parties important to legislative organization?

There are the central organizing instrument in government and lineup support for or against bills along ideological lines

what is a party legislative caucus

Organization of members of a specific legislative

What is a committee

A formally organized group of legislators that facilitate legislative work, allowing for the division of labor and expertise relating to bills necessary to perform legislative work

Bicameral

divided into 2 separate chambers with upper and lower chamber

Redistricting

The periodic adjustment of the lines of electoral district boundaries every ten years

Microcosm Theory

Each individual member cannot truly represent the public at large, collectively the legislature should represent the whole population

Gerrymandering

Growing legislative districts in a way that gives one political party a disproportionately large number of seats for the share of votes it’s candidates win