exe powers of governor - give a state of the state address, take charge of tx state guard in emergencies, can declare martial law, and can take demand of tx rangers

legis powers of governor - most legis power, sole guy (unlike other states) who gets to decide to call a special session, sets the agenda for special session, can call as many sessions as he wants, open up the agenda, veto power (more than other states) bc he has post ajournment which means he can wait it out until end of session or refuse to put it on the agenda, line item veto for the budget which is never overrun, threat to veto is more effective than actual veto

legis bills: 8000 introduced, 800 passed, 140 days

tx has a plural executive - several state offices are voted by population

most states have a cabinet which means they are appointed by gov/president

offices of plural executives

lt. gov. - head of senate, powerful, must become gov if gov goes

atty gen - elected, mainly deals with civil work by defending texas and sueing ppl for texas, issue opinions on various issues and gets benefit of the doubt from supreme court

land commissioner - oversees leasing and selling of state land

agricultural commissioner - oversees working conditions and pesticides, selling tx goods through us and other countries, marketing position

comptroller - states accountant, balanced budget state and regulates revenue

texas railroad commissioner - most important, only 3 people elected overlapping over 6 years, used to do railroads but it became less important because the federal gov took over. they currently regulate the oil and gas in texas. they didn’t change the name so the public is confused and doesn’t pay attention to it. jim wright won because his name is familiar. problematic

state board of education - elected

130 other agencies boards of commissions. up to 21 people each. are appointed by the governor. 3 people in 6-year terms overlapping. most things are regulated by a commision

remember that most people appointed are there because they made campaign contributions to the governer. he cannot remove someone appointed by the previous governer. not very imiportant now because only 3 governers elected since bush won. used to be important because until bush won we never elected govs for consecuitive terms. example of checks and balances

all these offices 18 months before they can be confirmed. usually someone dies after legislation but before they are confirmed.

new question? at national level vice and pres run as a ticket. in texas they don’t. lt gov and gov run seperately. should we keep or change that?

sunset commissions: half appointed by lt and helf by gov. goal is to evaluated agencies and decided if they should be abolished, continued, or merge with another committee. each committee has a 12 year thing with the same group of people blah blah blah. smoother and more efficient government. their steps:

1. they self evaluate. they might not put bad stuff in report but will address it internally

2. they can call public hearings. they invite interesting parties to come forward and talk. unbiased steps . even if they vote out commiittee the sentate or house can override it with a majority vote. have a full time staff who study nothing but study public policy.

3. they make “reccommendations” to other agencies. if they don’t take these reccommendatiosn they will vote you out before 12 years end.

4. check efficiency. ask why two agencies are doing same thing

5. ex: in late 1990’s tx used to pay a lot of money to outside states to water their own plants. saved a great deal of money