Chapter 3

The Texas Legislature in Context

“1 person 1 vote” is the golden principle (what you don’t wanna violate)

• population needs to be roughly equally represented

• senators represent roughly the same number of people

• if district has 1,000 people 1 person represents 1/1000

Size of the Legislature

• each of the 150 representatives represents roughly 161,000 people

• each of the 31 senators represents roughly 1 million people

• senators at the national level represent all of Texas

• around 30 million people reside in Texas

Legislative Sessions

Regular sessions:

• Meet every other year for about 4 ½ months

• Not required to consider something the governor wants them to

Special Session:

• A meeting of the legislature outside of that regular time

• governor decides if there gets to be a special session

• Legislature is required to focus on something the governor wants them to focus on and ONLY that

• A special power reserved to the governor

Plurality- you’ve got the most votes typically under 50%

• More votes than the other candidate

Majority- Over 50% + 1 of the votes

SuperMajority- Any majority larger than 50% (60% and up) of the votes

• reserved for serious serious

Legislative Immunity- Protection legislators have from being arrested during legislative session

Typologies of State Legislatures: Full-Time and
Part-Time

Professional legislature

• constantly in session

• get paid better

• full-time

  Citizen Legislature

• opposite of professional

Hybrid Legislature

• Mixture of the 2

Qualifications for Office and Length of
Terms

Members of the house

• Must be 21

• Live in Texas for 2 years

• Reside in the district you are running for 1 year

Members of the senate

• Must be 26 years

• Live in Texas for 5 years

• Must live in the District you are running for 1 year

  → The few requirements honors the heart of democratic life (equality)

  → illustrate the concept of “anyone can do it” (we are all equal)

Right to refuse winning candidate

• People may have chosen you but legislature itself can refuse to seat you and acknowledge you are the proper person

• Has the right to decide wether the election is valid

• Not a local right only sate

Term Lengths

• 31 senate districts roughly equal in population

• 150 house districts roughly equal in population

• House of Representative = 2 years

• Senators = 4 years

Redistricting

• districts do not change

• population in districts is always changing

• change the shape of each of district to follow the “1 person 1 vote” principle

• Occurs once every 10 years after the US census comes out

  Gerrymandering-

Term Limit

• Number of times you can serve until you can’t

• city council members can only serve 2 times

• In Texas there are no term limits

Turnover

• When current officeholders step down from office
  and are replaced by new officeholders; turnover may result
  from retirement, defeat in an election, or term limits.

Incumbency rates

• You are in the representative seat

• Get reelected when run for reelection

• In Texas 75% incumbency rate

• When you are in a representative seat your chances for winning reelection are over 75%

• People are more likely to vote for someone who’s name they know (name recognition)

• Voters may look at what party they are affiliated with

• Voters may also look at minority representation

Representation: Theories and Demographics

Representation

• The relationship between the elected official and the people who elected them

Delegate

• The representative could be trying to translate directly whatever the majority opinion into the legislature

• suggests that representatives are forgetting their own preferences and translating the majority into legislature

Trustee

• representatives are not trying to translate directly the voice of the majority in their district

• try to consider what is in the best interest of the district as a whole

• assuming that elected officials have access to information that voters do not.

Politico

• Judicious combination of the first two

• On issues where the public is likely to be paying attention are more likely to do what is in accordance with their district

• Probably the smartest approach if you are planning to be reelected

• Probably what most politicians are doing most of the time

Theory’s of how representatives should act

• Representation is based on geography

• each district is associated with a particular shape of geography

• 8 city districts in Laredo

  Microcosm Theory and Demographic

• holds that, while each individual member cannot truly represent the public at large, collectively the legislature should represent the whole population.

• the assumption is that people with the same ethnic, racial, socioeconomic, or sex/gender background share political values and beliefs, regardless of where they live.

• Legislature should look like you

• Texas legislature does not

• Its a theory about what it should look like not what it is

Chapter 4

The Office of the Governor

Qualifications

• At least 30 years old

• Full-time Job

• Executive positions are a full time job

• Be a Texas resident for at least 5 years

• U.S Citizen

• Unlike legislators who work for a handful of months every other year; governor is not allowed to have any other employment or receive compensation

  (A law that is not enforced is not really a law)

  (Enforcement makes the law real)

  Common Characteristics among governors

• Men

• White

• Protestant

• Educated

• Wealthy

• Previous political experience

• Never had a governor of hispanic descent

• View it as pinnacle of their career

• mostly conservative, Democratic until 1978

Terms

• 4-year terms since 1972

• No term limits

• Many served 2, 2-year terms

Powers of the Governor

Plural Executive- Administrative powers are shared between officials who are independent of the governor

Executive Roles

• Directs state bureaucracy (Agencies that have a role in performing legislature) (DPS)

  • governor is their big boss

• Appointment Power

  • governor give jobs to their friends

  • top positions of the bureaucracy

  • certain appointments need senate approval

• Plural executive

  • designed to weaken the governor

  • elected by the people

  • traditional functions of governor are divided

  • positions are independent of the governor

  • governor can’t fire them

• governor makes about 3,000 appointments

• Recess appointment

• Patronage

  • some of these positions are rewards from the governor

• Line-item veto

  • when the governor signs legislation that passed the house and senate

  • allows the governor to erase certain expenditures before they pass

  • bill is passed