Signature Assignment 2 (Unit 4): Legislative Policy PaperAssignment: You have recently been elected as a Republican to the Texas House of Representatives from a competitive district (even number of De

Required Written Lecture: Branches of Government

The government of Texas (and the United States) was founded on several principles. One of the most significant, and most unique in the 1700s when the United States Constitution was written, was the idea of separation of powers: different powers of government should be housed in separate and distinct branches (to read James Madison's defense of this arrangement, read Federalist Paper #47.

To understand why the authors of the United States Constitution chose such an arrangement, consider the context in which they were writing. They had been under a unitary government in Great Britain in which all governmental power was with the King. That power had been abused. They had tried the Articles of Confederation, where the national government had no real power. The alternative was to give the national government power, but control that power by distributing it among the branches. Our government is divided into three distinct and separate branches of government. This refers to the separation of powers-each branch of government is responsible for a certain function of governing:

Legislative Branch: The legislative branch was designed to make the laws. They write, debate and pass legislation that will govern the state of Texas.

The Executive Branch: The executive branch, including the governor and other executive offices (Attorney General, Comptroller, Secretary of State, etc.) was designated as the branch to execute the laws as passed by the legislature.

While it was not one of the original three branches of government, we will also talk about the bureaucracy, the lower level officials who are dedicated to delivering the laws and implementing them, as passed by the legislature, signed by the governor, and interpreted by the courts. You can consider the bureaucracy to be the face, hands or feet of the government-its delivery mechanism.The Judicial Branch: The judicial branch was dedicated as the branch of government assigned to interpret the laws and apply them to specific situations.

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Required Written Lecture: Legislative Branch

When the authors of the Texas Constitution sat down in 1874 to establish the new government, they had to make many difficult decisions. However, one decision that was not difficult was to invest most of the power of the new government in the hands of the legislative branch of government rather than the executive branch. History had taught them that an unchecked executive was detrimental to the freedoms that Texans had come to demand from government. Two recent experiences with a strong executive were fresh on their minds. First, during the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, had basically suspended the law and made himself a virtual dictator. Following the war, Texas was governed by Edmund J. Davis, who ruled over the most corrupt administration in the history of Texas and tried to stay in office after defeat by force! Is it any wonder that they decided to give most of the power to the legislative branch?

Another reason to invest power in this branch was more pragmatic from their perspective. While most of them would never be governor, most would likely be elected to the new legislature. So, by giving power to the legislature, they were giving power to themselves. While the legislature is more white, more male, more educated, and wealthier than the rest of the state, it is still most representative of the people of Texas. It has a more diverse membership than either the executive branch or the judicial branch. Therefore, many argue that it can better represent the people of Texas. Do you agree or disagree with that logic?

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The legislative branch in Texas is called the Texas Legislature. In Washington, the national legislative branch is called the United States Congress. In some states it is called the General Assembly. Let me clarify a few terms:

Legislature: a group of elected officials who write, debate and pass the laws that govern a state.

Legislator: an individual member of the legislature. A legislator is a person, not a group or body.

Legislation: an idea that is introduced in the legislature and called a bill - if a majority of the members of the legislature like it and the governor signs it, it can become a Law.

In the rest of this section, we will talk about the characteristics and functions of the legislative branch. I want you to know these things because they are important.

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Required Written Lecture: Legislative Branch

The Texas Legislature: Bicameral

Like all state legislatures in the United States, with the exception of Nebraska, the Texas legislature is bicameral, meaning that there is a house and a senate. No piece of legislation can become law without the support of each chamber. In order to become law, a bill must go through the committee and floor action in the house, and committee and floor action in the senate.

The presence of two chambers would not really matter except for the fact that they are each very different. These differences mean they function differently and politics varies in each. They differ in the following dimensions:

Difference

House

Senate

Membership

150

Length of Term

Two Years

Four Years

Size of District

*167,000

*811,000

Rules

Strict

Loose

Leaders

Speaker of the House

Lt. Governor

Committees

Forty -Two Standing Committees

Fourteen Standing Committees

* District populations is based on 2010 census data.

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Required Written Lecture: Legislative Branch

The Texas Legislature: Bicameralism, continued

Let's take a look at how each of these differences affects behavior (think of how the environment is different in large and small classrooms to get an idea of what we are talking about).

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Membership. A large chamber (Texas House -150 members) must be more organized and have much stronger rules and limitations on debate. Members of the Texas House cannot talk indefinitely on a bill and are limited in how many bills they can introduce. On the other hand, smaller bodies are less formal, with fewer rules, less dominant leadership, and fewer limits on debate. Indeed, in the Texas Senate, members can engage in unlimited debate, known as a filibuster, with the hopes of "talking a bill to death." This is often used by the minority party to try and stop a bill pushed by the majority party. Also, in the smaller body, members serve on more committees and have more individual influence than do members in a larger body.

Length of Term. While members of the Texas House must run for re-election every two years, members of The Texas Senate serve four-year terms. Half of the Senate is up for re-election every two years. For those legislators facing the voters every two years, they must always be running and must be very aware of what the voters in their district (their constituents) want. On the other hand, senators who serve for four years can be a little less concerned in the first two years of their term and then “kick it in” during the last two years before the election.

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Size of District. A Texas Senate District is almost five times the size of Texas House district. This means that senators have to represent more people and likely represent a district that is more diverse (different) in terms of race, ideology, income, and issues. This gives the senators a little more freedom to make decisions based on what they believe is best than their colleagues have in the House. Smaller districts (Texas House) tend to be more homogeneous (alike) in terms of party, ideology, income, and issues. Also, the district size means that it is much more expensive to run for a position in the Texas Senate than the Texas House - it can cost more than a million dollars to run for the Texas Senate!

Rules. Because of the size difference, the House of Representatives has a much stricter and formal set of rules than the Senate. The House has a calendar committee, appointed by the house speaker, that determines if a bill gets voted on for how long, and if members can debate it on the floor. House members are also limited in how many bills they can introduce. Such restrictions are not present in the Texas Senate. In the Senate, it is possible for a single Senator to stop a bill from being heard on the floor of the Senate by introducing a Blocking BIll- a bill that will never be heard, keeping any bill after it on the Calendar from being heard.

Leader. While both chambers have a leader at the top of their chamber, they are quite different. Leadership in the House is headed by the speaker of the house who is elected by the members of the House from the 150 members. He or she (no women have served in this post as of 2007) is usually a member of the majority party (party with the most members) and has significant control over the chamber (assigns bills, appoints committees and committee chairs, etc.). Because of the size difference, the House has a much larger leadership team, including floor leaders, whips, and other leaders.

On the other hand, the president of the Senate is the lt. governor, who is elected by the voters statewide and may or may not be a member of the majority party of the Senate. His (again, there have yet to be any women holding this post) powers are similar to those of the Speaker, but he is not selected by the membership, so they may remove his powers if it becomes necessary.

Committees. Because of its size, the Texas House has more than twice as many standing committees as the Senate and its members serve on fewer committees than do the senators. What that means is that House members may have more power in their little committee, but less influence over the body as a whole, than does a member of the Senate. Because most of the work is done in committees, a senator on five committees has more influence than a House member serving on two.

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Required Written Lecture: Legislative Branch- House and Senate Differences

Summary: Differences Between the House and Senate

The Texas House. Because of these differences, members of the Texas House tend to be more concerned about what their voters want and are much less likely to think about the long-term effects of a bill. It is also likely to be easier to accurately represent a House district because such districts are smaller-they are more likely to be either conservative or liberal, Democratic or Republican, rich or poor, etc. Legislators are more likely to have the characteristics of their districts. That is why there is a higher proportion of women, Hispanics and African-Americans in the House. House members may have more influence on a smaller range of issues (in their committees), but less on a wider range of issues-the leaders have greater control over those.

The Texas Senate. On the other hand, the Senate is much less formal and members are more likely to think about what is best for the state (rather than their districts) in the long run. Because of their large districts and longer terms, they tend to have more freedom in terms of ideology and party. They also have more freedom because of the lax leadership and organization in the Senate. Because Senators serve on more committees and have greater freedom to debate on the floor, they have more influence on the final outcome of a wide range of bills than do their counterparts in the House. The Senate is much more of an informal “club” than the House.

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Required Written Lecture: Legislative Branch

The Texas Legislature: Other Characteristics

While the focus of this lecture is the things that make the Texas Legislature unique and set it a part from legislative bodies in other states, there are many things that it has in common with those other chambers. Before focusing on the differences as expressed in the lecture, let's look at what the Texas Legislature has in common with other state legislatures.

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First, as noted above, it is bicameral, just like all state legislatures except Nebraska's.

Second, the Texas Legislature has biennial sessions - they meet once every two years. Only five states, including Texas, have bienniel sessions. The sessions are limited to 140 days every odd-numbered year. That means they have to write budgets looking two-and-a-half years down the road. That is difficult to do, because the economy may change a great deal in two years. This means that they often have to come back in special sessions between the regular sessions to adapt the budget.

Third, the members of the Texas Legislature sit by political party with Republicans gathered on one side of the floor, Democrats on the other. This makes it difficult to make friendships and build coalitions across party lines. That is one reason party is so important. In the past, members sat by seniority (who had been there the longest), but that has changed as the two parties became more balanced.

Fourth, the Texas Legislature is considered to be semi-professional. This means that it is not a full-time job like being in Congress, but the salary is large enough and the demands high enough that legislators cannot work another full-time job. Legislators do, however, need another source of income to supplement the approximately $20,000 they receive annually ($7,200 salary, plus additional money for housing and travel). The staff support is pretty good (above average during session) and turnover is about fifteen percent a year. A fully professional legislature has a higher salary, more staff and less turnover. A legislature that is not professional is often more prone to the influence of lobbyists and bribes.

Fifth, both chambers have very centralized leadership. The speaker of the House and the lt. governor have a great deal of control over their chambers, including assigning members to committee, assigning bills to committee, deciding who will speak on the floor, and determining who will chair or lead each committee.

Finally, while party has historically mattered little in the Texas Legislature (everyone was a Democrat), party is now becoming increasingly important. Historically, party was less important than region, urban/rural splits, and ideology. However, as the two parties have become more balanced and distinct (Democrats more urban and liberal, Republicans more conservative and rural), party has become more important. Interestingly, as the Republican majority has grown larger, party may once again be becoming less important as Bedroom Republicans fight as much with Boardroom Republicans as Republicans do with Democrats. Right now, Democrats are pretty much irrelevant.

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Required Written Lecture: Legislative Branch- Functions of the Legislature

The Texas Legislature: Functions

Although each state legislature across the country is unique, they each are expected to perform similar functions that contribute to the successful governing of that state. As you will hear in the lecture, they are to make laws, write and pass a budget, represent the people, educate the public, and oversee the bureaucracy. Listen to the lectures and read your text to learn more about these functions. However, before doing that, think about why the legislature is the best branch of the three to undertake these activities.

First, it is the largest branch of elected officials. At the state level there are only a handful of elected officials in the executive branch (governor, lt. governor, comptroller, land use commissioner, attorney general, and commissioner of agriculture). While there are a lot of judges elected throughout the state, there are only a few judges elected at the state level. On the other hand, there are 181 legislators, so they are more likely to be representative of the diversity of the state.

Second, the members of the legislature are elected from districts all across the state. They are the only branch that must represent the geographic diversity of the state.

Third, the members of the House of Representatives are elected to two-year terms, giving them more of a reason to adequately represent the interests of the citizens than any other branch (the governor is elected to four-year terms and most state judges to six-year terms).

Let’s turn now to the five functions performed by the Texas Legislature. We will spend a great deal of time on each of these below, but for now, let me just whet your appetite:

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Lawmaking Function: the most common and most important function of any legislative body in a representative democracy is that of lawmaking. It is the legislature that makes the laws that govern what you do in Texas. The ideas are developed, debated, discussed, changed, and passed in the Texas Legislature. These bills become the laws that govern the state.

Manage Revenues and Budgets: every two years, the members of the Texas Legislature determine how much money the state will raise through taxes, fees, and other means, and then how that money will be spent. They develop, debate, discuss, and pass a biennial budget.

Representative Body: Third, the Texas Legislature is designed to represent the interests and desires of the people of Texas. That is why they are elected.

Bureaucratic Oversight: A major, and often least performed, function of the legislature is oversight- making sure that the bureaucracy is doing what it promises and doing what it says in an effective and efficient manner.

Public Education: One of the functions that is becoming increasingly important is that of making sure the public knows and understands what its government is doing. The Legislature as an institution and individual members should make sure that the public knows how the legislature works and what bills are being considered and passed. With technology and social media, the public is demanding, and gaining, increased access to the legislative process.

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Required Written Lecture: Legislative Branch- Organizing for Lawmaking

Institutional Leadership

The first function we will examine is that of lawmaking-we will look at the ways the legislature organizes itself to perform that very important function. There are four organizational units that are important to this function:

Leadership

Committees

Parties

Caucuses

Leadership is the one centralizing force in the legislature.

Like any governing institution, the Texas Legislature must have leaders. These are the people with the power to make sure the bills get passed, the budget gets written, and the legislature does its job. The leader of the House of Representatives is the Speaker of the House. Joe Straus has held that post since 2009. He is elected by the members of the House. The leader of the Senate is the President of the Senate, Lt. Governor David Dewhurst (2005-Present). He is elected statewide and does not have to have the support of the members of the Senate to lead it. Each of these folks is the most important person in each of their chambers.

While both leaders are important, there are some differences between the speaker and the senate president. First, the speaker is elected by the members of his chamber, while the lt. governor is elected by the people of the State of Texas. Second, the speaker is elected to the House of Representatives by the people of his or her district and then is elected to be speaker by the members. He or she must represent his district while being concerned about the state of Texas at the same time. The speaker must balance between the two while the lt. governor is elected statewide and does not have to represent a district. Finally, the lt. governor is elected to a four-year term, like the governor and other statewide officers (and the members of the Senate), but the speaker is elected to a two-year term by his or her district and to a two year term by the members.

One thing you must keep in mind is that the formal powers of both the speaker and the lt. governor are granted by the rules that organize that body and are voted on at the beginning of each session by the members of that body. What the members giveth, the members can (but seldom do) taketh away.

Understand that both the lt. governor and the speaker of the house are more powerful than the governor of Texas. I would suggest as well that the comptroller of the State is also more powerful than the governor.

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Required Written Lecture: Lawmaking Function- Organizing for Lawmaking

Formal Powers

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The offices of the speaker and the lt. governor each have powers associated with them that will be possessed by anyone in these positions. Without these powers, the speaker and lt. governor would have only their personalities and personal skills to rely on to get anything accomplished. Compared to leaders in other states, the formal powers of the leaders of the Texas Legislature are very strong.

For all intents and purposes, they appoint the members and chairpersons of the committees (although the speaker does have to give some appointments on seniority, he or she can still stack the committees to his advantage). In twelve state chambers, that power of committee assignment and chair assignment does not belong to the leader, but instead to a committee.

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In six others, appointments must be approved by the members. Leaders in Texas also determine who will chair each committee - given the power of the committees to determine the fate of a bill, controlling the fate of a committee chair controls the fate of that bill. This power is a good one, but it is difficult, and if you mess up, it can really look bad for you as the leader.

Third, the leaders of the Texas Legislature have the power to assign the bills to committee. In a few states, that power belongs to a committee of members or the clerk. Whoever, or whatever, controls the bill assignment process controls the flow of legislation. As presiding officers, all leaders have the power to recognize people to speak on the floor just as the Texas leaders do.

Fourth, leaders in both chambers have the power to recognize who will speak on the floor, thereby controlling the nature and flow of debate. If the speaker knows that he or she wants a bill to pass and knows that one of the members does not, the speaker may neglect to recognize that person to speak on the bill, thus controlling the bill's fate.

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Fifth, both leaders control if and when bills are heard on the floor. In the House, the order of bills is determined by the Calendar’s Committee which is appointed (members and chairs). In the House, this committee, controlled by the speaker, determines the order in which bills will be heard, and if a bill is put at the end of the list, it will not be heard. In the Senate, the rules require that bills be heard in the order they are reported from committee-however, the Senate gets around this by introducing, on the first day, a bill that no one wants to be passed, called a blocking bill. This bill is first on the calendar every day, and someone will move to suspend the rules so that it is not voted on. Once the rules are suspended, the lt. governor can go in whatever order he or she wishes!

Finally, both the lt. governor and the speaker of the House have the power to appoint members of Conference Committees. If a bill passes both chambers, but with some differences, each chamber appoints some members to find a compromise. The members of these important committees are determined by the speaker (House members) and the lt. governor (senators). What they do will determine the fate of the bill.

In short, the leader of the Texas Legislature is very powerful. He or she can basically doom any bill to death and virtually guarantee the success of all but the most unpopular bills. Is that a problem? Should one person have that much power? To read more about these formal powers, check out this Web site.

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Required Written Lecture: Legislative Branch- Organizing for Lawmaking

Informal Powers

Not all powers of leadership are formal or associated with the office. In fact, I would argue that the most significant powers are those not associated with the office, but rather associated with the person holding the office. Leadership in a body of elected equals is usually more about personality and personal skills than it is about brute power. While Speaker Laney and lt. governor Perry had very similar formal powers, their informal skills are very different and, will likely render one less effective than the other. Let's look at the informal powers of the two current leaders.

Speaker Joe Straus came to the position of Speaker after several years in the House, but came to the position initially with more votes from Democrats (he is a Republican) than Republicans - he defeated sitting Speaker Tom Craddick. He is now (2012) in his third term and is getting pretty well established in the job. He was challenged by a more conservative Republican for the position in 2011 and was challenged again by another conservative (Bedroom) Republican in 2013, although the challenge was not considered serious. He is getting more familiar with his members. He knows their abilities, their strengths, their weaknesses, and the kinds of arguments necessary to get their vote. This experience and knowledge are his key informal powers. Straus has indicated that he will retire from the House of Representatives and will not seek re-election in 2018.

Lt. Governor Dewhurst came to that position from the Office of Land Use and had no experience in the Texas Senate. He did not have a thorough understanding of the rules of the Senate or the members. He served in the position for twelve years and became quite adept at wielding the power and also has developed a strong working knowledge of his members. In 2014, Senator Dan Patrick was elected Lt. Governor after eight years in the Senate. He comes to the position with a good working understanding of the Senate- do you think that will help him as Lt. Governor?

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Required Written Lecture: Legislative Branch- Organizing for Lawmaking

Committees: Types

The Texas Legislature processes over five thousand bill proposals every session in less than six months. How is that possible? The primary reason is that the legislature divides itself into committees for the sake of completing its lawmaking tasks. Legislative committees are merely subgroups within the legislature dedicated to completing some particular function or task. They are made up of members of the legislature, both House and Senate.

There are four key types of committees in the Texas Legislature, based on the degree to which they are permanent and whether they include members of both chambers or just one chamber.

Standing Committees: Standing committees are by far the most important committees in the Texas Legislature. They are permanent (exist from one session to the next) and include members of only one chamber-House standing committees have House members and Senate standing committees include senators. Standing committees cover a general category of bills. Education committees handle all education bills. In 2017, there were forty-two Standing House committees and twenty Standing Senate committees. Every bill introduced in the House or Senate must be assigned to a committee for review. A few of the Standing committees have subcommittees, which are specialized subdivisions of the standing committee.

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Interim (Joint) Committees: These committees are relatively permanent, especially those that meet during the interim (the period when the legislature is not in session) and they usually contain members of both chambers. Interestingly, they can also include non-legislators as appointed by the Governor. They usually address particular topics that are of political interest. Interim committees are important because they allow the legislature to continue to work and get things done even when they are not officially in session.

Ad-Hoc (Select or Special) Committees: Ad hoc, or special / select committees, are temporary, usually existing for one session and containing members of just one chamber. House select committees have House members and Senate select committees have Senators. These committees are usually created to deal with “hot” political topics.

Conference Committees: As noted earlier, conference committees are formed when each chamber passes different versions of a bill and a compromise needs to be considered. They are temporary (existing only long enough to address that bill), deal only with a specific bill, and contain members of both the House and Senate. Conference Committees are often used as a way to kill a bill that legislators don’t want passed, but the public does. The most significant committees are the standing committees (forty in the House and fifteen in the Senate. Each of the standing committees has a specific jurisdiction and deals with all legislation in that jurisdiction during the regular legislative session. Most standing committees handle about thirty to forty-five bills per session, but others like Business and Industry and Public Education may handle well over one hundred bills. This allows the legislature to deal with numerous bills at the same time.

Select or Special committees exist to respond to a particular hot topic at a given time. There are presently two special committees in the Senate dealing with Texas border affairs and electric utilities deregulation. There are presently no special committees in the House.

Finally, the House currently has thirty-nine interim committees, while the Senate has only five! Those committees will deal with a wide variety of legislation during the eighteen months that the legislature is not in its regular session.

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Required Written Lecture: Legislative Branch- Organizing for Lawmaking

Standing Committees: Actions

Standing committees are very powerful in the Texas Legislature because they have the power to dispose of legislation without it ever going to the whole chamber for a vote. If a standing committee recommends that a bill pass the floor, it probably will pass. If a standing committee does not pass a bill out of committee it definitely will die. If a standing committee recommends a bill not go to the floor, it will probably not pass. Once a bill is assigned to a standing committee, that committee has four options:

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1. Inaction (do nothing): Committees in the Texas Legislature are not required to act on bills or even give them a hearing. If they do nothing, then a bill is dead and never goes to the floor. This is the fate of the vast majority of bills in the Texas Legislature. For example, during the 2007 session, 20, 258 bills were referred to the Senate Finance Committee. Of those, only 88 were reported out (goes to the floor).

2. Report Favorably as Amended: If a majority of the members of the committee like the concept of the bill, they may make some minor changes (amendments) and then recommend that it be passed by the entire body. The amendment process allows members to take advantage of the expertise they have developed on the committee.

3. Report Favorably As Is: Sometimes, but not too often, a bill is so good as it is that the committee members don’t feel it necessary to make any changes. In such cases, they will vote it out of committee and recommend the members pass it as it is.

4. Report Unfavorably: Although it is rare, a committee can send a bill to the floor with an unfavorable report-suggesting that the members of the body vote against the bill. Usually, if the committee does not like a bill, they will just do nothing with it. However, if a minority of the committee members want it voted on by the whole body, this step might be taken.

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A look at the disposition of bills by one House committee, Agriculture and Livestock, gives you an idea of its power. During the 1997 legislative session, this committee received thirty-one bills to consider. Six of those bills never left the committee. Of the remaining twenty-five bills, nineteen became law, one was vetoed, another died in a second committee and four died on the floor. In other words, the committee prevailed in twenty-five of the thirty-one cases, for a success rate of better than 80%. In another committee, Business and Industry, a full third of the bills never left the committee at all!

In short, a glance at these two committees indicates just how important the committees are when it comes to controlling the flow of legislation. Can you imagine how congested the whole process would be if the legislature tried to process five thousand bills with no committee system?

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Required Written Lecture: Legislative Branch- Organizing for Lawmaking

Committees: Benefits

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As should be clear by now, standing committees are critical to an effective legislative process. They provide significant benefits to the legislature as a whole and to legislators individually. Let's take a quick look at both sets of benefits.

First, how does the existence of committees benefit the legislature as a whole?

It allows for multi-tasking: The presence of numerous subgroups within the legislature means that the institution can consider numerous bills at the same time. While the Committee on Agriculture is considering a bill in hearings, a half-dozen other committees are also considering bills. This is a very efficient process.

It allows for the killing of bad bills with little effort: Not all bills introduced in the Texas Legislature are good bills or would make good laws. Indeed, I would argue that many are not good at all, and even the person introducing that bill does not want it to pass. If the entire body had to debate and discuss every bill, even the bad ones, their work would never get done. Instead, they can send them to committee, which lets them die with no effort, fuss, or muss.

It makes Good Bills Better: Because members of the committees often have significant experience in the policy area of the bills they review (i.e., many of the members of the Education Committee are former teachers or school administrators), they can use their expertise to improve bills. The process of informed debate and discussion in the committee can strengthen good bills before they go to the floor for a vote.

It takes advantage of membership expertise: One reason committees can improve the quality of bills is that the members of a given committee often bring useful expertise to that committee. For example, a former farmer will bring useful knowledge to the Agriculture Committee, as would a banker to the Finance Committee.

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Required Written Lecture: Legislative Branch- Organizing for Lawmaking

Committees: Benefits, continued

Now, let’s turn to how the presence of a committee system benefits individual members of the Legislature.

It let’s members use their own expertise: The presence of the committee system lets individual members take advantage of their own policy strengths and focus on issues in which they are interested. This allows them to do their best work. While the leaders choose the committee members, members request certain committees based on their own needs and interests and leaders usually try to grant those requests.

It helps members get re-elected: Not surprisingly, most members of the Texas Legislature want to get re-elected. The committee system helps them meet this goal by allowing them to work on issues that are important to the district and to the constituents who will (or will not) re-elect them. For example, a legislator from a rural district can help his or her district by being on the Agriculture Committee. A legislator from an urban district might choose to serve on the Human Services Committee. Indeed, a look at the committee members for the House Human Services Committee finds most members are from urban districts.

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It is a source of power and influence: In addition to wanting to be re-elected, most legislators like power and influence. The committee system allows them to have some power not only within their committee, but outside it as well. By influencing the outcome of bills in their own committee, the members can influence what goes on elsewhere.

It is a source of public exposure: It is often said that, “In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is King!” This means that while you may not know everything about something, if you know more than anyone else, then that is enough. By being on a committee, you become a spokesperson regarding the issues that the committee deals with. If those issues become “hot,” you may be able to ride the publicity to higher office.

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Required Written Lecture: Legislative Branch- Organizing for Lawmaking

Political Parties

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Like every state legislature except the Nebraska Legislature, the Texas Legislature organizes itself by political party. The party with the most members (currently the Republican Party) is the majority party and gets to organize the chambers. The party with fewer members (currently the Democratic Party) is the minority party and trues to offer an alternative vision to the agenda of the majority party so that they can win enough seats to become the majority party. Leadership is selected and committee assignments made based on the party distribution of the legislature. If the Republicans have a majority, they usually get the key leadership positions and get control of key committees. If the Democrats have a majority, they get them instead.

Historically, partisan caucuses have not been particularly important in the Texas Legislature. From the end of the Reconstruction (1860s) until the 1990s, the Democratic party so dominated the legislature that factions within the party (conservatives vs. moderate Democrats or rural vs. urban Texans), that Republicans were not strong enough to challenge them. The few Republicans who were elected to the Texas Legislature worked with Democrats instead of against them. Now, while Republicans dominate the Texas Legislature, Democrats tend to unite and oppose them. Political party (democrats vs. Republicans) is the single best predicter of how a member of the Texas Legislature will vote on a controversial bill.

Historically, party loyalty was drowned out by ideology and regionalism. Conservatives, regardless of party, voted together on ideological issues, and legislators from various regions voted together for whatever was in the interest of their regions, regardless of party.

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Required Written Lecture: Legislative Caucuses

Caucuses

The final method by which the Texas Legislature organizes itself is when legislators with common geographical, ideological or demographic characteristics join to form caucuses. These caucuses often cross party lines- for example, Democratic and Republican women legislators are both members of the Texas Legislature Women's Caucus. These caucuses do not take positions on all (or even most) bills, but focus on bills that are important to their interest (for example, the Rural Caucus takes positions on issues that matter to their rural constituents, but do not take positions on other issues).

In Texas, legislative caucuses form along three lines: geography, ideology and demographics:

Geographic Caucuses bring together legislators from similar geographic areas or from districts with common geographic interests. For example, the Rural Caucus of the Texas Legislature is made up of legislators who represent the most rural districts in the state and focus on issues in transportation, agriculture and health care issues that affect those districts. Another such caucus is the Farm-to-Table Caucus which brings together Democratic and Republican Legislators who want to increase access to locally grown foods in rural and urban communities.

Ideological Caucuses are made up of legislators who are joined by a common ideological view. For example,since 1985, conservative members of the Texas Legislature have joined to form the Texas Conservative Coalition (TCC) to promote pro-business, small government policies. However, in 2017, a dozen or so conservative legislators left the TCC to form the Texas Freedom Caucus to The Texas Freedom Caucus committed to amplifying the voice of liberty-minded, grassroots Texans who want bold action to protect life, strengthen families, defend the U.S. and Texas Bills of Rights, restrain government and revitalize personal and economic freedoms in the Legislature. A few months after its formation, the Texas Freedom Caucus brought the Texas Legislature to a halt by opposing several bills and many credit their opposition for Speaker Joe Straus's decision not to seeking re-election to the legislature or the Speakership.

Demographic Caucuses. Perhaps the most common caucuses in Texas are those formed when legislators with common demographic characteristics (gender, ethnicity and age) come together. For example, female legislators may join the Texas Women's Political Caucus. African American legislators have come together to form the Texas Black Caucus and Hispanic and Mexican American legislators in Texas may join the Mexican American Legislative Caucus to support issues important to their constituents. In February, 2017, Texas legislators under 40 years of age came together to form the Texas Young Legislators Caucus dedicated to making the legislative process more transparent, collaborative and bipartisan.

These caucuses serve a valuable purpose in bring legislators together across party lines.

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Required Written Lecture: Legislative Branch- The Lawmaking Process

Formal Stages of the Lawmaking Process Part 1

Not surprisingly, there is a formal process by which a bill becomes a law. While there are many steps to this process, we will narrow it down to seven steps. Your textbook talks about five steps, but I view the process of taking the bill through the second chamber as a step (they do not) and I add the inclusion of a Conference Committee (the textbook does not). Now, let's look at these steps:

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Step 1 (Bill Introduction): Before a bill can become a law, it must be introduced by a member of that chamber and then referred to a committee for discussion. Only members of the House can introduce House bills and only members of the Senate can introduce Senate bills. The governor cannot introduce a bill. The Supreme Court justices cannot introduce a bill. Even God would have to get a member of the chamber to introduce a bill! Further, senators cannot introduce bills in the House and House members cannot introduce bills in the Senate. Legislators get their ideas for bills from a variety of sources, including their own experiences, their constituents, lobbyists, or the governor.

Step 2 (Bill Referral): Once the bill is introduced, the presiding officer of the given chamber (speaker of the House and president of the Senate) are empowered to assign it to committee. They can assign it to any committee they can justify. If a presiding officer wants a bill to die, he or she will send it to a committee where the presiding officer knows that will happen. If he or she wants it to pass, the presiding officer will send it to a committee that he or she believes will make that happen. Both the House and the Senate have a Committee on State Affairs, which can accept most any bill given that it has to do with the affairs of the state. Take a look at the Web site to see the range of issues that this committee can consider.

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Step 3 (Committee Action): Once the bill has been referred to a standing committee by the presiding officer, that committee has the power to act (or not act) on that bill. As noted earlier, the committee can do nothing, report favorably ("as is" or as amended) or not report favorably. Most bills never leave the committee of jurisdiction. This is a critical stage of the process because it is where most bills die. If the bill gets out of committee and to the floor, the members of the House or Senate may or may not accept the recommendation of the committee-they usually do what the committees says, but do not have to.

Note: In the House, a bill that has gone out of a standing committee must go to the Calendars Committee. This committee determines which calendar the bill will placed on (Emergency Calendar, Major State Calendar, General State Calendar, or Local Consent and Resolution Calendar). This committee exists only in the House and does not have a counterpart in the Senate.

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Required Written Lecture: Legislative Branch- The Lawmaking Process

Formal Stages of the Lawmaking Process Part 2

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Step 4 (Floor Action): If a bill survives the Standing Committee (and the Calendar Committee in the House), then it goes to the floor to be heard by all of the members of that chamber. They will usually do what has been recommended by the standing committee. According to the rules of the House and Senate, each bill must be read three times on three different days in each chamber. The first reading occurs when the bill is introduced and assigned to committee. The second reading occurs when the bill is reported out of committee-this reading is the most important one and opens the bill up to debate and discussion. If a bill passes second reading, it is very likely to pass third reading the next day. The second reading is the most important. The reason for the three-reading rule is that no one can ram something through. This can be overruled by a two-thirds vote.

Once a bill is on the floor, the members of that body have four options to dispose of it:

Put It So Far Down the Calendar that It Will Not Be Heard: In both the House and the Senate, there are ways of placing bills so far down the legislative calendar that they are unlikely to be heard. If they are not heard, they cannot pass and become law. In the Senate, a single Senator can keep a bill from being heard by placing a Blocking Bill on the calendar, keeping any bill after it from being heard.

Pass It As It Was Received From the Committee: Unlike the committee, where the most common action is to let the bill die, the most common floor action is to pass it as the committee recommended. The assumption is that the members of the committee did their work and it is now a good bill.

Pass It with Amendments: A second option is to pass the bill, but with some changes or amendments on the floor. Just as in committee, the members liked the bill, but wanted to add or delete a few things.

Table (kill) It: Finally, not all bills that come out of committee will be passed on the floor. However, it is very rare that the bill should be defeated on a straight yes or no vote-that would be embarrassing for the leadership and the committee that reported it out. Instead, someone will move that the bill be “laid on the table” for further discussion at a later date- in reality, it means that the bill will not be coming back for a vote and, for all intents and purposes, is dead.

Step 5 (Repeat in Other Chamber): Once a bill has passed the first three steps to get through the House or Senate, it must then repeat those steps in the other chamber. Bills can go through both chambers in two different fashions:

Consecutively: The process we are describing here is consecutive passage, going through the two chambers in order. The bill is introduced in one chamber, passes, and then is sent to the other chamber after all steps are completed in the first. The bill as introduced in the second chamber is introduced by the chamber, not a particular member.

Concurrent Passage: Another process that is less common is to have the bill working its way through the two chambers at the same time (concurrently). At the same time a House member introduces the bill in the House, a Senator introduces the identical bill in the Senate. The bills then work their way through the two chambers at the same time.

Step 6 (Conference Committee): If the bill gets a majority of the members to vote for it in each of the two chambers in identical form, then it goes to the governor’s desk for his or her signature. However, if it passes both chambers, but in different form (even if the differences are minor), then it must go to a conference committee. Recall that a conference committee has members of both chambers, usually five from each, appointed by the speaker of the House and president of the Senate, dedicated to resolving the differences between the two bills.

If the members of each chamber like the compromise proposed by the conference committee, they vote to concur in the report, accept the changes, and the bill goes to the governor’s desk. If they do not agree with the changes, they vote not to concur and send it back to the conference committee for another shot. A vote not to concur in either chamber will send it back to the conference committee.

A vote not to concur in either chamber will send it back to the Conference Committee.

Step 7 (The Governor): Finally, if a bill survives this rigorous legislative process, it will be sent to the governor of Texas for the final step of the process. This is the only step that is not in the legislature. The governor has three options to respond:

Sign it Into Law: By far the most common response is to sign the bill into law. The governor signs the bill and it becomes a law.

Allow it to become Law Without His or Her Signature: The governor may allow the bill to become law without his or her signature-this is often done in cases where the governor opposes a bill but knows the public supports it. Governor Ann Richards allowed the Lottery Bill to become law in Texas, but did not sign it.

Veto the Legislation: If the governor strongly opposes a bill, he or she will veto it, keeping it from becoming law. If that is the case, the legislature can try to overturn the veto, but that takes a two-thirds vote in each chamber and is almost impossible. The governor of Texas, like forty-three other governors, has a special kind of veto, called the line-item veto, that he or she can use to stop part of a bill from becoming law. There are some vetoes that cannot be overridden. He or she must sign or veto a bill within ten days of getting it from the legislature - if the governor does not, it becomes law (see above). However, if the legislature is not in session at the end of that ten days, the bill dies without his or her signature - that is an override-proof veto.

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Required Written Lecture: Legislative Branch- The Lawmaking Process

Informal Rules of Legislative Behavior

Just as in any aspect of life, certain behaviors are appropriate, and others are not. For example, although it is not written down anywhere as a formal rule or law, belching in public is not acceptable (except among pre-teen and teenage boys!). Certain behaviors, written down or not, are appropriate in certain situations, and others are not. The legislative world is no different. There are certain things that you just do not do if you hope to be successful in a legislature. You can abide by all of the formal rules, but if you neglect to understand or abide by the informal rules, you will have little or no success. How does a new member learn these informal rules if they are not written down anywhere? In the same ways that you learn what is and is not appropriate.

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1. Don’t Lie About what a Bill Does. While you may consider politicians to be dishonest by nature, honesty is expected in debate and discussion among legislators (sort of like honesty among thieves!). If you lie about the potential consequences of a bill and legislators are hurt politically by the real consequences of that bill, then you have lost your credibility and your ability to be effective.

2. Don’t Engage in Personal Slander of Members during a Debate. Floor and committee debate should be about the merits of the bill. You may not vote for a bill because of the person who introduces it (you think that person is an idiot), but you don’t say that and you do not call that person an idiot during the debate. In fact, to prevent such face-to-face controversy, legislators address their comments to the presiding officer rather than to the other members.

3. Don’t Be an Obnoxious Loser or Winner. Understand that there is always another day and another bill in the legislature. Today’s enemy is tomorrow’s friend, so don’t piss them off. If you lose, don’t snort and stomp around, accusing people of things, and if you win, don’t rub their noses in it. You will want to be able to work with these people on other issues in the future.

4. Speak on Topics you Know Something About. By definition, politicians like to hear themselves talk. However, if a legislator speaks on every bill, whether or not he has knowledge of the issue, he or she will get very little respect from their colleagues. Legislators who speak on everything generally influence nothing.

5. Don’t Grandstand (Showboat). Legislators who are successful are those who do their jobs whether or not they get publicity. Those who just show up for the cameras and don’t do their jobs well will find themselves getting very little accomplished.

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Required Written Lecture: Legislative Branch- The Lawmaking Process

Decision Making Factors in the Lawmaking Process

Let's assume that you are a member of the Texas Legislature and you are trying to decide whether to vote for or against a bill. What factors are likely to play into your decision?

What Do Your Constituents think? Perhaps the most common source of guidance is a legislator's constituents. What do the voters in the district think about the bill? However, on most of the issues facing the legislator, the voters have no opinion, are divided, or could care less (for example, they could care less about how you vote on a technical amendment to a water rights bill).

What Are Your Own Ideology and Views? Often legislators already know what they will do before a bill comes for a vote because they have a set of deeply held views on certain issues. They are liberal or conservative. For example, few legislators have to ask around to determine how they will vote on school prayer, abortion rights, or gay marriage. Those decisions are determined by their ideology.

What about Trusted Colleagues? One of the best sources for voting cues (how to vote) for legislators is other legislators. This is particularly true for relatively new legislators who turn to trusted and more experienced colleagues for advice. While it may be difficult to find out what constituents want, colleagues are easy to get to and knowledgeable about the issues.

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Required Written Lecture: Legislative Branch- The Lawmaking Process

Decision Making Factors in the Lawmaking Process, cont'd

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Don’t Forget the Lobbyists. While colleagues may know a lot about a variety of issues, no person is more knowledgeable on a given issue than the lobbyist who focuses exclusively on a given issue. For example, if the bill is about health care, the lobbyist from the American Medical Association will be on top of it. Legislators often turn to lobbyists they trust (and usually agree with) on critical issues. This is particularly true in Texas where legislators have to work other jobs.

Public Opinion? Don’t forget public opinion. Elected officials, especially those who want to run some day for higher statewide office, are keenly aware of public opinion and may defy their own values and the advice of colleagues to avoid going against it.

Governor or Party Leaders? If you are of the same party as the governor and this bill is important to him or her, you are likely to defer to that person. If you are not of the same party, you may look to other leaders of your party within the legislature or other statewide officeholders. Legislative leaders are very important because of the powers we discussed above.

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Understand the degree to which each of these factors matter will vary from issue to issue. On a hot button issue like taxes, constituents will matter. On an issue that is part of the governor’s agenda, he or she will take the lead. On moral issues, ideology will rise to the top. On procedural and technical matters, party leaders will take the lead.

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Required Written Lecture: Legislative Branch: The Lawmaking Process

Key Players in the Lawmaking Process

As you are, I am sure, quite aware of by now, while all legislators are important, some are more important than others! Let's look at those key players:

Speaker of the House (House) and Lt. Governor (Senate). As discussed earlier, the Speaker of the House is the most important officer in the House and the Lt. Governor is the "top dog" in the Senate. The determine what committees a legislator will serve on, who will chair that committee and what committee a bill will be assigned to. Nothing is likely to pass their respective Chamber without their support.

Committee Chairs. While Committee Chairs are appointed by the presiding officer of his or her chamber (Speaker in the House and Lt. Governor in the Senate) , the have significant control over the committee they chair. It is very unlikely that a bill will come out of a Committee if the Chairman does not want it to come out, because he or she sets the calendar for what bills will be heard and also has the power to recognize or not recognize committee members to speak.

Senior Members. Senior members (those who have been in the legislature a long time) have considerable influence for a couple of reasons. First, because they have been around a long time, the generally have more procedural and subject knowledge than other, less experienced legislators. Second, because of that experience and knowledge, they are also more likely to be committee chairs and have the powers associated with those positions.

Members of Key Committees for your Bills. The Committee Chair may not be the only person on a committee that has influence. While the Committee Chair is usually from the Majority Party (party with more members), each Committee also has Ranking Minority member who is from the party with fewer members, but has some power on the committee. Also, some committee members are important because they possess a lot of subject knowledge on issues important to teh committee. You will need their support to get your bill passed.

Issue Experts. Finally, there are some members who just know a lot about a particular subject- perhaps because of their education, their work outside the legislature (for example, teachers often carry a lot of clout on education issues) or their years of experience in the legislature. If your issues happen to be in their area of expertise, you need to get their support because people listen to them on that issue.

The one thing that all of these positions or people have in common is the possession of knowledge. There are two types of knowledge that are important in the legislative arena and different leaders possess these types in different quantities.

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First, people in formal positions of power, such as the speaker of the House and the lt. governor, as well as very senior members of the legislature, are likely to possess a great deal of procedural knowledge, that is the knowledge of how things get done and how to make the legislative process work. This knowledge can be used to gain support or success on a variety of issues, because all issues must pass the legislative process to become law.

A second type of knowledge normally possessed by members of the committee, committee chairs, and policy experts is subject knowledge, that is, the information about education, public safety, insurance or whatever the particular piece of legislation is about. Some people develop policy expertise or subject knowledge because of their occupations outside of the legislature (for example, teachers generally know a great deal about education, lawyers understand the law). Others gain this knowledge via years of service on a particular committee or in the legislature. This kind of knowledge is usually possessed by the committee chairs, committee members, and policy experts. Knowledge of a particular issue can be translated into influence because you can trade that knowledge for support on other legislation.

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Required Written Lecture: Function 2- The Budgtary Process

The Texas Legislature makes public policy in two primary ways: By Passing a Budget and by passing Laws. Let's look first at the budgetary process.

Overview of the Budget Process

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Government exists for the purpose of providing the services that people demand. The major outcome of that demand and the major product of government is the budget-the programs and services that the government chooses to provide to its citizens from police to education. The budget of Texas is nothing more and nothing less than a list of priorities for the state of Texas. The amount of revenue available to the state to spend is fixed at a certain amount based on the predictions of the Comptroller of Texas.

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Therefore, it is not possible for the government of Texas to do everything the people want, or even everything the politicians want. So, they prioritize things by saying given the amount of money we have, we will spend this much on each public safety, education, transportation ,etc.. This budget reflects the values, economic times (economic gains or losses or crisis), the legislative priorities (particularly the speaker of the House and the lt. Governor), and the political priorities of the Governor.

There are three stages to the budget development process in Texas: planning and preparation, authorization and appropriation, and execution (spending).

Planning and Preparation: As noted earlier in the semester, most of the heavy lifting on the budget in Texas is done by the Legislative Budget Board. However, the governor of Texas, with the help of the Budget, Planning and Policy Division, develops his or her own budget. This means Texas has a dual-budgeting system. However, the LBB budget tends to carry considerably more weight than that of the governor's. This process usually takes place in the spring of even-numbered years, before the legislature meets in its regular session the following spring. Recall that the budget covers two years.

Authorization and Appropriations: Once requests have been made and a budget developed, it is up to the legislature to authorize (say it is okay) the money and the give it out (appropriate). While the whole legislature (House and Senate) votes on it, it relies heavily on the money committees (Ways and Means, and Appropriations in the House, and Finance in the Senate). Once both chamber's (House and Senate) have put their stamps on it, a conference committee works out the differences. The governor then gets the bill – he can veto all or parts (line-item veto) of the bill.

Execution (Spending): This step is also taken by the legislature. However, the governor has more control over it when the legislature is not in session and when there is a crisis.

How might things be different if the governor controlled the budget? One thing about a budget by committee is it looks like a budget by committee! There is little underlying philosophy because each committee member wants something of his or her own in it. Second, research suggests that legislative budgets are larger than budgets written by an executive. Finally, without a strong budget power, governors find it very difficult to fulfill campaign pledges.

This does not mean that the governor has no influence on the budget as both Rick Perry and George W. Bush showed. However, their influence came from their abilities to get the public behind them and to work with the legislature, rather than their ability to use formal budget powers.

What are the chances of giving the governor more budget power so that he or she might set the direction for the state? Slim to none, because the legislature would be giving up power to do that and politicians do not like to give up power!

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Required Written Lecture: Legislative Function 2- Budget and Taxation

Function 2: Budget and Taxation

In the eyes of many, the most significant thing that the legislature does every two years is pass the budget for the state. If they do not pass this budget, then state officials don't get paid, the roads are not maintained, and schools don't open. Compared to almost any other state, the budget powers of the Texas Legislature are strong and the powers of the governor are weak. The key players in the Texas budget process are the members of the Legislative Budget Board, the members of the House Appropriations Committee, and the members of the Senate Finance Committee. These men and women are responsible for writing the budget that will pay for state activities for the following two years.

The Legislative Budget Board includes the speaker of the House and the lt. governor as well as the house chairs of Appropriations and Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committees. The lt. governor appoints three more members and the speaker of the House two for a total of ten members, all of them state legislators (5 Senators and 5 House members).

Once the LBB has prepared a budget, it is submitted to the legislature which almost always passes it. The Legislative Budget Board is responsible for preparing and monitoring the state’s budget. The governor also can, and usually does, present a separate budget, but it is often ignored in favor of the one proposed by the LBB.

One additional responsibility of the Legislative Budget Board is to conduct agency performance reviews. At least every seven years, they review the activities and performance of bureaucratic agencies. However, they do not really happen very much nor are they very rigorous. To get a good feel for the range of responsibilities of the Legislative Budget Board, check out the Web site Legislative Budget Board Responsibilities.

What about the role of the governor? He or she can veto the entire budget, or parts of it. In cutting out parts of the budget, he or she uses something called the line-item veto. The governor can use this only on the budget and cannot increase spending, but only cut it.

What factors contribute to the writing of the budget? First, members of these committees must consider the basic level of services that the government must provide. Government cannot quit funding roads, education, or public safety. Second, they must consider current economic conditions. Good economic times free up more money for the legislature to use for a variety of purposes. Third, they must consider the needs and desires of the people. Childcare assistance may not be a basic function, like education or roads, but if the voters demand it, legislators generally find a way to fund it. Finally, each member must consider his or her basic philosophy of governing-should government spend all it has on programs or should it return some to the voters to use however they wish?

The budget for the 2016-17 is almost $200 Billion! If you were on the budget committee, how would you allocate that money?

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Required Written Lecture: Legislative Function 3- Representation

Representational Roles

The Texas Legislature is considered to be a representational body. In fact, the legislative branch is often called the representative branch of government. What exactly does that mean? What does it mean to represent someone?

Generally, legislators may define representation in one of three ways:

Trustee Roles: First, some, most often senators, define representation in terms of their responsibility to do what they think is best, regardless of what the members of their district believe or want. These people rely on their knowledge, their experience, and their understanding of the issues to do what they believe is best and hope the voters trust their judgment. Because the longer terms and larger districts, senators are more likely to do this.

Delegate Role: Another member, more than likely a member of the House, tends to view representation as doing what the voters from your district want, even if you disagree with them. The delegate says I was sent here to do what the voters want me to do, even if I might disagree. It is my job to do what they want. Members of the Texas House are more likely to take this approach.

Politico Role: Finally, a third approach is to view representation in terms of a combination of the first two, sometimes playing the role of trustee and other times playing the role of delegate. On issues that are very important to me, I will take the Trustee role. On issues that are very important to the district, I will take the delegate role. The type of issue being considered will in part determine the balance between the two roles.

Which do you think is right? Is a person being arrogant if he or she believes that he or she knows better than the voters from that person's district, or is that person really in a better position to make an informed, educated decision because he or she is in the legislature? Is it any more noble to abdicate your responsibility in the name of doing what the voter wants even if you know that what he or she wants is not best for him or her? Is the person who takes one role, then the other, just copping out on the hard decisions? What do you think? Which approach to representation is the best?

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Required Written Lecture: Legislative Function 3: Representation

Members

A different view of representation is known as mirror representation. By this definition, a body is representative of a state or country if its members have the same characteristics of the population, only in smaller numbers. This is the same as saying a model ship is a representation of a full-sized ship if it looks the same, has the same number of guns, and is the same color. By this definition of representation, the Texas Legislature does not do very well. Women, Hispanics, African-Americans, and young people are all under-represented in the Texas Legislature, while old people, attorneys, businessmen, wealthy people, and educated voters are all over-represented.

The 84th (2015-2016) Texas Legislature reflects this disparity:

Women

36 legislators (20 %)

Hispanics

41 legislators (23%)

African Americans

19 legislators (11%)

College Educated

167 legislators (91%)

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This view of representation makes some assumptions about the meaning of representation and human behavior. It assumes first that representation requires having someone like you to represent your interests. Second, it assumes that people from the same group (women, Hispanics, etc.) all act the same and that the only person who can adequately represent a woman is a women, etc. Do you believe this? Can a man adequately represent the needs and views of a woman? Can a middle-aged white guy adequately represent the views of a twenty year old minority female?

Finally, this approach also assumes that we want a legislative body that mirrors us. Just because Texas has a low education level, does that mean we want our legislators to be uneducated? Just because Texas has a higher proportion of poor people than most states, does this mean we want 30% of our legislators to be below the poverty line? As you listen to this lecture think about why mirror representation is not apparent in Texas and decide if that is a good or bad thing.

Percent of Legislators that are Women, 2017

Women are more likely to be elected to office in some states than in others. This is true for election to the legislature. This difference is important, because we know that women legislators support different issues than men, represent their constituents differently than men and make decisions differently than their male counterparts. In Colorado, Nevada and Vermont almost four in ten legislators are women. Women make up more than thirty percent in thirteen states. On the other hand, they make up less than fifteen percent of the legislature in 5 states. At 20.4 percent, the percentage of women in the Texas Legislature is almost five percent lower than the national percentage: 24.8 percent. Generally, women are less likely to be elected in Southern states, conservative states and states with more professional legislatures. Why do you think women do not do as well in Texas as some other states? Does this matter? How might we change that?

State

Number of Women Legislators in the House / Assembly

Number of Women Legislators in the Senate

Total Number of Women Legislators

Total Seats in the Legislature

Percentage of Women in the Legislature

Alabama

140

14.3%

Alaska

30.0%

Arizona

38.9%

Arkansas

135

18.5%

California

120

21.7%

Colorado

100

39.0%

Connecticut

187

27.3%

Delaware

19.4%

Florida

160

25.0%

Georgia

236

25.8%

Hawaii

27.6%

Idaho

105

30.5%

Illinois

177

36.2%

Indiana

150

19.3%

Iowa

150

22.0%

Kansas

165

28.5%

Kentucky

138

16.7%

Louisiana

5 22

144

15.3%

Maine

186

34.4%

Maryland

188

31.4%

Massachusetts

200

26.0%

Michigan

148

23.0%

Minnesota

201

31.8%

Mississippi

174

13.8%

Missouri

197

22.3%

Montana

150

28.7%

Nebraska

Unicameral

26.5%

Nevada

39.7%

New Hampshire

114

121

424

28.5%

New Jersey

120

30.0%

New Mexico

112

30.4%

New York

213

27.2%

North Carolina

170

24.1%

North Dakota

141

18.4%

Ohio

132

24.2%

Oklahoma

149

12.8%

Oregon

33.3%

Pennsylvania

253

18.2%

Rhode Island

113

30.1%

South Carolina

170

13.5%

South Dakota

105

20.0%

Tennessee

132

16.7%

Texas

181

20.4%

Utah

104

19.2%

Vermont

180

39.4%

Virginia

140

19.3%

Washington

147

36.1%

West Virginia

134

13.4%

Wisconsin

132

23.5%

Wyoming

11.1%

TOTAL

1,390

440

1,830

7,383

24.8%

Source: NCSL.ORG

Number of African American State Legislators

2009

Just as it is expected that a legislature with, more female members will do a better job of representing the needs of women in a state, it is likely that an all-white legislature would not be effective at representing Hispanic or African American citizens as legislators who came from their community. A look at the tables below reveals that the proportion of African American legislators in the state (9%) is lower than some (esp. Southern) states, but a pretty accurate reflection of their proportion of the state’s population (11.8 percent). Why do you think that is? Does it matter?

black-legislators-all21

Latino Legislators by State and Chamber for the 2015 Legislative Session

Not surprisingly, the number of Hispanic legislators in the state legislature is not nearly as evenly distributed as the number of African American legislators or female legislators. In fact, eleven states have no Hispanic or Latino legislators and another eleven with just one. On the other hand, almost a quarter of the legislators in Texas are Hispanic or Latino, second only to New Mexico. Ever wonder why Texas has not passed the kind of anti-immigration laws passed by so many other Republican states? I think we may have found the answer!

STATE TOTAL LEGISLATIVE SEATS TOTAL LATINO STATE LEGISLATORS % OF TOTAL SEATS TOTA: HOUSE SEATS LLATINO HOUSE SEATS % OF HOUSE SEATS TOTA SENATE SEATS LATINO SENATORS % OF SENATE SEATS

Alabama 140 0 0% 105 0 0% 35 0 0%

Alaska 60 2 3% 40 2 5% 20 0 0%

Arizona 90 19 21% 60 14 23% 30 5 17%

Arkansas 135 0 0% 100 0 0% 35 0 0%

California 120 23 19% 80 18 23% 40 5 13%

Colorado 100 9 9% 65 4 6% 35 5 14%

Connecticut 187 13 7% 151 12 8% 36 1 3%

Delaware 62 2 3% 41 1 2% 21 1 5%

Florida 160 21 13% 120 17 14% 40 4 10%

Georgia 236 2 1% 180 2 1% 56 0 0%

Hawaii 76 1 1% 51 0 0% 25 1 4%

Idaho 105 0 0% 70 0 0% 35 0 0%

Illinois 177 13 7% 118 9 8% 59 4 7%

Indiana 150 1 1% 100 1 1% 50 0 0%

Iowa 150 0 0% 100 0 0% 50 0 0%

Kansas 165 5 3% 125 5 4% 40 0 0%

Kentucky 138 1 1% 100 0 0% 38 1 3%

Louisiana 144 1 1% 105 1 1% 39 0 0%

Maine 186 0 0% 151 0 0% 35 0 0%

Maryland 188 6 3% 141 5 4% 47 1 2%

Massachusetts 200 5 3% 160 5 3% 40 0 0%

Michigan 148 5 3% 110 5 5% 38 0 0%

Minnesota 201 5 2% 134 3 2% 67 2 3%

Mississippi 174 0 0% 122 0 0% 52 0 0%

Missouri 197 1 1% 163 1 1% 34 0 0%

Montana 150 1 1% 100 1 1% 50 0 0%

Nebraska 49 0 0% 49 0 0%

Nevada 63 9 14% 42 7 17% 21 2 10%

New Hampshire 424 1 0% 400 1 0% 24 0 0%

New Jersey 120 11 9% 80 8 10% 40 3 8%

New Mexico 112 41 37% 70 26 37% 42 15 36%

New York 213 17 8% 150 12 8% 63 5 8%

North Carolina 170 1 1% 120 0 0% 50 1 2%

North Dakota 141 0 0% 94 0 0% 47 0 0%

Ohio 132 2 2% 99 2 2% 33 0 0%

Oklahoma 149 1 1% 101 1 1% 48 0 0%

Oregon 90 3 3% 60 3 5% 30 0 0%

Pennsylvania 253 2 1% 203 2 1% 50 0 0%

Rhode Island 113 3 3% 75 2 3% 38 1 3%

South Carolina 170 0 0% 124 0 0% 46 0 0%

South Dakota 105 0 0% 70 0 0% 35 0 0%

Tennessee 132 0 0% 99 0 0% 33 0 0%

Texas 181 41 23% 150 34 23% 31 7 23%

Utah 104 3 3% 75 2 3% 29 1 3%

Vermont 180 1 1% 150 1 1% 30 0 0%

Virginia 140 1 1% 100 1 1% 40 0 0%

Washington 147 2 1% 98 2 2% 49 0 0%

West Virginia 134 0 0% 100 0 0% 34 0 0%

Wisconsin 132 2 2% 99 2 2% 33 0 0%

Wyoming 90 2 2% 60 1 2% 30 1 3%

Totals 7383 279 4% 5411 213 4% 1972 66 3%

Source: National Conference of State Legislatures, 2015 Survey

Item

Required Written Lecture: Legislative Function 3: Representation

Function 3: Elections to Ensure Representation

How do we ensure that our representatives do indeed represent us? Elections!

Members of the state house must face the voters every two years and members of the Texas Senate run for four-year terms. At this time, legislators either choose to seek another term and face the evaluation of the voters, or they step aside and let someone else seek the position. For those seeking to return, the election is expected to be an evaluation of the way they are representing their voters. If they are doing a good job, they will be returned, if not, they will be defeated.

What is necessary for representation to take place via elections? First, the voters must have a real choice between the candidate in office and another, different candidate. A look at the 2006 election results suggests that elections in Texas could not instill representative tendencies: 80 of the 150 House seats had only 1 candidate from a major party (Libertarians ran candidates in several districts, but got no more than 20% of the vote anywhere)! In only 11 of the 150 races did the challenger win or even have a serious chance. In short, in over 80% of the cases, the voter really did not have an alternative if his or her legislator was failing to represent him or her adequately. In 8 of 15 Senate Seats (over half), the legislator in office did not have an opponent.

Why is competition so low?

Incumbent advantage: The incumbent is the person already holding the office. Because the incumbent has an advantage in name recognition (folks already know who he or she is) and the ability to raise money (lobbyists will take care of them), an incumbent is hard to beat, so he or she is seldom challenged.

Partisan Gerrymandering: More than three-quarters of the Texas Legislative seats are considered to be safe for one party or the other because of gerrymandering (drawing a district to advantage or disadvantage of one group). Democrats do not have a realistic shot of winning about forty percent of the seats and Republicans cannot win about a quarter of them, therefore, they seldom field a serious candidate.

Racial Gerrymandering: As was noted earlier in the course (under elections), the Supreme Court now requires that the districts include a certain proportion of seats that can be won by a candidate who is African-American or Hispanic. This has created many districts that are so heavily Democratic (minority districts) or so heavily Republican (non-minority districts) that competition is nonexistent.

High Cost of Running: If a candidate who is not the incumbent is to have a realistic shot at winning a seat in the Texas House, he or she must be able to raise several hundred thousand dollars. To be competitive in the Senate you may need to spend close to or above $1 million! For a job that pays $7,200 a year! This discourages many qualified candidates from running. Besides the financial cost, there is also the time commitment of running for office.

Item

Required Written Lecture: Legislative Function 4: Oversight

Legislative Function 4: Bureaucratic Oversight

Assessment: Your Assignment will be assessed based on the following rubric.

Percent

0 %

60%

80%

100%

Representational Roles

25%

No Effort

Notes at least one of three roles or lists, but does not explain all three.

Discusses all three roles, but does not apply to issue.

Thoroughly explains each role as well as why and how they chose to vote.

How do different people influence public policy?

25%

No Effort

Limited discussion of how each institutional factor can influence their decision.

Lists all people, but limited discussion of how they influence or does not discuss all people.

Thoroughly explains how leaders, governor, citizens and personal opinion can influence decision.

Rank and Explain Influences of institutional factors.

20%

No Effort

Ranks institutional factors, but limited explanation or does not rank all factors.

Ranks institutional factors, but does not thoroughly explain ranking of each.

Notes ranking of each institutional factor and thoroughly explains why each is ranked.

Explain your vote.

15%

No Effort

Yes or no vote with no explanation.

Yes or no vote with no reference to representational role and/ or institutional factors.

Expresses yes or no vote and explains importance of representational role and institutional factors.

Grammar/ Structure

10%

No Effort

Numerous grammatical and typographical errors, no headers.

Some grammatical and/ or typographical errors and/ or no headers.

Well written and well organized

Format

No Effort

Not double spaced and not long enough.

Not double spaced or not long enough.

Double spaced and correct length.