Shane Teague

Government

Mrs.Richards

1. It really depends on how he/she makes her decision. They could have done their homework and made their decision off of their knowledge, or they could have a lobbyist to come in and inform them of something and base their decision off of that. Some use lobbyist because they have to worry about other projects or issues and dont have time to study some projects. So they will get lobbyist to come in and inform them. I agree with Averitts video because there are so many topics, subjects, and discussions that its hard to have a complete understanding of all of them. I think it just shows how there are flaws in the meetings of our legislature. Like getting paid a low wage shows how low there interest in something. 2. Well traditionally both sides are stubborn. It can been seen after the 2002 elections in where the democrats lost power to the republicans. The democrats fled the state to try and stop cession in the Texas legislature.

3. They meet every odd number year for 140 days. Some of the challenges with the regular sessions is that they sometimes have thousands to revise, to get rid of, and amend them. Specials sessions are only called by the governor and last for 30 days. Also specials sessions and issues are determined beforehand by the governor. During a special session no other issues can be discussed. Special sessions are not very common because the Governor will only call a special session in a difficult time. Modifying the governors budget authority ,permitting the governor to designate the presiding for executive branch agencies. Modifying the scope and function, the state office of risk management, and permitting the reorganization of legislative support agencies and offices. I dont think so because the governors power really isnt something that should be an issue of crisis. 4. The House has more members than the Senate. The Senate has one more position than the house, which is the President of The Senate. The Senate districts are much larger than the House districts. Elections for both houses are held every two years in even numbers. Representatives are elected for two year terms and the Senators serve four year terms. 5. There is 150 in the House and 31 in the Senate. 6. They earn 7,200 a year or 14,400 for a 2 year term. I dont think this is

very reasonable at all. I mean I know all those guys in the legislature are already rich, but they still spend all their time making critical decisions for our country. You would think they would be worth more than that. Compared to other states Texas is 41st in salaries in the legislature. Some of the cons are the they Texas legislature have limited independence from special interest groups, and also earning such a low salary means that you would have to be already very wealthy to join the legislature. This makes it difficult for a normal man to get into the legislature, as he would not be able to support a family with that salary. A pro would be that someone who is getting into the Texas Legislature is that the person getting into it wouldnt be in it for the money but to help the country. 7. Formal is for the House of Representatives, you must be at least 21, a registered voter, a legal resident of the state for at least two years, and you must be a resident of the district from which they are elected for at least one year. Formal for the Senate you must be at least 26, a registered voter for at least 5 years, and a resident of their district for at least one year. The Informal qualifications for the legislature is white, conservative, male, married, middle aged, and working in either a law or business field. 8. The Lt. Governor is the president of the Senate. The Lt. Governor has the power to appoint committees in the Senate, and he has the authority to assign bills to specific committees. He also serves on several boards such as the legislative budget board, legislative council, and is vice chairman of the legislative audit committee, and he can serve in the legislative re-districting board. He can cast a deciding vote on the Senate floor in case of a tie. 9. The speaker of the house is elected by the legislatures in the House. I think we say he owes favors because he needs to make it up to the people in the House that voted for him. The speaker has the power to appoint conference committees, to create select committees, and to direct committees to conduct studies when the legislature is not in cession. The speaker serves on the legislative council and the legislative audit committee, and serves as vice chair on the legislative budget board. The speaker also has the power to vote on all bills. Most of what the speaker can do the Lt. Governor can do as well. The main difference if the governor dies the Lt. Governor acts as presiding governor. The speaker and the Lt. Governor are able to name and appoint committees. This gives them the power to elect their own legislatures they want for the committees so they , which means they can pass bills they want to be passed and trash the ones they want to

Shane Teague

Government

Mrs.Richards

trash. I think this exist because we allow it to happen. The citizens of Texas have a more powerful outcome on politics than citizens of the U.S. We have that much power to regulate a bill or a law then we should have that much power to regulate politics. 10. A bill must be passed by both houses of the legislature in order to be sent to the governor for approval as a law. It can be introduced in either chamber first or both simultaneously. All bills for raising revenue must start in the house. A bill can be introduced only by a member of the legislature. Then the bill is given a number and speaker/Lt. Governor assigns the bill to a committee. The committee then places the bill on a calendar. The bill is debated at second meeting and is presented at the third meeting. Once presented it is then voted on. If bill passes one chamber it goes to the other chamber. Once bill passes both houses it goes to the governor. Then the Governor either signs the bill, vetoes the bill, or line item vetoes. The bill becomes law without the governors signature in ten days in legislature is in session, or 20 days if legislature is out of session. A calendar committee places the bill one of the three legislative calendars for floor consideration. Then any member of the house can make a motion on the floor to place the bill on a specific calendar. The Senate relies on the Intent Calendar which schedules bills for general consideration in the order in which they are reported favorably out of committee. However, the Senate does not follow this order. At the beginning of the legislative session, a dummy is placed at the top of the Intent Calendar, making it necessary to take up all other bills outside of the regular order. 11. Well from watching the video I think they are cheaters. I mean a normal person only gets to vote once I dont think its fair that people part of the Texas legislature get to vote more than once. 12. The speaker of the house is Joe Straus. He is from San Antonio and from the 121st district. He was elected to the house in February 2005 in a special election. He only served in San Antonio. Straus was elected in 2007 as speaker of the house. 13. The presiding officer of the Senate is David Dewhurst. He has been presiding officer since 2003. Dewhurst helped pass the largest tax cut in state history, he has balanced 5 state budgets, and has protected tax payers by building and maintaining a healthy reserve of more than 6 billion dollars in the states rainy day fund. He was a part of the Air Force, the Cia, and the state department.

14. I searched for stuff related to the oil field, and I found that the appropriations are being reduced. I also found out that the pipeline safety fee use is also going to include gas utility regulation. Also the pipeline safety fee is going to increase. They are also going to transfer 20 million dollars from the general revenue dedicated to Texas enterprise fund account to the Texas workforce commission for the Texas back to work program, and to the Texas department of housing and community affairs for the homeless housing program.