The Law Bcameral: The Texas Government

There are special sessions that are called by the governor. The legislative process in Texas is a hybrid system with a combination of both the full time legislature and the part time legislature. The 140 day sessions is a short period to conduct all the business of the state and the constitution gives the governor the power to call as many special sessions needed in order to complete important state business. These special sessions are short and do not exceed 30 days. Reducing the duration of these sessions is important to ensure that the government does not govern too much. At the end of a legislative session any bills that have not been approved by both houses die on the last day of the session. The governor can use the threat of a special session to motivate legislators to focus on issues that are of concern to the governor. The compromises that are possible between Texas 140 day sessions and a full time approach include a reduction of costs and the availability of adequate time to discuss and debate legislations. The sessions are limited to 140 days, but if there are issues that need legislative attention, then the governor can convene special sessions to address these issues (Tucker,

In contrast, the Texas State Senate has its focus on the Upper House of the Texas State Legislature. The Senate consists of 31 members, who represent single-member districts settled in Texas. The latest studies confirm that each individual district has an average of 806.000 civilians. Each term a member serves last for four years. Similarly, to the House, the senate has no term limits. The person who leads the Senate is the Lieutenant Governor of Texas. The Lieutenant Governor is considered to many to be more influential. In 2013, the 83rd Legislative Session occurred and six new senators were added to the

Texas Legislature met for the 85th time last spring since statehood. The Texas Legislature passed several laws from State budget, protecting children, schools, sanctuary cities, and many more, at the same time some laws where not passed.

Introduction of a bill requires both house and senate members to file a written bill with each of their corresponding clerk members. The clerk then submits the bill to alphanumeric designation where it is available to the eyes of lawmakers and citizens so that they make track its progress. There is a specific time bills can be submitted. They can be submitted the Monday after the November general election. This step can be influenced by many figures outside of Legislative. Interests groups influence legislation as well as the Governor can influence legislation. At this point there are no delay tactics that could prevent the bill from moving on to step two.

A Bill is a formal document on a policy and the proposal for a piece of legislation.

Legislative - Recommend legislation, sign or veto bills, and call Congress into a special session.

There are many reforms that have been discussed one being to extend the term for members of the Texas Legislature. Many feel that if the Senate is extended to six years and the House of Representative to four years it will allow the members to obtain more experience in fields and be able to not have to worry about when the next election is as often. Many critics feel that the time members are in session are too short to make any real progress, reformers would like to increase the length of legislative sessions from the current 140 days. Others feel that increasing the sessions would allow for more laws and regulations. This will be an ongoing debate where there will always be two sides to the possibility of reform which will impact the possibility of it being passed.

The fourth power is the power to appoint reps to conference committee. The fifth power is the power to recognize points of orders/amendments. The sixth and last power is the power to interpret procedural rules. However, all the power is concentrated with the leaders of the House and Senate respectively. All the other power is held when the individual legislators get to vote or act in defiance. Within the Texas House of Representatives and the Senate there are power restraints. The presiding officers may have all the power, however, their power is balanced and checked. This is similar to the Judicial, Executive and Legislative branches of our federal government because they all balance the power within each other. Presiding officers can have their power checked by the governor threatening to veto, not support, or simply gut the bill taking away its teeth. Another way a presiding officer can get his power limited is by group efforts to solve issues of getting bills passed or even block them in the house or senate.The political/economical ambition of the Texas Governor, those beneath him, or of those found in the legislative bodies, is another way of power

The Texas legislature, as stated by Champagne, Harpham, & Casellas, is a bicameral legislature compromised of two chambers. That is, the Senate and the Texas House of Representatives (2017, p. 211). It includes 31 senators and 150 House members. The legislature serves as the most critical establishment that aids in representing the state (Champagne et al., 2017, p.211). Members of the Texas state legislature must meet the essential requirements, perform their duties to the best of their ability, represent citizens, and attend sessions.

Let’s start by going through the basics of the procedure. The state government is made up of three branches. (The “Executive”, headed by the governor, the “Judicial”, consisting of Texas supreme the court along with state courts, and the “Legislative”, which includes 150 members in the House of Representatives and 31 in the state senate) Of these three, the Legislative branch is responsible for creating laws such as “S.B. 11”. The speaker of the House and Lieutenant Governor of the Senate both discuss rules that must be followed during the discussion of the bill. A Representative or Senator gets the idea for a new law by listening to the people that they represent. Once heard, a “Bill” is written. Many of the new bills are presented in the chamber, in which they arose from, in the “First Reading”. In the House, they are considered by each committee in three different meeting settings. After consideration, a committee may take no action or issue a report on it. In the Senate, testimony may be heard.

For this proposed bill to be passed, it is based on a majority of votes in both the house of Representatives and by the senate. For example, if there is an organization in a school and a particular individual of the organization wants to make a change to the current lunch menu being provided to students, the individual will not be able to make a change alone. If the organization has over 20 individuals most will have to agree that the proposed change to the menu will either be beneficial or not beneficial. This individual wanting to make the change

Before it is passed it is formally known as a bill and during this process it remains under consideration to differentiate it from other establishments, These legislations are usually proposed by a member of the legislature and at this point it is deliberated by members of the legislature and is amended until it passes.

The Legislative branch is headed by Congress and includes the House of Representatives and the Senate. Some of the responsibilities of these two bodies is to write up and pass laws, declaring war, confirming Presidential appointments for the Supreme Court and the Cabinet, investigative power, originating spending bills, impeaching officials, and approving treaties. The House is made up of elected members which is divided among the 50 states in proportion to their total population and are elected every two years. The Senate is composed of 100 members and each state has two Senators regardless of population. In order for a bill to pass legislation both the House and the Senate must pass the bill by majority vote, the bill then goes to the President

The Texas Legislature is considered unique from the majority of other state legislatures in the way that it only meets biennially every odd year on the second Tuesday in January. Today only four out of fifty states in the U.S. meet biennially instead of annually which includes Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, and Texas. Before the 1970’s a large number of states met biennially instead of annually. By the middle of the 1970’s, the number of states meeting annually rose from nineteen states to forty states. The last six states to change from biennial sessions to annual sessions include Oregon, Arkansas, Kentucky, New Hampshire, and Washington. Perhaps one of the main purposes for preferring to meet biennially instead of annually is that it limits

Such legislation is made by a body by virtue of the powers conferred on it by a statute. Usually what happens is that the legislature enacts a statute covering only the general principles and policies relating to the subject-matter in question, and confers rule making powers on government, or some other administrative agency, to fill in the details. This technique of delegated legislation has assumed central importance in modern Administrative Process. Delegated Legislation is being increasingly used as a major component of the method of modern government.