The Texas Legislature

1
The Texas Legislature

• How much damage can they do in four months?

2
A Part-Time Legislature,Weak By Design.

• The 1875 Texas Constitution established a
  bicameral, biennial, low-paid legislative branch.

3
A Bicameral Legislature

• Like the U.S. Congress and the legislatures of 48
  other states, the Texas Legislature consists of
  two houses (Nebraska alone has a unicameral
  legislature).
• The Texas House of Representatives has 150
  members who are elected to two year terms.
• The Texas Senate has 31 members who are elected
  to four year terms.
• All members are now elected in single-member
  district races originally there were exceptions
  when two or more House districts were in one
  county. This was changed in 1971.

4
Biennial Sessions

• In order to limit the damage that the legislature
  can do the authors of the Texas constitution
  restricted the legislative session to 140 days
  every other year.
• The Regular biennial session begins on the second
  Tuesday in January of odd numbered years and runs
  for 140 days.
• Special sessions lasting no longer than 30 days
  may be called by the governor at any time. If he
  chooses to call one, he has the authority to
  specify what issue will be considered during the
  session.

5
Low-Paid Legislators.

• The salary for members of both houses of the
  Texas Legislature is 7200 per year.
• 600 per month!!!
• Members are paid 100 per year in New Hampshire,
  300 per year in Rhode Island, and 99,000 per
  year in California.
• The Texas Constitution would have to be amended
  to increase this salary. There is no groundswell
  of support for such a change.
• The intent of the framers and contemporary Texans
  is to establish a legislature staffed by citizen
  politicians.
• Members also receive a 125 per diem during the
  regular session and any special sessions.
  Adjustment of this expense allowance used to
  require constitutional amendment now the Texas
  Ethics Commission sets it.

6
Those Sneaky B((S

• Legislator pay-raises require constitutional
  amendment, but they passed legislation in 1975
  that made themselves eligible for pensions if
  they serve 8 years.
• Retirement pay amounts to 2.25 percent of a
  district judges salary for each year served.
  Thats about 18,000 for a member who serves
  eight years, 68,000 for a member who serves 30
  years.

7
Party Control has Shifted Recently

• The Democratic Party dominated Texas (and the
  entire South) for 100-125 years. This is no
  longer the case.
• In the 1960 election Texans elected an
  all-Democrat legislature. Today both houses of
  the legislature and all statewide executive
  offices are under Republican control.

8
Party control is most significant in the
committee system.

• Just as in the U.S. Congress the majority party
  generally has a controlling majority of the
  committees in the House strangely this would not
  necessarily be true in the Senate.
• The difference is due to the different methods
  mandated by the Texas Constitution for the
  election of the presiding officers of the two
  houses.

9
The Presiding Officers.

• The Speaker of the House of Representatives Just
  like the U.S. House, the Texas House elects its
  speaker. The speaker is elected to the House by
  the people of his district hes elected speaker
  by his colleagues.
• The Lieutenant Governor (Senate) Elected in a
  statewide election.
• It is conceivable that the Lt. Governor could be
  a member of the Senates minority party.

10
The Speaker of the House

• The Speaker appoints all House committee chairs
  and vice-chairs.
• Appoints all members of House procedural
  committees (cant remove them).
• Appoints House substantive committee members
  within limitations of seniority rule.
• Recognizes members who wish to speak on the House
  floor.
• Assigns all bills and resolutions to House
  committees.
• Also serves on interim committees such as the
  Legislative Council, The Legislative Audit
  Committee, and the Legislative Budget
  Board..more on them later.

11
Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick of Midland
12
The Lieutenant Governor

• One of several members of the Texas executive
  branch who are elected in statewide elections
  (plural executive).
• Appoints all Senate committee chairs and
  vice-chairs (cant remove them)
• Appoints Senate committee members.
• Determines which Senate committee will handle a
  bill.
• Recognizes members who wish to speak on the
  floor..
• Votes in the event of a tie.
• Serves on interim committees such as the
  Legislative council, Legislative Budget Board,
  and Legislative Audit Committeemore on them
  later.

13
Texas Lieutenant Governor, David Dewhurst
14
The Committee System

• There are several types of committees all are
  subunits of the legislature. Like the U.s.
  Congress, the Texas Legislature is organized
  around the committee system.

15
Standing Committees

• Basic committees that do most of the work of the
  legislature. They are created at the beginning of
  the session and continue standing until the end
  of the biennium. In the absence of leadership
  change they will likely be recreated for the next
  session.
• They are either substantive or procedural.
• Substantive committees handle topics of
  substance.legislation.
• Procedural committees handle rules, calendars,
  and the administration of the House or Senate.

16
Substantive Committees

• The House has 31 substantive committeesfrom
  Agriculture and Livestock to Ways and Means.
• The Senate has 13 substantive committees.

17
Procedural Committees

• The House has 6 procedural committeesthe most
  significant is the Calendar Committee which plays
  a role similar to the U.S. Houses Rules
  Committee.
• The Senate has 2 procedural committees.

18
Joint Committees

• Made up of members of both houses.
• This would include conference committees and some
  interim committees.

19
Conference Committees

• Just as in the U.S. Congress a bill must pass
  both houses with the exact same wording. If there
  are differences between bills passed by the two
  houses a conference committee is charged with
  reaching a compromise.
• Five members of each house.
• They produce a conference reportthe compromise.
• The conference report must then pass each house.

20
The Part-Time Legislature Goes Full-TimeAgain
Through the Back Door.

• Just as they have used the power they
  have.legislation, to give themselves pensions
  while pay raises would require constitutional
  amendment, they have also found ways to go
  somewhat full-time, again using legislation,
  while a constitutional amendment would be
  required to establish a full-time legislature.
• They have done this with interim committees.

21
Interim Committees

• Appointed to perform research tasks during the
  interim between sessions.
• There are three interim committees of great
  significance The Legislative Budget Board, The
  Legislative Audit Committee, and the Legislative
  Council.

22
The Legislative Budget Board.

• The Governor and the legislature prepare budget
  proposals. The Governors role was established by
  the legislature 70 years ago.
• A 10 member interim and joint committee works
  continuously on the budget.
• Both presiding officers and four members of each
  house appointed by them. Traditionally includes
  the chairmen of appropriations and finance
  committees.
• Assisted by a staff of over 120 FT employees

23
The Legislative Audit Committee

• Made up of 6 membersthe 2 presiding officers and
  4 committee chairs from taxing committees.
• With the consent of the Senate it appoints the
  State Auditor.
• The Auditor then oversees committee
  staffprovides the legislature with full-time
  competent oversight of expenditures of state
  agencies.

24
The Legislative Council

• Formed to promote centralized staffing operations
  and provide bill drafting, policy research, and
  program evaluation services for members.
• Membership is 17.the 2 presiding officers, 10
  House members, and 5 Senators.
• A professional staff of over 400.
• This is in addition to over 1400 in the members
  offices, over 250 in the State Auditors office,
  and 12 in the library.
• Almost all of these support positions are less
  than 40 years old. Prior to 1960, members shared
  a secretarial pool. Now they have two offices
  one in their district and one in the capitol.

25
Senate-House Differences.

• In the House the Calendar Committee sets the
  daily calendar. They determine when and if a bill
  reaches the full House for deliberation and vote.
• Prior to 1993 rule change the members of the
  Calendar Committee vote in secret.
• The Senate has no such committee. Instead it has
  a procedure that is nothing less than a game.

26
The Senate Administration Committee

• The Senate has a strange rule known as the
  two-thirds rule.
• Non-controversial bills are scheduled by the
  committee.
• All other bills are considered in order.
• But, considering a bill out of order requires a
  two-thirds vote.
• At the beginning of the session a senator
  proposes a bogus bill.a bottleneck. Its always
  next. To bypass it always requires a two-thirds
  vote.
• This in effect requires a super-majority to pass
  legislation.