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The Texas Legislature

Structure
Texas Legislature
Bicameral (2 chambers-House & Senate)
Meets for 140 days in odd years (2009, 2011, etc.)
Unique because does not have professional
legislature, but has a citizen legislature
Citizens keep their jobs, in addition to working on
legislation

Structure: Salary
Salary kept low relative to other states and
consistent with individualistic subculture
and distrust of government
Salary is $7,200/session + $139 per diem
Annual Salaries for Legislatures in last regular session
Most Populous States

Annual Salary

California

$95,291

Florida

$29,607

New York

$79,500

Texas

$7,200

Structure: Texas House and

Senate
Texas House of Representatives
150 members
representing over 160,000 constituents (2010)
2-year terms

Texas Senate
31 members, representing over 811,000 constituents
4-year terms (staggered with up every 2 years)
After statewide senatorial redistricting in odd numbered
year after the census, all Senate terms expire & new Senate
elected in next election
Senators then draw lots after that election to determine who
will serve for 4 years and who will serve for 2 years
After that 50% (half or 15-16) are elected every 2 yrs

Structure: Membership Reqs

Senators must be
U.S. citizens who are qualified voters
state residents for five years
residents of the district for one year
at least 26 years old
House Representatives must be

U.S. citizens who are qualified voters

state residents for two years
residents of the district for one year
at least 21 years old

Structure: Representation in
the 83rd
Senate 31 members19-12 Republican majority
House 150 members95-55 Republican majority
Demographics
Few women & minorities but that has changed (Ranked 33rd in nation
for percentage women lawmakers)
biggest change in TX Legislature (1970-90)
increasing number of Republicans
from 12.1 percent to 36.5 percent
during 1960s Senate had no Republicans
Today Republican majority and has been for over a decade
Typical TX legislator: white, male, Protestant (more Catholics in South TX),
college educated, lawyers/businessman, in 50s, married, in civic organizations, have
$$, incumbency
Texas Black Caucus
Demographics changing because of Latino/Latina population

Gender Demographics

Race Demographics

What type of legislature does

Texas have?
A. Professional
legislature
B. Parliamentary
legislature
C. Citizen legislature
D. Unicameral
legislature

Leadership: Speaker
The Speaker of the House is the chief
presiding officer of the House of
Representatives
Elected by all legislators at the beginning of
each session
Appoints House committees
Assigns bills and resolutions to committees
The power of recognition
Votes on bills
Co-chairs Legislative Council, Budget Board,
and Audit Committee

Leadership: Lt Governor
The Lieutenant Governor is the presiding
officer of the Senate
Individually elected by all Texas voters
Appoints Senate committees
Assigns bills to committees
The power of recognition
Votes only to breaks ties
Co-chairs Legislative Council , Budget
Board, and Audit Committee
Arguably the most powerful elected official
in Texas
Tried to run for U.S. Senate & beat by Ted
Cruz (Tea Party candidate)

Leadership: Sources of the

Leaderships Power
No majority and minority party leaders
Limited appointments based on party affiliation
Less partisan than at federal level (in theoryin recent
years quite a bit of turmoil over party)

The Speaker and Lt. Governors powers come from

rules voted on in each chamber
Iron Texas Star
Similar to the iron triangle at the national level
Agency, congressional committee, and interest group

Texas model includes two more intereststhe lieutenant

governor and the speaker of the house and the governor
(with the item veto over the state budget)

Committees
Standing
Permanent, single-chamber, lawmaking authority

Conference
Temporary, dual-chamber, lawmaking authority

Joint
Permanent, dual-chamber, advisory authority
(Legislative Budget Board)

Select
Temporary, single or dual-chamber, advisory
authority (House Select Committee, Emergency
Preparedness)

Biennial sessions of the

Legislature
Texas Constitution specifies regular legislative sessions
Biennial - sessions ever 2 years
beginning second Tuesday in January of odd-numbered
years & goes for no longer than 140 days (by May 31)

only 1 of 7 states to have biennial sessions

81st session - 2009-2010
82nd session - 2011-2012
83rd session - 2013-2014
Governor can call emergency sessions

Agenda clearing
Biennial sessions create problems for the legislature
Limits the ability to deal with the agenda
Creates trouble clearing the agenda at the end of the
legislative session
prior to 1993 big problem
about 80% of all bills passed during last 2 weeks of session
1991 about 50% passed in last 3 days
Post-1993 reforms
no major House bills can be considered during the final 17
days
no major Senate bills can be taken up during the last 5 days

Issues: Agenda 2.0

Rules passed 2009 prevent the consideration
of new bills within the last 17 days
24 hours provided to House members to study
major legislation prior to floor actions
Done to curb the amount of last minute
legislation
Concerns about Ghost Voting
2011 session: Proposed: 7,003House; 3,312Senate
1300 laws passed

Special Sessions &

Between Sessions
Governor may call a special session
Governor sets the agenda & only deals with issue
Governor wants addressed
Called by Governor for no more than 30 days
problems with special sessions
expensive, hard on legislators, increases workload

Between legislative sessions:

Members serve on interim committees
Members maintain other full-time jobs

Which of the following is NOT one of

the points of the Texas Iron Star?
A. Agency
B. Congressional
committee
C. Interest group
D. Governor
E. Businesses

Powers of the Legislature

Legislative powers:
passing bills and resolutions
Bills often introduced at same time in both chambers to
move it more quickly
Revenue bills must originate in the House

Non-legislative powers:
Constituent powers
Electoral powers
Investigative and Judicial Powers
Directive and Supervisory powers

Bills
Anyone can write a bill, but only legislators can
introduce a bill.
Six Steps From Bill to Law:
Introduction
Referral
Standing Committee Action
House Committees
Senate Committees

Floor Action
Conference Committee
Governors Signature or Veto

Resolutions
Resolutions
A more limited scope and lacks the force of a
public law.
3 types of resolutions:
Concurrent resolutions
Similar to simple but need both chambers, adjournment

Joint resolutions
Means of announcing proposed constitutional amendments to
public

Simple resolutions
Housekeeping, procedural rules, birthday / congratulatory
announcements

Revenue
Strict limits on legislative authority
authorizing state debt
Comptroller required to ensure funds are
available prior to appropriations being passed
Texas per capita state debt low as a result

Bill Blocking
Filibuster (Senate): Texas State Senator Bill
Meier holds world record for filibuster in 1977
by talking for 43 hours straight
Chubbing: adding senseless amendments to
bills to make them un-passable or debating a
bill of no interest to prevent the introduction of
a controversial bill
Pocketing: presiding officers pocket bills
rather than send them to the floor

Constitution
Members of either chamber may introduce a
joint resolution to amend the constitution
Joint resolution is approved by 2/3 vote
Voters pass the amendment to the constitution
by a simple majority

Electoral
Redistricting affects party representation
Done every 10 years after the federal census
2010 census & Texas redistricting
150 Texas House and 31 Texas Senate districts
One-person, one-vote principle
2011 TX redistricting minority vote dilution challenge

When legislature fails to redistrict

Legislative Redistricting Board (LRB) decides
Final plan approved by a 3 judge panel
Majority Minority regions 2010 census

Electoral Redistricting 2000

2001 Democratic majority in Texas legislature sets out
boundaries
2002 elections Republicans take control of Texas
legislature
2003 Majority Leader Tom DeLay begins organizing to
redistrict lines that had been drawn
DeLay relies on Texans for a Republican Majority
TRMPAC worked with Delay to create Republican
controlled districts following the 2000 census
Concerns that DeLay funneling monies through
organizations in violation of campaign finance laws

Electoral Redistricting 2000

Democrats unhappy about redistricting flee state to keep from
being called into session
TX House went to Oklahoma for 4 days to prevent a quorum
52 Democrats known as the Killer Ds
TX Senate went to New Mexico for almost 2 months to
prevent a quorum
11 Democrats known as the Texas 11
Stopped a quorum being called in Austin so TX legislature
could not vote
Gov. Perry called 3 special sessions before redistricting plan
passed
Finally resolved, but after much struggle

Electoral
Map of current districts
State legislature decides
House districts
Senate districts
U.S. Congressional Districts

Electoral
League of United Latin Am. Citizens v. Perry (2006) 5-4
US Supreme Court upheld challenge to the 2003
redistricting plan of TX Republican-friendly
congressional election boundaries
Court concerned about disenfranchisement of Latino
voters in South & West Texas
Concern in District 25 about whether racial
gerrymander
For the most part, allowed redistricting plan to stand
Redistricting revisited

Electoral
Shelby County v. Holder (2013) 5-4
Facts: Voting Rights Act (1965) - 5 prohibits certain states from
changing election laws & procedures without pre-clearance from the
US Justice Dept. or an alternate 3-judge panel in DC. 4b defines
those states (those with a recent history of discrimination when the
VRA was written).
Question: Does the renewal of Section 5 of the Voter Rights Act under
the constraints of Section 4(b) exceed Congress authority under the
Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, and therefore violate the Tenth
Amendment and Article Four of the Constitution?
Holding: 4b is unconstitutional because it imposes current burdens
that are no longer responsive to the current conditions in the voting
districts in question and does not reflect any changes that have
occurred since it was enacted.
Texas still dealing with redistricting issues

In Shelby Co. v. Holder (2013), the Supreme Court

declared preclearance unconstitutional.

A. True.
B. False. They only held
that the current
procedure for
defining which states
must go through the
preclearance process
is unconstitutional.

Investigative & Judicial

Investigative
Oversight of various state agencies (agencies
report to legislature)
Subpoena witnesses and compel documents
(committees, joint / single chamber)

Judicial
Resembles national level impeachment and trial
proceedings

Directive & Supervisory

Supervision of the bureaucracy through the
budgetary process and the Sunset Act.
Texas Sunshine Laws to facilitate public
information
Texas Open Meeting laws to facilitate
participation

Legislative Immunities
Immune to being sued for slander or held
accountable for statements made during the
course of legislative proceedings
Not extended outside of those proceedings

May not be arrested while attending legislative

meetings or traveling to or from those
meetings
Exception if charged with treason, felony, or
breach of peace

Issues: Lobbyists
Thousands of lobbyists attempt to convince
legislators to support the interests they
represent.
Thought that there is more pressure on citizen
legislature but not clear
Texas Ethics Commission tracks lobbyists

The Texas Legislature meets

A. annually.
B. in even years.
C. in odd years.
D. at the bar every
Friday.

The state legislature is responsible for drawing

congressional district lines after the census is
taken every 10 years in a process called

A. redistricting.
B. vote dilution.
C. reapportionment.
D. preclearance.

Additional Resources
The Legislative Council (Review proposed
constitutional amendment descriptions)
Texas State Secretary of State (find out whose
running for office where)
TexLeg Internship program
Senator Gregory Luna Legislative Scholar Fe
llows Program
TexLege app for iPad, iPod, iPhone