The Texas Legislature is far too archaic to provide consistent leadership for a state government; Congress has become too enmeshed with the executive branch and leaves blurry lines drawn in its separation of powers. The ideal legislature would be a modernized version of what the Texas Constitution created. The Texas constitution draws clear lines for separation of powers. The role of a legislative branch is to create laws and be leaders. However since the 1930s, the executive branch of the national government is taking powers away from Congress, and causing this “leadership” branch to become more of a “managerial” branch. United States Federal Legislation is not clearly separate from the executive branch. This causes certain executive powers …show more content…
Congress has become a section of government that simply attaches their names to the bottom of a law. They are a branch of endorsers. The Texas house is a branch of creators. In Texas State Legislation, the law making process begins and ends with legislators. The only time an outside party comes into play is when a bill is signed into law. The Texas Legislation is an engine of the Texas Government. The ideal legislation is the engine of its respective government. Congress is in session far more than that of the part-time Texas legislature. The Texas Legislators must create laws for the second most populated, second largest State, This is not a part time task. The Texas congress could easily be in session year-round. Many issues brought up while the Texas Legislature is not in session are left in limbo as they await the next legislative session. An ideal legislature is working around the calendar to ensure that they are serving as leaders. An ideal legislature could be found in the middle ground between of Congress and the Texas Legislature. This legislature will be in session year round, be the engine of its government, and will have a clear and concise separation of
Click here to unlock this and over one million essays
Show MoreThe role of an executive branch is to carry out the law. Many states switched to the plural executive form of government because state governors were known for abusing their power when appointing friends to political positions or handing out favors when they requested. A plural executive system which means the power of a governor is limited and distributed among other government officials. Which means, that there is not an government official in Texas that has the solely responsible for the Texas Executive Branch. Some of the members of the Texas Plural Executive and their roles are Lieutenant Governor serves as the presiding officer is first in line of succession for governor, is elected to 4 years terms by the public with no terms limits. Attorney General serves as the lawyer for the state also represents the state on civil matters and is responsible for the interpretation of the
As the 47th governor of Texas, he has and continues to put into motion many new acts and laws that have created a more prosperous Texas. A more prosperous Texas includes the creation of more jobs, a fair legal system, and more adept schools as well as low taxes for citizens and accordingly, low state government spending. These tough economic practices have also been proven through national statistics. According to many s...
The Legislative Branch consists of Congress, which is made up of two parts; The House of Representatives and the Senate. These two parts of Congress was a result of the 1789 Compromise between the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan. The Virginia Plan was about states wanted more representation in Congress because they were bigger states. From that plan the New Jersey Plan was brought forth. The New Jersey Plan basically said was smaller and bigger states should have equal power in Congress, so the bigger states don’t overpower the smaller states. In 1789 the solution came, with Great Compromise that took parts of both plans and used it. As part of the Virginia plan the House of Representatives was created, that gave representation in congress by state size. The New Jersey Plan helped create the Senate that gave equal representation of two members per state. These two groups help create Congress that shares the same process; of creating laws.
The controversy surrounding the 78th Texas Legislature between the Democratic and Republican Party state representations and senators was that there was an attempt to redistrict the recently redrawn congressional districts. This issue of, “redistricting” was indorsed by the Republican Party. The endorsement of “redistricting,” wasn’t surprising considering that the Republican Party had just won the Texas state legislature for the first time since Reconstruction. The Republican Party’s position on the issue was clear through the statements of Tom DeLay, “Texans deserve representation that reflects their values and believes.” Knowing that the redistricting would result in catastrophic losses for the party, the Democrats apposed the idea of, “redistricting.” The Democrats were so opposed to the idea of, “redistricting,” that they fled to Ardmore, Oklahoma. The justification for the party fleeing was said best in the words of state Representative Jim Dunnam, “We're here in Ardmore, Oklahoma, because the real problems of Texas are budget problems, are school finance problems, are health ...
The local governments in Texas are smaller units that form part of the larger state government. These local government extensions act as the administrative branch of the state government. The state of Texas relies mainly on its constitution of 1876 to establish the various local government jurisdictions. Currently, there are 254 counties, 50 cities, 1,100 education districts and 2,393 special districts in the state serving a population of 26 million people (Collier et al.). Each of these branches of the local government has specific roles, which they are supposed to play.
The Legislative Branch is considered to be the most powerful branch in the Texas government. While no one branch is exceedingly more powerful than the others, the Legislative branch is thought to be less weak because it controls and directs the activities and movement of the government as a whole. While its primary role is to propose and pass bills, resolutions and constitutional amendments, it has a vast influence in all different government aspects.
The legislative process in Texas utilizes an introduction, a committee action, a floor action, and an enrollment in it's lawmaking process. This process can be complicated, however, it is a system that has been used for many years. Thousands of bills go through this organized process every other year and keep Texas modern and running
The Texas constitution reflects the set of beliefs, ideals and principles of the individuals who drafted it. Unlike the U.S constitution, the Texas constitution is referred to as a statutory constitution. As the US constitution cannot talk about the local governments of each state, the state constitution fills in this gap out of necessity.I feel that the Texas constitution should be changed in order to amend certain parts that are considered to be outdated and also to protect the new policies that are supported by the current population of Texas. Policies are introduced into the constitution to protect them and as the texas culture changes,the new majority wants to amend what the previous majorities have done. Amending the old constitution
“Unlike the president of the United States and the forty-four governors of other states, the governor of Texas does not have a formal appointive cabinet to carry out policy on the governmental bureaucracy and shares the executive function with other elected officials” (Gibson & Robinson, 2013, p.186). Our Texas Governor must be a resident of Texas five years prior to the election date and must be at least 30 years of age. “The Texas Governor’s office is often referred to as weak because of the revision of the Texas Constitution, many of the duties of the Governor changed and hence made the Governor’s office weak” (Texas Politics, 2012). The way it was set up was for the legislature specifically, people like the Lieutenant Governor and the speaker of the house, who control the Senate and House in the legislature. “It allowed them to have a little bit more control in terms of setting what bills can get passed and what bills can make it to the governor’s desk” (Staff, K,
The Texas legislative is the dominant branch of the state government of Texas and works within the constitutional structure of separation of powers. As it is the representative of the people of Texas and under the 10th amendment to the USA constitution it implements the authoritative powers that only works for the US constitution and Texas and federal law that are applicable (Dye, Gibson & Robinson, 2010). It also has the authority to put into practice the necessary police rule to promote the safety, moral, health and welfare. The Legislature is a bicameral body that consists of the 31 representatives of member of council and 150 members of House of Representatives. The effects of bicameralism are: it helps to stabilize
Including the Mexican constitution of 1824, it is the eight constitution in the Texas history. Despite it was written in particular circumstances (breaches of the constitution of 1869), it remains the foundation of state government. The intention of the framers was to prevent abuse due to an excessive power given to the government. Thereby, the current constitution was strengthened by putting all the powers in the hand of the Texans. For instance, the Bill of Rights represents the first article of the constitution. It is lengthier and more detailed than the U.S. Bill of Rights. Texas’ Constitution separates power in tree branches like the U.S. Constitution. However, to prevent an arbitrary and dictatorial governor, corresponding state level cabinet positions are designated by the people through elections. Also, in contrast of many others states where the judges are appointed by the governor, judges in Texas are elected by the
Local governments in Texas can be broken down into three separate units: counties, cities, and special districts.
Because Texas is a traditionalist culture it limits the governor’s appointment powers. However, the most significant position appointed by the governor is the secretary of state. Texas plural executive system limits this power and many state agency’s heads are elected by the voters rather than being appointed by the governor. Of the 172 agencies in Texas, the governor appoints a few agency heads. He/she will most likely appoint board members with whom he or she aligns with politically. For removal power the governor is also not strong. To remove an appointee, it requires 2/3 majority vote in the senate. Besides the Agency heads and Boards and Commissions agency’s the governor has the ability to appoint a number of people for non-policy-making and governing boards that make recommendations to the governor or other state officials. Most often, these non-policies making boards do not require senate approval. However, some generational appointments are subject to the approval by a two-thirds vote of the senate. This is called senatorial courtesy, meaning if the senator from an appointee’s home district disapprovers of the appointment, the senate might not confirm the
Texas government has a unique style of legislature in the manner in which it functions. In this essay I will attempt to briefly cover: the structure and role of local governments within the state of Texas; the purpose and function of each type of local government; the consolidation of county and city functions into a single governmental entity; and if Texas would be better served by maintaining its several, distinct, types of government, or by consolidating them into broader units of government that would handle the various functions within a single governmental entity.
The plural executive system in Texas, and the cabinet system most other states use are very different in the way its executive systems work. The separation of power being the most identified critical point in between both of these systems.