The legislation of the state of Arizona is bicameral, with a Senate and a House of Representatives. Each Senator and Representative is elected for a two year term. There is a limitation of four consecutive terms. After serving four terms, they must be out of office for one term before they can be reelected to that office. There are certain qualifications to become a legislator. Those seeking office in the state Senate or House of Representatives must be at least 25 years of age, be a United States citizen, reside in the state for three years prior, and live in the county for one year prior to election. The job of a legislator in Arizona is part time, due to the limited time of the regular session. Their salaries, currently at $24,000 per year, are set by public vote. There are several exemptions and special privileges that legislators have when the legislature is in session. The first of these is that they cannot be arrested except if in felony cases, treason, or violation of peace. They are also exempt from being sued on a civil level during the session or fifteen days before the session starts. They also are able to speak freely on the floor of the Senate or House, leaving them free from civil lawsuits involving libel or slander. They are, however, expected to follow the rules of each house, and are subject to punishment for disorderly conduct, or can be removed from chambers if deemed necessary.
How the legislature is organized is very important to the actual processes of making laws. Seniority is not important at the state level, but the division of power between majority and minority parties is. The speaker of the House is the presiding officer, and is chosen by vote of the whole House. In reality, it is the m...
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...n is a joint memorial, which is an official statement of the state’s position on a matter not in its jurisdiction, or a request for action to an agency or official of the federal government. The final action is the simple memorial, which is an expression of the position of one house. There are also duties that the legislature has besides passing laws. They are able to create and fund government offices, approve appointments of governor, and to remove someone from office by impeachment. This gives them an advantage on the other branches because, in a system of checks and balances, they have more ability to check. This, along with the ability to appropriate and tax, makes them the most powerful branch of the Arizona state government.
Works Cited
Gawronski, D. (2002). An introduction to Arizona history and government. Boston, MA: Pearson Custom Publishing.
A review of his methodology shows the time and energy that entering this book. He uses a variety of sources for his research and evidence of good sources such as newspapers; memoirs; diaries; census figures; real estate listings; private letters and documents; journals and memoirs; public records and statements; the federal and local
Eibling, Harold H., et al., eds. History of Our United States. 2nd edition. River Forest, Ill: Laidlaw Brothers, 1968.
Chief Legislator is supposed to be the highest position in the United States. Otherwise known as the President of the United States of America, Barack Obama currently holds that position; however, there is a lot of conflict between Obama and congress which is putting a damper on future plans to help improve the country. The government is setup so there is equality within the system, Congress and the President go hand and hand even though sometimes it might not work out the way it was planned. Sometimes the outcome can all depend on the views of the President and Congress. Like for instance now, Obama is a democrat and Congress is mainly Republicans so they have trouble meeting eye to eye.
A Democratic Party long ruled by moderates and conservatives succeeded in stunting what seemed like the natural growth of a successful Republican Party until the 1990s. Since then, various forces have contributed to the growth of the Republicans, and in the end, to an altering of the core membership of each party. Most recently, the state has seen the development of a dominant Republican Party that doesn't yet hold quite the dominion the Democrats enjoyed through most of the twentieth century. The Republican Party has certainly benefited from the defection of former Democrats, the arrival of Republicans and independents from out of state, and organizational difficulties in the Democratic Party. Thus, Republican officials dominate state government, and Democrats find themselves reduced, for the present, to the status of an embattled minority party seeking to recreate themselves among their voting and financial constituencies. This is showing that the newfound Republican dominance can be the beginning of a new strong party system, or if we are in a state of transition in which the terms of political competition are still in change. If it is a new party system, I don’t think it will be very durable or last too long for that matter. Now, it seems that Republican dominance of state government will
Our Legislative Branch has two chambers or as some will call it bicameral. The chambers consist of the Senate and the House of Representatives just like the National Legislative Branch. In our Senate we currently have a total of 31 members and there are 150 members in the House of Representatives. Senators hold their seat for 4 years and their election years are spread out while the House of Representatives are elected for two-year terms. In our Texas Legislature we have a few authority figures. “The Texas Constitution provides that the lieutenant governor shall serve as president of the senate, the presiding officer of that body. The lieutenant governor is elected statewide by voters of Texas and is the second-highest ranking officer of the executive branch of government”. (Texas Medical Associaton) In the House of Representatives we have a Speaker of the House who is chosen in each time a new legislature starts by its own members. “The speaker maintains order during floor debate, recognizing legislators who wish to speak and ruling on procedural matters.” (Joe Straus Speaker) There are also many committees who act as important gatekeepers and shape the proposed legislation. (University of Texas at Austin). The main pu...
Walens, Susann. A. United States History Since 1877. Western Connecticut State University, Danbury, CT. September 2007.
Divine, Robert A. America past and Present. 10th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education/Longman, 2013. 245. Print.
Gibson, Jr, L. T., & Robison, C. Government and politics in the lone star state. (eighth ed.). Pearson.
Today the U.S. government’s legislative branch, Congress, is divided into two independent chambers, the House of Representatives and the Senate. The system is called a bicameral system, which means it is divided into two chambers. The Framers of the Constitution created the system because was it successful in Britain, the two separate chambers could ensure that each side would not abuse their power, and the system created a compromise between the New Jersey and Virginia Plan. Although both chambers can initiate laws, they were created independent of each other and different in authority. In the House, “committees consider bills and issues and oversee agencies, programs, and activities within their jurisdictions” (House of Representatives). The Senate is in charge of giving guidance and approval of treaties or presidential appointments and holding impeachment trials (American Politics).
Our government here in Texas has three major parts that play a significant part in our decision making process. These levels have been deigned to decentralize power and make it more affective for the public's needs. The primary level is the Texas legislature. It is almost a given to say that everyone has at least heard of the legislature. Some variables that the legislature contains are the Lt. Governor, the Speaker of the house of Representatives and Committee Chairs. The Speaker acts as the presiding officer over the house and has two levels of power. These two levels are institutional powers which allow the officer to preside over the Legislative Audit Committee and Sunset Advisory Committee.
The United States of America is one of the most powerful nation-states in the world today. The framers of the American Constitution spent a great deal of time and effort into making sure this power wasn’t too centralized in one aspect of the government. They created three branches of government to help maintain a checks and balance system. In this paper I will discuss these three branches, the legislative, the executive, and the judicial, for both the state and federal level.
3. Divine, Breen, Fredrickson, Williams, eds., America Past and Present Volume II: since 1865 sixth edition (New York: Longman 2002).
The Legislative Department’s primary function is to enact laws to provide for the health, welfare, education, environment, and economic and general well-being of the citizens of Texas. It also establishes public policy through the passage of bills and resolutions and proposes amendments to the state constitution, which are then submitted to the voters for approval or disapproval. This amount of power does not appear on the surface to be tremendous, however, with the ability to put into place all laws and public policy’s it makes it the strongest of the three
For example, Alaska only has 1 representative, California has the most in the USA. Members are elected by the people for 2-year terms, all terms running for the same period of time.. Both the Senators and the Representatives must be residents of the State from which they are chosen. In addition, a Senator must be at. least 30 years of age and must have been a citizen of the United States.
American politics is often defined by a continuing power conflict between the executive and the legislative branches of the government. This struggle for political power between the two stronger branches of the three is inherent in the Constitution, itself. The concepts of separation of powers and checks and balances ensure that the branches of government will remain in conflict and provide a balance that keeps the entire government under control. As it was first established, the executive branch was much smaller and weaker than as we know it today. Consequently, the legislative branch was unquestionably dominant. Over the course of history, the executive branch grew in both size and power to the point where it occasionally overtook the legislative and today rivals the legislative in a much closer political battle. Today both branches have major factors that contribute to their power, but on the whole the legislative remains the lastingly dominant branch.