Texas Legislature |
| The Texas Legislature is a bicameral legislature composed
of a 150 member House of Representatives, and a 31 member Senate. The members
of the House and Senate are elected for 2 and 4 years terms of office,
respectively, from single member districts. These districts have roughly
equal population because of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Reynolds v.
Sims (1964), applying the "one person, one vote principle to all state
legislatures. The redrawing of districts every ten years based on census
data is called Reapportionment. This process is conducted for both state
and national level by each state's legislature.
Characteristics of Legislators The profile of the typical Texas Legislator is in transition,
as the Republican party, makes a bid to become the majority in the legislature.
(Biographies
of Members.) For over a century, the typical legislator has been
a Democrat. As late as 1961, there was only one Republican in the entire
legislature. In 1997, there were 58 Republicans in the House, and
a majority of 17 in the Senate. The other major characteristics of a legislator
seem to remain very stable. A legislator is more likely to be an anglo,
although minority population and representation is growing. A legislator
is more likely to be male, wealthy, and an attorney. While more women and
minorities may be elected in the
Organization of the Legislature The key figures in the Texas Legislature are the two presiding officers, Lieutenant Governor David Durhurst in the Senate, and Speaker of the House, Tom Craddick. (Required Reading: The Powers and Duties of the Speaker and The Powers and Duties of the Lt. Governor.) The Republicans have made a spirited move in the 1996 elections to gain a majority in the House to attempt to unseat Speaker Laney. These two officials have tremendous powers when its comes to organizing the legislature and shaping the legislative process. The rest of the organization structure in the legislature is committee chairpersons. There are five types of legislative committees, lead by chairpersons. The most important of these are standing committees, (See: House Committees and Texas Senate Committees and their subcommittees, which consider most bills and oversee administrative agencies. The conference committee is an important committee in one part of the legislative process. Ad hoc and Interim committees consider special issues and problems. Citizen Legislators The Texas constitution creates many limitations on the legislature, which contributes to the high turnover rate, and relative inexperience among legislators. The Texas legislature by law can only meet for 140 days in odd numbered years. In other words, they only meet every other year. For this part-time work, legislators are paid a salary of $7,200 a year. These constitutional provisions reflect the conservative political culture in Texas, which believes that government often does more harm than good, and should be tightly restricted. Legislative Process The legislative process in Texas is greatly influenced by the powers of the lieutenant governor in the Texas Senate, and the speaker in the Texas House of Representatives. These presiding officers have the power to appoint most committee members, to appoint committee chairs, to assign bills to committees, to schedule legislation, to recognize members to speak, and to appoint the chairs and members of conference committees. In addition, these two presiding figures serve on and appoint members of the following boards and commissions: Legislative Budget Board, Legislative Council, Legislative Audit Committee, and Sunset Advisory Commission. The lieutenant governor and the speaker not only have authority in the legislative branch, but also in the executive branch. Required Reading: How
a Bill Becomes a Law in Texas
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