The legislative branch is an essential part of Texas Government because it is the only branch of government responsible for proposing and passing laws. Although Texas has a very limited government, many view the legislative branch as the least limited in Texas. The Texas state legislature is extremely important because of the way its structure limits it’s power, the ability of legislature to completely determine budget, and also the procedure that a bill must go through to become a law in Texas. All of these factors (and many more) have helped create the limited but effective Texas government we know and love today.
The Texas constitution gives very specific rules for how our congress must be organized. It is a bicameral congress, which …show more content…
Having two houses spreads out the power even further, and creates two distinct sets of one member districts. Each house has a leader that presides over it, in the house it is the speaker of the house, who is elected by the legislature, and in the senate it is the lieutenant governor, who runs in a separate election from the governor. Another thing that limits the power of the Texas legislative branch is that it is a biennial congress, meaning it only meets for 140 days out of every two years, starting in January in odd numbered years. This is known as the regular session, and it always starts in January in oddly numbered years. While this may seem like a relatively small amount of time to decide the policies of Texas for the next two years, our congress has streamlined the process and made it extremely efficient. During the session in 2007, legislators went over 6,190 bills, 1,481 of which became laws. That means every day that congress was in session, over 44 bills were reviewed, and every day almost 11 bills were made into laws. When compared to other state legislatures, Texas has a very long session length (140 …show more content…
Texas has many standards put in place that allow it to be a very fiscally responsible state. The Texas constitution places strict limits on taxation, requires that the budget is always balanced, and places many limits on government spending. And because the legislature is in charge of the state budget, the legislature also has great power over all state agencies. The constitution allows them to decide whether each state agency is using the resources allocated to them properly, or whether they want to cut their spending. On top of deciding the fiscal limits of state agencies, legislature has the power to create new agencies, abolish old ones, and even completely redefine the responsibilities of existing agencies. The arm of the legislative branch responsible for such decisions is called the Sunset Advisory Commission. This agency was created in 1977 and is composed of 12 members, ten legislators and two citizens. Since its creation, the Sunset Advisory Commission has abolished 79 state agencies. Thirty-seven of which were completely removed, and the remaining 42 had their responsibilities reassigned to newly created, or already existing state agencies. This is one of the legislative branch’s most powerful abilities because it gives them great authority over state
The Texas constitution gives very specific rules for how our congress must be organized. It is a bicameral congress, which …show more content…
Having two houses spreads out the power even further, and creates two distinct sets of one member districts. Each house has a leader that presides over it, in the house it is the speaker of the house, who is elected by the legislature, and in the senate it is the lieutenant governor, who runs in a separate election from the governor. Another thing that limits the power of the Texas legislative branch is that it is a biennial congress, meaning it only meets for 140 days out of every two years, starting in January in odd numbered years. This is known as the regular session, and it always starts in January in oddly numbered years. While this may seem like a relatively small amount of time to decide the policies of Texas for the next two years, our congress has streamlined the process and made it extremely efficient. During the session in 2007, legislators went over 6,190 bills, 1,481 of which became laws. That means every day that congress was in session, over 44 bills were reviewed, and every day almost 11 bills were made into laws. When compared to other state legislatures, Texas has a very long session length (140 …show more content…
Texas has many standards put in place that allow it to be a very fiscally responsible state. The Texas constitution places strict limits on taxation, requires that the budget is always balanced, and places many limits on government spending. And because the legislature is in charge of the state budget, the legislature also has great power over all state agencies. The constitution allows them to decide whether each state agency is using the resources allocated to them properly, or whether they want to cut their spending. On top of deciding the fiscal limits of state agencies, legislature has the power to create new agencies, abolish old ones, and even completely redefine the responsibilities of existing agencies. The arm of the legislative branch responsible for such decisions is called the Sunset Advisory Commission. This agency was created in 1977 and is composed of 12 members, ten legislators and two citizens. Since its creation, the Sunset Advisory Commission has abolished 79 state agencies. Thirty-seven of which were completely removed, and the remaining 42 had their responsibilities reassigned to newly created, or already existing state agencies. This is one of the legislative branch’s most powerful abilities because it gives them great authority over state