How is the Texas legislature set up?

Answer 1

a. none of these

b.Members of the Texas legislature are paid more than the members of most legislatures.

c.The Texas legislature meets in regular session more frequently than do the legislatures of most states.

d.Regular legislative sessions in Texas are longer than they are in other states

Note:

1) Biennial - meets once every 2 years ( most states meet twice a year)

2) Smaller legislature- has 150 house members, 31 senate = 181 ( most states have more than that NH for instance has 400 members at least)

3) Districts are uneven - Houston alone has 8 districts, West Texas is one of the districts and it has 8 counties in it, so you can see where that starts to become uneven when you widen the scale to the whole state. (most states are obviously smaller than Texas).

4) Low pay - members of the Texas Legislature make less than $10,000 a year. ( most states make something like $30,000 - $50,000 a year)

5) Lower standards- you only have to be 21 to become a house member, and 25 to become senate last time i checked. (most states require more seniority as far as education/experience with age limits as well)

6) Citizen- its not as professional, especially considering what the members are payed yearly. most of the members work a second job. ( most states have higher pay which means the jobs are full time and require a certain degree)

7) Bad behavior- Texas has a bad rap for some of the things its legislature has been caught doing in the past. I'm sure if you saw the Lt. Governor's office you could see bullet holes in the ceiling. Also members of the house/senate have been caught holding sessions while playing Poker instead. look up "the killer bees".

8) Lt. Governor violates the sep. of powers- the Lt. governor can control the senate (most states include the Lt. Governor as an act of the executive power, and not legislative)

9) Legislative Budget Board (LBB) - there are 5 members of the house and 5 for the senate that serve on the LBB. its a 2 year term. The LBB's primary responsibility is to create the initial bienniel budget that Congress then debates, amends, and enacts. They also meet while Congress is out of session and share "budget execution authority" with the governor. This means that they get to move money around, regardless of what allocations were set in the biennial budget. The justification for the LBB having this authority is that, in the case of an emergency or any other new development, Congress cannot address budget issues while out of session unless a special session is called. Calling a special session every time something new comes up in a period of about a year and half would be inefficient. However, it should be noted that the LBB is a board that was formed by Congress and is made up of Congress members. This means that they only have budget execution authority because Congress allows them to, and that Congress can absolve the LBB at any time if they want to.

10) Special Session- Only the Governor may call the Legislature into special sessions, unlike other states where the legislature may call itself into session. The Governor may call as many sessions as he wishes. For example, Governor Rick Perry called three consecutive sessions to address the 2003 Texas congressional redistricting. The Texas Constitution limits the duration of each special session to 30 days.

Answer 2

The Texas legislature is composed of two branches, the Senate and the House of Representatives. There are 150 House members and 31 Senate members.