Geographic Districts; Texas Legislatures (7/14)- A census occurs every 10 years. It counts population! o Data is used to redraw congressional districts. o 2010: Senators represent approx. 800,000 constituents. More prestigious because you represent more people.o 150 house districtso 2010: house members represent approx. 160,000 constituents. - Each district has approx. equal representation. o Reynolds v. Sims (“one person, one vote”): ex, we have 2 districts; each district has one vote in what occurs despite their population, not fair because each group is different! Every person’s vote should count. - Texas legislature is in charge of redistricting.o If they fail, the Legislative Redistricting Board will perform function. If thelegislatures cant agree upon the districts, it can’t pass. If it fails, it goes to the LRB. Our house members are elected from single member districts (one from each districts), multimembers (2 or more). - Gerrymandering: drawing districts line for partisan political advantage. o It gives candidates from a certain party, ethnic group, or faction an advantage. Nationwide in the last election, we had more people vote democrat than republics. At federal level, the democrats have the advantage; yet, in the US house (drawn by states) republicans have control. o Texas and Gerrymandering: 1990-1994 and 2000-2006.  2000-2006 (we attempted to redistrict, the democrats would not agree to the new maps, took it to the LRB, republicans held an advantage). Before it got that far, governor perry (14). We redistricted in 2000, the state legislature are responsible for redrawing lines at state level and the US, they trying to protect and help their party at state and federal level.  In 2002, republicans gained control of both chamber. In 2004, speaker of the house, Tom wanted the Texas legislatures to redraw the line for the U.S. house districts because he is trying to protect his party. This way, more republicans will be electedat a federal level. The democrats in texas said no, we redistricted after the census and wont again until after the census. The democrats looked bad. The democratic house members leave in the first special session. Next session, our democratic senators leave so they wont have enough people to vote. Eventually, they returned and voted. Republicans bought the new maps. Many minorities sued because it was gerrymandering. The court says we can redistrict whenever welike. It isn’t fair to change rules between the game!  15 years down the road, when democrats come into power, republicans will be paid back for what they did.  San Antonio, Houston, Dallas’s urban areas consisted of mostly democratic. o 3 Tactics/reasons for gerrymandering: 1: diffuse a concentrated political/ethnic minority. You’re trying to separate people by how they vote, democratic. You take a district, make it 40% Caucasian and 60% minority…etc. this is not legal because you’re trying to diffuse minorities political power.  2: concentrate opposition population in one district. You do this because they will vote democrat either way, so just combine those democrats in one district.  3: pairing technique: place 2 incumbent legislatures in the same district to ensure one is defeated. o Federal courts prohibit racial gerrymandering. This is illegal. The statecan’t intentionally diffuse minority voting. However, it is perfectly legalto intentionally create a minority/majority district.- Qualifications for Member: Informal qualificationso White, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant, Attorney (majority are attorney because they make money; they are now 29% of house and 19% of senate so their numbers are decreasing), Access to money (probably your own business person), party (texas is republican).- Qualifications for Member: Formal qualificationsHOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SENATE-Leader: speaker of the house-Citizenship: U.S.-Age: 21 years-Residency: -District: 1 year -State: 2 years-Registered voter-Term: 2 years (unlimited terms)-Part-time-Salary: $7,200 per year-Leader: Lieutenant Governor-Citizenship: U.S.-Age: 26 years-Residency: -District: 1 year -State: 5 years-Registered voter-Term: 4 years (unlimited terms)-Part-time-Salary: $7,200 per yearo Texas population: 46% is the pop is non-Hispanic white 37% is Hispanic 12% is African American 4% is Asian American 1% of some other racial or ethnic groupo In the 81st Legislative Session- 20% of the members of the Texas House were Latino 9% were African American 0.01% (or 2 representatives) were Asian American 24% were women (who account for over 50% of the Texas population). - Presiding officers:o Lieutenant governor:  Elected in a state wide, partisan election (running as a Republican or Democrat) Not a senator  4 year term Is a member of the executive branch, but does all his work in legislative branch, he is the head of the senate.  Currently, David Dewhurst.  The senate rules make him very powerful. He has importantpower, puts people in committees, leadership positions andchairs, decides if the senate will discuss the bill, nothing cancome to senate without his approval. o Speaker of the House: Elected by the majority of the house members Is a representative 2-year term Currently, representative Joe Straus He appoints members to committees and chairmanships.  Incumbent (person that holds the position, Straus) speakersrarely face opposition because they know they have to favorrepublicans only. We are becoming more and more partisan When Straus elected some democrats in office and was called aRINO (namesake republican). o Committees are classified based on function, membership andlongevity. Examples of types of committees:  Standing: permanent, exists form session to session Subcommittee: more specialized, may have a financecommittee then subcommittee on loans. Conference: temporary with members form both chambers Joint: permanent with members from both chambers Special: we create them to deal with one issue Ad Hoco Both chambers have help.  The house has a nonpartisan to support institution called thehouse research organization-institution that provides policyresearch for the house.  Senate research center- provides policy research for the senate.- Legislative staffo Legislature provides minimal funds for hiring staff. $13,250 for house members