Pols 2312 1st Edition Lecture 12 Current Lecture Competing Bases of Power within the Executive Branch The Plural Executive o Lt Governor o Attorney General o Comptroller o Ag Commissioner o Railroad Commission o Land Commissioner o Board of Education Rick Perry Elected to the State House in 1984 Elected Ag Commissioner in 1990 Elected Lt Governor in 1998 Became Governor when G W Bush assumed the presidency In February 2007 Governor Perry issued an Executive Order mandating that female school children be vaccinated for HPV prior to being allowed to 6th grade Budgetary Powers Governor must issue a budget message Line item veto Governor can veto individual aspects of the state budget Can look at a law and instead of taking out the whole law they can take out a portion of it Veto A blunt instrument Checks and Balances By a 2 3rds vote in both chambers the legislature may override the Governor s veto this is extremely rare Post adjournment vetoes The State House may impeach and the Senate convict the Governor Rosemary Lehmberg Travis County D A Travis County D A and Texas Public Integrity Unit Perry Veto Threat 7 5 million Legislatures and Democracy Popular Sovereignty Legislature Supremacy Constituent Service Oversight Texas State Legislature Bicameral like every other state except for Nebraska House 150 Members 2 year terms 31 Members of the State Senate State Senators are elected to staggered 4 year terms Each House district has around 170 000 residents each Senate district around 800 000 residents Presumably smaller districts mean that legislators in the House are somewhat more responsive to more localized issues Senators in turn are presumably focused on somewhat broader issues and coalitionbuilding Fairly minimal formal qualifications House U S Citizen registered voter minimum 21 years of age state residency for two years district residency for one year Senate Citizenship 26 years of age state residence for 5 years district residence for 1 year Pay 7 200 per year plus a per diem for every day that the legislature is in session Why pay so low A vision of how government should be and how it should be ran