POLS 2312 1st Edition Lecture 13 The Legislature continued Citizens Legislators closer to the people Informal Qualifications Income occupation Education Gender Only 21 are women Different types of Legislature Professional meet full time pay members a high salary and employ large staffstypically associated with large states complex economies Amateur part time low paid smaller staffs typically associated with smaller states Hyrbrid low pay don t meet up often a very large staff Texas is referred as a Hybrid legislature because they have a very large staff Speaker of the House Joe Straus Elected by house majority vote Speaker appoints committee chairs and members Presides over sessions Refers bills to committees Very powerful role The Lt Governor Dan Patrick Elected to a 4 year term in a general election Appoints Committee Chairs Selects committee members Presides Refers bills Paid a legislative salary Committees Standing Committees there always their Interim Committees meet in between legislatures Chairs members chosen by Speaker or Lt Governor Continuing committees unless specific action is taken to revise or abolish Standing Committees Policy Committees Deal with Particular policy areas such as agriculture or education Power Committees deal with how bills come to the floor when and under what rules and make decisions about how much money will be raised and spent Bill Process Bill Introduced by sponsor Referred to Committee Hearings Reported out Debate Amendment Passage Conference Committee House and Senate version of bill must be the same Appointed by Speaker and Lt Governor The Governor May veto a bill May sign a bill May refuse to sign a bill A governor has 10 days to issue a veto after 130 he has 20 days to issue a veto so basically he can veto it after the legislation is over The Filibuster Led by Strong Therman Developed in the United States Senate Gives a great deal of power to individual Senators Cloture requires 60 votes Talk as long as you want In Texas Discussion is limited to issues germane to the bill being debated Senators cannot eat drink or use the bathroom No sitting or leaning Senator must either yield the floor or receive three strikes for violating rules