POLS 2312 1st Edition Lecture 13The Legislature, continued “Citizens Legislators” closer to the people? Informal Qualifications: - Income/occupation- Education- Gender: Only 21% are womenDifferent types of Legislature: - “Professional”: meet full-time, pay members a high salary, and employ large staffs-typically 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 salaryCommittees: - 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 abolishStanding 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. GovernorThe 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 sobasically 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