POLS 207 1st Edition Lecture 19 Outline of Last Lecture I Legislative Policy and Representing the People Outline of Current Lecture II Major vs Minor Bills III Texas Legislative Process IV Models of Representiveness Current Lecture Major vs Minor Bills 56 are major bills meaning they have a huge impact on the public So 44 are minor Time limit 140 days for a legislative session in Texas Processing of Major Bills Introduced earlier More companion bill More even across committees More amendments More likely to die Later final action Agenda of Active Bills Texas Legislature Bills can only be introduced in the first 60 days of the legislative session in Texas o Unless it is an emergency Secrets of the Texas Legislative Process Not all bills are intended to pass o To show that certain members have controversial issue preferences o Know a bill will fail but it shows the issue stance of candidates Bills are not independent of each other Bills do not receive equal consideration Texas Legislative Workload Only the governor can call a special session A Model of Legislative Professionalization A legislature if more professional with a larger population and more metropolitan setting More bills introduced the sessions are longer there is greater compensation for working in a professional legislature and are more full time legislators Relationships Bill Introduction Population moderate positive Bill introduction and Percent Metropolitan moderate positive Length of session and bill introductions strong positive Percent full time legislators and legislative compensation positive Legislators in Texas are part time they all have jobs or are independently wealthy Selection bias o People are often wealthy o Professional bias only certain jobs can because they need the time of o are there strong other do it Models of Responsiveness Representational o You give your representative the power to vote for you essentially Congruence o You only want your legislators to vote the way you do State Legislators 7800 legislators EDUCATION 75 have some college EMPLOYMENT LEGISLATORS MORE PRESTIGE PROFESSIONALS MANAGERS PROPRIETORS NOT ESTABLISHED WEALTH BUT UPWARDLY MOBILE MIDDLE CLASS FLEXIBLE WORK SCHEDULE PUBLIC CONTACT ATTORNEYS AGRICULTURE EDUCATION OVERREPRESENTED LABOR AND GOVERNMENT UNDERREPRESENTED SEX MALE 80 to 90 MOBILITY OVER 75 BORN IN DISTRICT PSYCHOLOGICAL MORE SELF CONFIDENT SELF SUFFICIENT EXTROVERTED DOMINANT TOLERANT LESS AUTHORITARIAN MORE FAVORABLY DISPOSED TOWARD MINORITIES Number of attorneys in state legislators has dropped and full time legislators have increased Those who are retired have increased Characteristics of State Legislators in 2009 and Public in 2007 2009 Top and Bottom States for Percent Diferences Between Legislators and Population Women African American Most Equal VT FL OR WY Nebraska Least Equal Louisiana Hispanics Most Equal New Mexico Least Equal Texas CO Nevada Attorney Most Equal California Least Equal Texas
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