Texas Legislature

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The Texas Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Texas. The legislature meets at the Texas State Capitol in Austin. In Texas, the Legislature is considered the most powerful branch of state government because of its aggressive use of the power of the purse to control and direct the activities of state government.

Texas entered the Union in 1845. The First Legislature met from February 16 to May 13, 1846.

Contents 1 Structure and operations 2 Qualification for service 3 Scandals 4 Makeup of the Texas House of Representatives 5 Makeup of the Texas Senate 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Structure and operations

Like most state legislatures, it is a bicameral institution, consisting of the lower house House of Representatives with 150 members, and the upper house Senate with 31 members. The legislature meets in regular session on the second Tuesday in January of each odd-numbered year.^[1] The Texas Constitution limits the regular session to 140 calendar days. The Lieutenant Governor, elected statewide separate from the Governor, presides over the Senate, while the Speaker of the House is elected from that body by its members. Both have wide latitude in choosing committee membership in their respective houses and have a large impact on lawmaking in the state.

Only the Governor may call the Legislature into special sessions (the legislature may not call itself into session, as is the case in some other states), and the governor may call as many sessions as he wishes. For example, Governor Rick Perry called three consecutive sessions in 2003 to address congressional redistricting. The Texas Constitution limits the duration of each special session to 30 days; lawmakers may consider only those issues designated by the Governor in his "call," or proclamation convening the special session (though other issues may be added by the Governor during a session).

Both houses of the Legislature are officially organized on a bipartisan basis, with members of both parties serving in leadership positions such as committee chairmanships. Currently (2007), a majority of the members of each chamber are members of the Republican Party.

[edit] Qualification for service

The Texas Constitution sets the qualifications for election to each house as follows:

• A senator must be at least 26 years of age, a citizen of Texas five years prior to election and a resident of the district from which elected one year prior to election. Each senator serves a four-year term and one-half of the Senate membership is elected every two years in even-numbered years, with the exception that all 31 Senate seats are up for election for the first legislature following the decennial census in order to reflect the newly redrawn districts. After the initial election, the Senate is divided by lot into two classes, with one class having a re-election after two years and the other having a re-election after four years.

• A representative must be at least 21 years of age, a citizen of Texas for two years prior to election and a resident of the district from which elected one year prior to election. They are elected for two-year terms, running for re-election in even-numbered years.

Neither the House of Representatives nor the Senate has term limits.

[edit] Scandals

• On May 14, 2007, CBS Channel 42's KeyeTV Investigates reported on the rampant multiple voting by Texas state representatives present during a voting session.^[2] The report noted how representatives would race to the nearest empty seats to register votes for absent members on the legislature's automated voting machines. Each representative would vote for the nearest absent members, apparently regardless of party affiliation. This practice was in direct violation of a Rule of the Texas Legislature; however, no house member had ever been disciplined for the practice. The then-Speaker of the House, responsible for enforcement of the rule, issued a statement that discipline for violations of the rule is left to the individual house members.

[edit] Makeup of the Texas House of Representatives

Affiliation		Members
	Republican Party	79
	Democratic Party	71
Total		150

[edit] Makeup of the Texas Senate

Affiliation		Members
	Republican Party	20
	Democratic Party	11
Total		31

Senator		Party	District	Home Town	Took Office
	Kevin Eltife	Republican	1	Tyler	2004
	Bob Deuell	Republican	2	Greenville	2003
	Robert Nichols	Republican	3	Jacksonville	2007
	Tommy Williams	Republican	4	The Woodlands	2003
	Steve Ogden	Republican	5	Bryan	1997
	Mario Gallegos, Jr.	Democratic	6	Houston	1995
	Dan Patrick	Republican	7	Houston	2007
	Florence Shapiro	Republican	8	Plano	1993
	Chris Harris	Republican	9	Arlington	1991
	Kim Brimer	Republican	10	Fort Worth	2003
	Mike Jackson	Republican	11	La Porte	1999
	Jane Nelson	Republican	12	Lewisville	1993
	Rodney Ellis	Democratic	13	Houston	1990
	Kirk Watson	Democratic	14	Austin	2007
	John Whitmire	Democratic	15	Houston	1983
	John Carona	Republican	16	Dallas	1996
	Kyle Janek	Republican	17	Houston	2002
	Glenn Hegar	Republican	18	Katy	2007
	Carlos I. Uresti	Democratic	19	San Antonio	2006
	Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa	Democratic	20	Mission	2002
	Judith Zaffirini	Democratic	21	Laredo	1987
	Kip Averitt	Republican	22	Waco	2002
	Royce West	Democratic	23	Dallas	1993
	Troy Fraser	Republican	24	Horseshoe Bay	1997
	Jeff Wentworth	Republican	25	San Antonio	1993
	Leticia R. Van de Putte	Democratic	26	San Antonio	1999
	Eddie Lucio, Jr.	Democratic	27	Brownsville	1991
	Robert Duncan	Republican	28	Lubbock	1997
	Eliot Shapleigh	Democratic	29	El Paso	1997
	Craig Estes	Republican	30	Wichita Falls	2001
	Kel Seliger	Republican	31	Amarillo	2004

[edit] References

• "Citizen Handbook". The Senate of Texas. Retrieved 13 April 2005.
• Texas Legislature from the Handbook of Texas Online. Retrieved 13 April 2005.
• Stanley K. Young, Texas Legislative Handbook (1973).
• Univ. of Tex., The Legislative Branch in Texas Politics, [1] (last accessed Oct. 8, 2006) (stating that "The Texas Legislature is the most powerful of the three main branches of government[,]" primarily because it is "less weak than the other branches").

[edit] External links

• Texas Legislature Online
• Texas House of Representatives
• Texas State Senate
• Reference Library of Texas
• Texas Politics - The Legislative Branch
• Billhop - Texas Legislative Wiki

Texas Legislatures
Past:	1 (1846)	2 (1847)	3 (1849)	4 (1851)	5 (1853)	6 (1855)	7 (1857)	8 (1859)	9 (1861)	10 (1863)
	11 (1866)	12 (1870)	13 (1873)	14 (1874)	15 (1876)	16 (1879)	17 (1881)	18 (1883)	19 (1885)	20 (1887)
	21 (1889)	22 (1891)	23 (1893)	24 (1895)	25 (1897)	26 (1899)	27 (1901)	28 (1903)	29 (1905)	30 (1907)
	31 (1909)	32 (1911)	33 (1913)	34 (1915)	35 (1917)	36 (1919)	37 (1921)	38 (1923)	39 (1925)	40 (1927)
	41 (1929)	42 (1931)	43 (1933)	44 (1935)	45 (1937)	46 (1939)	47 (1941)	48 (1943)	49 (1945)	50 (1947)
	51 (1949)	52 (1951)	53 (1953)	54 (1955)	55 (1957)	56 (1959)	57 (1961)	58 (1963)	59 (1965)	60 (1967)
	61 (1969)	62 (1971)	63 (1973)	64 (1975)	65 (1977)	66 (1979)	67 (1981)	68 (1983)	69 (1985)	70 (1987)
	71 (1989)	72 (1991)	73 (1993)	74 (1995)	75 (1997)	76 (1999)	77 (2001)	78 (2003)	79 (2005)
Current:										80 (2007)
Future:	81 (2009)

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