Texas Government Midterm Review PDF

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Texas Government Midterm Review Bully pulpit: - The ability of the Governor to bring the media into a political issue or debate. Thus allowing the Governor to have a greater influence on specific issues. Line item veto: - The power of the Governor to reject certain individual provisions within a bill. Plural executive - An executive branch in which the functions have been divided among several officials rather than residing in one person. Senatorial courtesy: - The informal requirement that a gubernatorial appointee has the approval of her or his own state senator in order to obtain support within the Texas Senate. Sunshine laws: - Laws designed to make government transparent and accessible Sunset review: - A formal assessment of the effectiveness of all statutory boards, commissions, and state agencies Sunset Advisory Commission: - The Sunset Advisory Commission is an agency of the Texas Legislature that evaluates state agencies and makes recommendations to the legislature on the need for, the performance of, and improvements to agencies under review every 12 years. Delegate representation: - The representative goes and voted based on what the voters want them to do. Trustee representation: - The representative goes and votes based on what they believe is best. Geographic representation: - The representative votes based on the unique qualities/needs of the area they are representing. Descriptive representation - The representative shares a demographic with their voters that drive the way they vote. Term limits: - A legal limitation on the number f terms an elected official may serve in office Citizen legislatures: - Legislatures in which legislative positions are not a full-time job, the legislators meet a short amount, legislators are paid a low amount and there is little to no staff. Professional Legislatures: - Legislatures in which legislative positions are a full-time job, the legislators meet for a long period of time, legislators are paid a high amount and there is a large staff. Criminal courts Civil courts Administrative courts Statutory law - Statutory law or statute law is written law set down by a body of legislature or by a singular legislator. Common law

- the part of English law that is derived from custom and judicial precedent rather than statutes. Original jurisdiction - The authority to hear the initial case; the evidence and the case record are established in court. Appellate jurisdiction - The authority to hear an appeal from a lower court that has already rendered a decision; an appellate court reviews the court record from the original trial and does not hear new evidence Concurrent jurisdiction: - A system in which different levels of courts have overlapping jurisdiction r authority t try the same type of case. Exclusive jurisdiction: - A particular court given the sole right to hear a specific type of case Petit jury - A trial jury; jurors attend a trial, listen to evidence, and determine whether a defendant is innocent or guilty. Grand jury: - A panel of twelve jurors that reviews evidence, determines whether there is sufficient evidence to bring a trial, and issues an indictment. Compensatory damages: - Monetary damages designed to compensate the injured party Punitive damages: - Larger monetary awards designed to punish the defendant and send a message to the larger society. Vertical federalism: - The relationship between the national and state government. Horizontal federalism - The relationship between states. Unfunded mandates - Legislation passed by the national government imposing requirements n states and local governments that then bear the costs of meeting those requirements Block grants: - National funds are given to state and local governments for a broad purpose; comes with fewer restrictions on how the money is spent. Categorical grants: - National money given to states and local governments that must be spent on specific activities Balance of payments: - the record of all economic transactions between the residents of the country and the rest of world in a particular period of time Puppy Federalism/Rubin: - Watered down version of federalism. - Agrees with antifederalists - Need Federalism in the past not now; looks real but isn’t Moralistic: - Laws that promote “public interest”. Citizens are obligated to participate. Does not separate church and state. Independent bureaucracy: helps everyone equally. Traditionalistic: - Law defends values of the state/culture. Mass participation is discouraged. Anti-bureaucratic Individualistic: - Law based on public demand. Limited government intervention. All about business.

Blue laws: - Laws from moralistic states; tell the government what to do based on what is good for the citizen. Higher law - Laws that contain broad statements, such as the elastic clause. Positive law - Laws that give governing bodies specific powers and authority. Automatic ballot referrals: - a ballot measure set up by the constitution of a state (or country) to at a certain time have a ballot appear statewide under certain situations. Direct democracy - a form of democracy in which people decide on policy initiatives directly. Indirect democracy - a system of government in which the people control the government through elected political officials. The elected representatives represent the people. Unitary: - A form of government in which the majority of power rests with the national government. Confederal: - A form of government in which the majority of power rests with the state government. Compact Theory - A theory relating to the development of the Constitution of the United States of America, claiming that the formation of the nation was through a compact by all of the states individually and that the national government is consequently a creation of the states. Concordantly, states should be the final judges of whether the national government had overstepped the boundaries of the "compact". A leading exponent of this theory was John C. Calhoun. Nation-Centered Theory - A theory that states that the national government’s power is supreme, expand as needed and the national government decides what it has power over. Dual federalism: - The theory of federalism that suggests state government and the national governments have separate spheres of policy influence and restrict their involvement to policies in their areas` Cooperative federalism: - The theory of federalism that suggests both levels of government cooperate across various policy areas rather than maintaining distinct policy arenas Centralized/Creative federalism: - The relationship between the national and state governments whereby the national government imposes its policy preferences on state governments. New federalism: - a political philosophy of devolution, or the transfer of certain powers from the United States federal government back to the states Enumerated/delegated powers: - The powers listed in Article I, Section 8 of the US constitution that are expressly granted to the national government Concurrent powers: - Powers such as taxing and spending and the ability to establish courts and charter banks that are shared by the national and state governments Reserved Powers - The specification in the tenth amendment that all powers not delegated to the national government belong to the state government

Implied Powers: - Power beyond those enumerated in the Constitution; implied powers are powers deemed “necessary and proper” to execute the enumerated powers of the national government Dual constitutionalism (recent edition calls this judicial federalism): - Two sets of governments with two set of governing documents working concurrently. Lieske’s theory of state culture Elazar’s theory of state culture Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 Furman v. Georgia (1972) Dillon’s Rule/General Law city: - The city is considered an arm of the state, meaning that they take the laws and general statutes from the state’s constitution and apply them within the city. Home rule/charter city: - Need to have a population of 5,000 in order to pass a city charter. The city charter is the cities constitution and must be approved/voted on by the citizens. Gregg v. Georgia (1976)

Why has Texas had so many state constitutions? - Texas has had multiple constitutions because of the cultural changes, political issues, and social climate of that time. For instance, after the Civil War was over the Reconstruction I constitution was written. This constitution was written by secessionists and Confederate officers, who made it hard for former slaves to be able to register to vote. By making it hard for African American’s to register to vote it made it possible for an African American to have the right and ability to vote but still not be able to vote. - Constitutions: - Republic: 3 branches of local government, written by new immigrants - Statehood: Written by delegates, concerns: slave ownership and property rights - Confederate: Written by lawyers/slaveholders, with more language claiming a slave is considered property - Reconstruction I: Written by secessionists and Confederate officers, ratified by Texas but not by the United States, Former slaves could vote but not register (ex. Poll tax and literacy tests) - Reconstruction II/Radical Republican: Written by those nominated that were not involved with the Confederates, never finished writing the document, Powerful Governor (appointed at the time by the US), State government involved education (weed out confederate values in education) - Reconstruction III: Written by local delegates, weak Governor and few appointments, the local government becomes powerful, school goes back to local government

What is the state culture of Texas? Is it homogeneous? The state culture of Texas is a heterogenours mixture composed of tradition and individualistic cultures. Texas’ state culture is based on the idea that the law defends the commonly held values of the state’s citizens which is a component of a traditional culture. On the other hand, limited government is highly valued within the Texas state culture, a component of the individualistic culture. Overall whether or not Texas’ state culture is traditional or individualistic depends on the issue or topic you are discussion. For instance,......... Compare the concerns in Federalist 39 and Anti-Federalist 39. What are the historical reasons for federalism, from a state perspective? What traits does federalism assume about a country or a county’s population? What types of issues and concerns surround horizontal federalism? Elazar’s theory: What data was it based on? What did he notice? What culture is Texas? Lieske’s theory: What data/facts did he look at? What did he notice? What drives the culture of Texas? How did/has the Texan founding contributed to our state culture? What should be in a state constitution? What concepts are in the Texas Constitution of 1876? How did the political and social problems associated with Reconstruction affect the framing of the Constitution of 1876? What are the problems associated with the Texas Constitution of 1876? How do you amend the Texas Constitution of 1876? What are the roles that a governor plays? What power and influence does the governor have over the budget? Who limits the power governors have over those sentenced by the courts? What are the qualifications to be governor? How are the governor’s powers limited? How do you remove a governor?

What is the difference between formal and informal powers? How can senatorial courtesy affect a governor's power? How does the plural executive limit these powers? Does the governor need to sign a law or veto a law? What limits are on the pardon power?

Who are a part of the governor’s cabinet? What is the line of succession for the executive branch? How can patronage help a governor gain power over the years? What are the major positions in the plural executive and how to they help the governor with his executive role? Is the legislature professional or not? How do you know? What causes us to vote for certain candidates for the legislature? What is the difference between unicameral and bicameral legislatures? How is our legislature’s schedule different from other states’ schedules? What types of interest groups are out there? Why do they differ from one another? What is the difference between the 3 levels of courts? (trial, appellate, last resort?) If you are charged with a crime, how might your case proceed through the Texas system? If you are a death penalty case,

does that cause a different route? Why? How do we pick judges? How do the methods of picking justices affect the types of justices we get, as well as the ways they rule? Why do we have so many different types and levels of courts in Texas? What is the different between civil and criminal cases, and appellate and original jurisdictions? Does Texas believe in rehabilitation or retribution? Does the book believe this affects recidivism? What is puppy federalism? Was Rubin right? What are the 4 ways cities can organize their government? What is a commissioner’s court and what do they do? What problems do cities/counties face with gentrification? Urban Sprawl? Unincorporated areas? Why does it matter if a region is rural versus urban versus suburban? Can you fill out this chart?

Office

Term

Elected/appointed

Anything special?

Governor

4 yr

Elected

Texas House

2 yr

Elected

Texas Senate

4 yr

Elected

Municipal Courts

2 yr

Elected

District Courts

4 yr

Appellate/last resort courts

6 yr

Commissioners

4 yr

Plural executives

4 yr...