Ways and Means Committee Reviews Tax Plan Video

The Legislative Branch of Government

The Texas Constitution divides state government into three split up merely equal branches: the executive branch, headed past the governor; the judicial branch, which consists of the Texas Supreme Court and all land courts; and the legislative branch, headed by the Texas Legislature, which includes the 150 members of the house of representatives and the 31 members of the state senate.

Members of the house of representatives are elected to two-year terms and represent districts of about 167,500 people each. Senators serve four-year terms and serve about 811,000 people each.

The legislature meets every odd-numbered year to write new laws and to find solutions to the problems facing the state. This meeting fourth dimension, which begins on the second Tuesday in Jan and lasts 140 days, is called the regular session. The governor tin direct the legislature to run across at other times also. These meetings, called special sessions, tin last no more than than 30 days and deal only with issues chosen by the governor.

On the get-go solar day of each regular session, the 150 members of the house of representatives choose i of their members to exist the speaker of the firm. The speaker is the presiding officer of the house. He or she maintains order, recognizes members to speak during contend, and rules on procedural matters.

The speaker also appoints the chairs and vice chairs of the committees that study legislation and decides which other representatives will serve on those committees, field of study to seniority rules. There are 31 committees, each of which deals with a different subject field area, and five committees that bargain with procedural or administrative matters for the house. Most members serve on ii or three different committees.

In the senate, the presiding officer is the lieutenant governor, who is not actually a member of the senate. The lieutenant governor is the second-highest ranking officer of the executive branch of government and, similar the governor, is called for a four-year term by pop vote in a statewide election.

The outset thing that the speaker of the firm and the lieutenant governor ask their corresponding houses of the legislature to do is to decide on the rules that the legislators will follow during the session. Some legislative procedures are provided for in the state constitution, but additional rules can be adopted past a house of the legislature if canonical by a majority vote of its members.

In one case rules have been adopted, the legislature begins to consider bills.

Introducing a Bill

A representative or senator gets an idea for a pecker by listening to the people he or she represents and then working to solve their problem. A neb may too grow out of the recommendations of an interim committee report conducted when the legislature is not in session. The idea is researched to determine what state constabulary needs to be changed or created to best solve that problem. A bill is then written by the legislator, often with legal assistance from the Texas Legislative Council, a legislative bureau which provides bill drafting services, enquiry assistance, calculator support, and other services for legislators.

Once a bill has been written, it is introduced past a member of the house or senate in the member'due south own sleeping room. Sometimes, similar bills about a particular result are introduced in both houses at the same time by a representative and senator working together. However, any pecker increasing taxes or raising money for use past the state must start in the house of representatives.

House members and senators can introduce bills on whatsoever subject during the showtime 60 calendar days of a regular session. Subsequently 60 days, the introduction of any bill other than a local nib or a pecker related to an emergency declared by the governor requires the consent of at to the lowest degree four-fifths of the members present and voting in the house or iv-fifths of the membership in the senate.

After a nib has been introduced, a short clarification of the bill, called a caption, is read aloud while the bedchamber is in session so that all of the members are aware of the bill and its bailiwick. This is called the commencement reading, and it is the point in the process where the presiding officer assigns the neb to a committee. This assignment is announced on the chamber floor during the offset reading of the beak.

The Committee Process

The chair of each committee decides when the commission will see and which bills volition exist considered. The house rules let a business firm committee or subcommittee to meet: (1) in a public hearing where testimony is heard and where official action may be taken on bills, resolutions, or other matters; (2) in a formal coming together where the members may discuss and have official activity without hearing public testimony; or (3) in a piece of work session for word of matters before the commission without taking formal action. In the senate, testimony may be heard and official action may be taken at whatsoever coming together of a senate committee or subcommittee. Public testimony is almost e'er solicited on bills, allowing citizens the opportunity to present arguments on unlike sides of an event.

A house committee or subcommittee holding a public hearing during a legislative session must post notice of the hearing at least 5 calendar days before the hearing during a regular session and at to the lowest degree 24 hours in accelerate during a special session. For a formal meeting or a work session, written notice must be posted and sent to each member of the committee two hours in accelerate of the meeting or an declaration must be filed with the periodical clerk and read while the house is in session. A senate committee or subcommittee must postal service notice of a coming together at least 24 hours before the meeting.

Later considering a neb, a commission may choose to accept no action or may upshot a study on the bill. The committee report, expressing the committee'southward recommendations regarding activeness on a bill, includes a record of the committee's vote on the study, the text of the beak every bit reported by the committee, a detailed nib assay, and a fiscal annotation or other touch argument, as necessary. The study is then printed, and a copy is distributed to every fellow member of the house or senate.

In the house, a re-create of the committee written report is sent to either the Committee on Calendars or the Commission on Local and Consent Calendars for placement on a calendar for consideration by the full business firm. In the senate, local and noncontroversial bills are scheduled for senate consideration by the Senate Assistants Committee. All other bills in the senate are placed on the regular society of business organization for consideration by the total senate in the order in which the bills were reported from senate commission. A bill on the regular order of business may not be brought up for floor consideration unless the senate sponsor of the pecker has filed a written observe of intent to suspend the regular order of business for consideration of the neb.

Floor Action

When a beak comes up for consideration by the full house or senate, it receives its second reading. The bill is read, again by explanation merely, and then debated by the total membership of the chamber. Any member may offer an amendment, but information technology must exist approved by a majority of the members present and voting to be adopted. The members then vote on whether to pass the nib. The pecker is then considered past the total body again on third reading and final passage. A bill may exist amended again on third reading, just amendments at this stage require a two-thirds majority for adoption. Although the Texas Constitution requires a neb to be read on three carve up days in each business firm before it can accept the force of law, this ramble rule may be suspended by a four-fifths vote of the house in which the bill is pending. The senate routinely suspends this constitutional provision in social club to give a bill an immediate third reading subsequently its 2nd reading consideration. The house, even so, rarely suspends this provision, and third reading of a bill in the house usually occurs on the twenty-four hour period following its second reading consideration.

In either house, a bill may be passed on a phonation vote or a record vote. In the house, tape votes are tallied by an electronic vote lath controlled by buttons on each fellow member's desk. In the senate, record votes are taken by calling the roll of the members.

If a beak receives a bulk vote on third reading, it is considered passed. When a bill is passed in the business firm where it originated, the bill is engrossed, and a new copy of the beak which incorporates all corrections and amendments is prepared and sent to the contrary chamber for consideration. In the second house, the bill follows basically the same steps information technology followed in the get-go house. When the neb is passed in the opposite house, information technology is returned to the originating chamber with any amendments that have been adopted simply fastened to the nib.

Activeness on the Other House'due south Amendments and Briefing Committees

If a bill is returned to the originating sleeping accommodation with amendments, the originating bedchamber tin can either hold to the amendments or request a conference committee to work out differences between the house version and the senate version. If the amendments are agreed to, the bill is put in terminal form, signed by the presiding officers, and sent to the governor.

Conference committees are equanimous of five members from each house appointed past the presiding officers. In one case the briefing committee reaches agreement, a conference committee report is prepared and must exist canonical by at least iii of the five conferees from each house. Conference committee reports are voted on in each house and must be approved or rejected without amendment. If approved by both houses, the neb is signed past the presiding officers and sent to the governor.

Governor's Action

Upon receiving a bill, the governor has 10 days in which to sign the bill, veto it, or allow it to become law without a signature. If the governor vetoes the pecker and the legislature is nevertheless in session, the bill is returned to the house in which information technology originated with an explanation of the governor'southward objections. A two-thirds majority in each house is required to override the veto. If the governor neither vetoes nor signs the neb within 10 days, the bill becomes a law. If a bill is sent to the governor within 10 days of terminal adjournment, the governor has until 20 days subsequently last adjournment to sign the bill, veto it, or allow information technology to get law without a signature.

Constitutional Amendments

Proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution are in the form of joint resolutions instead of bills and require a vote of two-thirds of the unabridged membership in each house for adoption. Articulation resolutions are not sent to the governor for approving, but are filed directly with the secretarial assistant of state. A joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Texas Constitution does not go effective until information technology is approved by Texas voters in a full general election.

• More Detailed Information on the Steps in the Legislative Process

hallyouresser.blogspot.com

Source: https://house.texas.gov/about-us/bill/

Share this post