7.8: Conclusion

What determines the fate of a bill like Representative Canales’ proposal to exempt college textbooks from the sales tax twice a year? How will it compete with six thousand other bills for the time and attention of legislators, and for the millions of dollars in new revenue or budget cuts to offset its cost? The bill will be referred to committees chosen by the House and Senate presiding officers, the chairs of which can decide whether to even set a public hearing to discuss the idea. If public hearings are held, committee members can look forward to testimony from college students, instructors, textbook publishers and others. Consider that many of the legislative staffers that influence the flow of access and information are themselves college students. Legislators might agree with the idea behind the bill but see higher priorities for that money that would benefit their constituents more than a college textbook sales tax exemption. About fourteen percent of Texas voters in the 2020 election were under the age of twenty-nine.

Sixty-four percent were over the age of forty-five.35 Do college students (and possibly their parents) matter enough to warrant that share of the state’s scarce tax revenue resources? Are there enough legislators whose districts include colleges and universities to make this bill a priority? The legislative process in Texas is ultimately a reflection of the values of the electorate that chooses the legislators, and of the ability and determination of those who seek to influence the decisions they make.

Key Terms and Concepts

bicameral: legislative system with two chambers, both a Senate and a House of Representatives.

supermajority: a fixed number greater than half, sometimes required to force greater consensus than a simple majority

biennial: something that occurs every other year. The Texas legislature meet only in odd- numbered years beginning on the second Tuesday in January, and for no more than 140 days.

regular session: Texas holds a regular session only in odd-numbered years beginning on the second Tuesday in January, and for no more than 140 days.

special session: legislative meeting called by the governor, limited to thirty days, dealing only with subjects specified in the governor’s proclamation to convene the special session or items the governor adds to this list during the session.

single-member district: Every state representative and senator represents one specific geographic area of the state (roughly equivalent in population).

citizen legislature: a legislative chamber composed primarily of citizens who have full-time occupations other than serving as a legislator.

constituents: residents in the district of an elected official.

constituent services: non-legislative functions such as answering inquiries about policies, listening to the concerns of constituents, and helping constituents obtain government services.

bill: the draft of a proposed change to state law presented to the legislature.

joint resolution: Proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution; they require a vote of two- thirds of the entire membership in each house for adoption. Joint resolutions are not sent to the governor for approval but are filed directly with the secretary of state. A joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Texas Constitution does not become effective until approved by a majority of Texas voters in a general election.

concurrent resolution: resolutions that reflect the will of both the House and Senate but which cannot be used to propose a change to the state constitution. Concurrent resolutions are often used to express the official opinion of the legislature on a federal issue before Congress.

simple resolution: resolutions adopted by either the House or Senate without participation by the other chamber and have no force of law. These are used to recognize birthdays and anniversaries and victories by local high school sports teams, and as memorial resolutions to commemorate a deceased official or important constituent.

impeachment: the process by which an elected official can be officially accused of misconduct, removed from office, and prohibited from future elected service.

speaker of the House: elected state representative who House representatives elect to preside over the House of Representatives and who wields power through chair appointment and floor recognition of members.

lieutenant governor: the second-highest elected official in the state and president of the state senate; who wields power through chair appointments for committees and floor recognition of members.

chair appointments; the selection of committee chairs by the speaker of the House and the lietutenant governor

floor recognition; the granting of permission to a member to offer a motion or to speak on any matter by the presiding officer

pigeonholing; killing a legislative proposal at the committee level by declining to take action. filibuster: strictly a procedural exercise a senator purposely continues speaking for an extended period of time in order to delay action and force a compromise.

standing committee: a permanent committee in the House or Senate with jurisdiction over legislation on a particular subject area.

conference committee: A committee of five representatives and five senators appointed by the presiding officers of the House and Senate to resolve differences between the House and Senate versions of the same bill.

committee of the whole: a temporary committee made up of all the members of the House or Senate

interim committee: a group of House or Senate members appointed to study a specific issue between the legislature’s regular sessions.

joint committee: a committee made up of both senators and representatives appointed to study a specific policy issue.

subcommittee: a subset of a regular committee appointed to work on a specific bill or issue within that committee’s jurisdiction.

veto: the governor's power to turn down legislation; can be overridden by a two-thirds vote of both the House and Senate.

line-item veto: enables the governor to veto individual components (or lines) of an appropriations bill.

apportionment; the process by which congress determines how many congressmen will represent each state.

one-person, one-vote: established in the U.S. Supreme Court case Reynolds v. Sims ((1964)) means that districts must be roughly equivalent in population.

redistricting: the redrawing of boundaries of congressional districts by state legislatures in accordance with state and federal law.

gerrymandering: any attempt to draw oddly-shaped districts to favor a specific person or group.