Legislators Must Satisfy Both Constituents’ and Partisan’s Interests

Chief Legislator is supposed to be the highest position in the United States. Otherwise known as the President of the United States of America, Barack Obama currently holds that position; however, there is a lot of conflict between Obama and congress which is putting a damper on future plans to help improve the country. The government is setup so there is equality within the system, Congress and the President go hand and hand even though sometimes it might not work out the way it was planned. Sometimes the outcome can all depend on the views of the President and Congress. Like for instance now, Obama is a democrat and Congress is mainly Republicans so they have trouble meeting eye to eye.

The purposes of state legislatures are the same throughout the United States. The roles of legislatures are to pass laws, create polices, represent the citizens within their districts, and oversee the governor, executive branch, and some private businesses. However, the topics

As mentioned previously, Proposition 140 was not just simply a bill to enact term limits to state legislatures but one of reducing the expenditures to the legislatives staff. Prior to Proposition 140, California had enjoyed relatively large legislative staffs and nonpartisan organizations, such as The Legislative Analyst’s Office. After the passing of Proposition 140, legislative costs of the state had to be reduced significantly, with The Legislative Analyst’s Office and the Assembly and Senate Research greatly reducing their staff, with The Legislative Analyst’s Office in particular reducing its staff from 98 to 43 during the first two years alone (Robinson, pg.8). Funding aside, term limits have also negatively impacted the legislative staff that remained. One challenge that legislative staffs now face is job instability. In contrast to the long-time incumbents of the past that would guarantee a long-term job, staff are now highly susceptible to short-term jobs that could range anywhere from a single term bosses to 14 year ones. Another challenge that staff face is their new roles in the relation with legislators. With current turnover rates of legislators, staff are now burdened with the responsibility of teaching legislators about the daily operations of the legislature. Where as in the past, legislators could rely on there long time careers as

Committees and Campaign Promises The Texas House of Representatives serves a key role throughout the law-making process, but who exactly decides what bills pass or do not pass? Well, that is where things start to get complicated as there are various departments that must approve each bill before it is passed. Any congress member can propose a bill, but then it must be assigned to the proper committee for further evaluation. According to Ross Ramsey with the Texas Tribune, only about 23 percent of Texas bills get passed as 1,726 out of 7,419 bills were passed in 2009. That means that as a legislator, one must choose to serve the committees that best suits their

The stories of Texas Legislatures going bankrupt, applying for food stamps, and stretching every dollar to make ends meet, are more than true. Why do Texas lawmakers get paid so little? Ross Ramsey, writer of Rich Man, Poor Man, Beggar Man, Lawmaker, and Morgan Smith, writer of Part-Time Legislature Can Create Financial Hardship, both shine light on the matter in their articles for the Texas Tribune.

Abstract: The term limits movement for state legislatures has been gaining momentum. Fourteen states adopted limit initiatives in 1992. The goal of this final paper was to determine the factors that have contributed to the growth of the term limits movement. Much background research was conducted to determine the characteristics of the movement. Past research suggested several apparent reasons for the growth of the movement. These reasons included the existence of direct initiative, rates of legislator turnover, incumbency, regional political culture, citizen involvement, and the influence of interest groups.The overall questions for the project were to evaluate the factors which may have affected the movement. Including: what factors have influenced the growth of the term limits movement? In order to answer this question several hypotheses were tested for factors which have been used to explain the movement. The overall research conclusion was that the only explanatory factor for the growth of the term limits movement was the existence of the direct state initiative. The other factors include the regulation of the congressional developments. More states would have term limits if they had the power of initiative and term limits will likely be restricted to states which have this power, however, they should be placed in congress.

The Texas Legislature is the most significant body in the state involved in decision-making, which is a bicameral legislative body consisting of two chambers i.e. the House of Representatives and the Senate. The Senate is made up of 31 members who serve four-year terms while the House of Representatives consist of 150 representatives elected for a term of two years. Generally, legislators in this state tend to be wealthier, more educated, and having higher education status as compared to their constituents. The elitist nature of the Texas Legislature is attributed to several factors including the costs associated with running for the legislature and the relatively low annual salary of approximately $7,200.

California is a bicameral legislature, which means the state has two houses of legislation that meet on a biennial calendar. One house is the Senate, which comprise of 40 members from 40 districts. The other house is known as the Assembly which is made up of 80 members that come from 80 districts within the state. There are many appointments that are apportioned within both houses. Many have the same function at each house, but they are still treated as different legislative offices depending on their house. Some of the most important leadership positions include that of the President of the Senate which is presided over by the Lieutenant Governor. Although the position of President is mostly a ceremonial

In November 2010 Californians backed Proposition 25, which reduced the legislative threshold needed to pass a budget from a two-thirds vote to a simple majority. This majority means 50% plus one, which is 41 Assembly members and 21 Senators. Before Proposition 25, California needs two-thirds vote to approve a budget. However, in California, most of people are Democrats, this two-thirds rule gave the minority party Republicans veto power. It caused the delay in budget policy. In 2010, there was 100 days overdue of the budget (Vechten, California Politics a Primer). With proposition 25, this delay does not happen any more; legislative leaders can pass the budgets on time. Clearly, Proposition 25 would reform California’s broken state budget process. This “on-time” process would hold legislators accountable for late budgets by stopping their pay and benefits every day the budget is late. It also ends budget gridlock by allowing a majority of legislators to pass. In another hand, some people claim that Proposition 25 make it easier for politicians to raise taxes and restrict voters' constitutional right to reject bad laws, wouldn’t punish politicians, who would just increase their lavish expense

Another way members of Congress represent their constituents is by taking the role of the

Texas citizens now is the time to ensure our state elected officials are made accountable for their actions while serving in the senate congress and house of representative. When our elected officials take office they know they are under inspection of the work they do as a public servant and this includes spouses and possible immediate adult family members. Public servants know certain aspects of their immediate adult family members are under inspection like employment, charities, and other activities for evaluation for nepotism.

Members of Congress are charged with three primary duties—writing laws, overseeing the implementation of laws, and serving the needs of their constituents. Senate Filibuster, House Rules Committee and the Conference Committee all have had a profound effect in the lawmaking process. Additionally, general accounting office and hearings are both methods that Congress employs in order to maintain oversight over the federal bureaucracy. Lastly, Casework drastically affects members’ attention to legislation because it diverts their time, and resources away from focusing on legislation.

Proposition 50 was the only California state proposition on the primary ballot last June. Due to current law, no official can be suspended and stripped of their benefits or salary, causing them to be able to get away with actions they shouldn’t be allowed to get away with. Due to many recent actions involving the issues of suspension Prop 50 was drafted. This proposition was designed to refuse legislative members’ salaries, pensions, or other privileges of their office if they have been suspended by a two-thirds vote from the state legislation. Voting yes would allow the legislature the ability to suspend a member and his pay. It gained bipartisan support on this proposition because of recent events that have shed new light on how corrupt

When it comes to political issues people often think, whether someone is a Republican or Democrat, that politicians have to back their parties’ legislation no matter what, and that politicians despise each other if someone is not of the same party affiliation as them. In some cases this could be true; however, everything is not always black and white, and there are a lot of gray areas when it comes to some issues. With certain matters, Republicans and Democrats can lay their differences aside and come together for a cause; human sex trafficking just so happens to be one of those concerns. Along with multiple other pieces of bipartisan legislation that has been introduced in the past, one that was introduced as recently

Gaurav Sharma Professor Sherry Sharifian Texas Government 2306 SLO#3 April 24, 2017 Local Control in Texas In Texas, there are very many functional Interest groups and lobbyists that operate effectively influencing the policy-making processes. The Interest groups and lobbyists are in close association with policy-makers whereby they act as negotiators of democracy to the citizens who cannot reach the legislatures (Texas Vox: 1). This has impacted local control in Texas greatly. However, the nature of laws that have been passed recently in Texas shows that the policy-makers are diverging from interest from the citizens and favoring individual groups and companies. The following essay will address the impact depicted by Interest groups and lobbyists