Prop 58 Case Study

The NEA and the AFT represent millions of teachers throughout the country. Moe indicates that teachers unions are known has political powerhouses which contribute millions of dollars to campaign contributions and lobbying. Fortune Magazine has consistently ranked National Education Association in the top 15 of its Washington Power 25 list for influence in the nation’s capital. The American Federation of Teachers along with the National Education Association has given more than $60 million combined in campaign contributions over the last 20 years (Moe 267). Ballot initiatives that are created in to order to begin school reform usually are defeated because their huge sums of moneys that come from these unions in order to defeat a ballot that can jeopardize a teacher’s job. Let’s keep in mind that unions are designed to protect the interest of the teachers, unions are not designed to help the interest of children. The unions use this money mostly to demand special interest for the teachers, such as imposing a structure at the workplace giving teacher’s rights and restricting managerial control. Teacher unions are by far the most powerful forces in American education and use their power to promote their own special interests at any expense.

The controversy surrounding political lobbying does not question the act of influencing public officials, but rather the ethics relating to how these public officials are influenced. It is important to distinguish the fine line between bribery and lobbying. It is illegal to bribe a public official in the United States. This would mean that an individual could not provide compensation to a public official for them to behave, or vote, in a specific manner. Lobbyists may donate money to a specific candidate’s political campaign, but they may only do so when there is no expectation that the public official will behave in a favorable way toward the lobbyist or their clients (Mackinder). Lobbyists may bring public officials, their immediate families, and staff on trips or out to dinner. While it is illegal for a lobbyist representing a corporate client from directly bringing, it is not illegal for foreign governments to sponsor for these said trips (Goldmacher). What has begun to happen is lobbyists representing corporate clients may bring public officials on these trips, if the trip is sponsored by a foreign government. The Senate Office of Public Records reported that $3.23 billion was spent on lobbying in 2013, with 12,300 registered lobbyists. Professor James Thurber, who teaches at American University, has studied congressional lobbying for over 30 years, and does not believe these figures are accurate. He believes

Both sides of the topic have gripping reasons why they feel the way they do. The supporters believe that lobbying is acceptable and contributes to a healthy democracy. In this light, lobbyists are simply seeking power within governmental and public affairs. In the United States our political system is based on power, authority, and legitimacy. One of our nation’s values is the fact that people can and should try to influence our political system; individuals have the power to bring attention to important issues, matters of public concern, and current problems. Supports argue that lobbying cannot contribute to the demise of American democracy. All these factors contribute to what is our political system and lobbyists are arguably doing their best to advocate for the people, even if huge sums of money are involved.

This means they will likely raise money in any way possible to increase their chances of winning. This leads many members of Congress to give less consideration to the needs of low-income individuals when developing legislation. Since these low-income individuals do not have the means to give large amounts of money to re-election campaigns, their views are often ignored. Many members of Congress endorse legislation that would benefit their largest donors. This leads to a Congress that is not a true representative of the broad interests across the United States (Flavin 2015).

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

These interest groups, despite variation in specific motives, would join with state legislators in educating voters about the direct benefits of this proposed bill. This goal of capping personal income could also be recognized by super PAC’s, whose contributions to state campaigns generally have a stronger influence on government than compared to donations at the national level, as their sizable sums lead to direct favors from state officials (Blumenthal, 2015).

Interest group are an important part of any election. Their support can make a huge impact on the result of election as well. As I strongly support reach of education for every child, Texas parent PAC are one interest group likely to support me (The Voter's Self Defense System.”). I want to develop awareness and even focus on establishing new schools in various part of the district. Moreover, increasing number of scholarship and making education accessible to all is my motto. So, Texas parent PAC’s will support me (The Voter's Self Defense System.”). As a support of environmental management, Environment Texas will also support me. I strongly believe in environment conservation and the necessity of people to understand about it. Awareness, various campaigns can help obtain the goal. So, these two-interest group will support me followed by others.

In this essay I will compare and contrast the different legislative agendas of various interest groups involved with the Texas Government. An interest group (also called an advocacy group, lobbying group, pressure group, or special interest) is a collection of members that are determined to encourage or prevent changes in public policy without trying to be elected. The essay will discuss the four kinds of interest groups, trade, professional, single and public, as well as provide one detailed example of each type. It includes examples from the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers, Texas AFT, MADD and TexPIRG interest groups, which are just a few of the many groups in existence out, but it provides an idea of what different types of

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

Wayne, Lasser, Miller and others tend to agree that lobbyists and PACs have a great amount of influence over congress members because they may have direct connections and give campaign contributions. Recently, the airlines industry convinced congress to pass a $15 billion aid package it needs in order to survive. “The airlines had plenty of resources to draw on: 27 in-houses lobbyists, augmented by lobbyists from 42 Washington firms, including former White House aides and transportation secretaries, as well as the airlines own chief executives and corporate board members, whom all are well known in the halls of congress”(Wayne, NYT, 10/01/01. Lasser, American Politics, 1999. Miller, The American Prospect, 10/23/00. Geiger, Washington Post, 11/4-10/91.)

Shortly after the start of school in the middle of August, Governor Bruce Rauner finally signed Senate Bill 1. But neither Republicans or Democrats were completely happy with the entire bill, but at the end of the day they believe “the real winners are the students in the state’s 852 school districts” (Wall). By the governor signing this bill, it means that more money will go to poor school districts throughout the state in order to help the districts with their school funding. But at the end of the day several lawmakers believe this is what the state needed. Senator Kimberly Lightford, Democratic representing Westchester states “I think this is a moment that we all can be proud of. None of us can say we love it 100 percent, but it actually gets the job done.” While Senator Jason Barickman, a Republican representing Bloomington states “We’ve disagreed often, but importantly we’ve come together in

An interest group also known as a special interest group or a lobby is an organized group of individuals, organizations, or businesses who share a goal. The interest group forms an alliance in support of their cause to influence public policy and government officials in the group 's favor. The goal of the group could be focused on small group, such as the Japan Eraser Manufacturer 's Association; or the goal could be focused on a large public group, such as family and friends of public school-aged children in the United States. "The most important lobbying forces in any society are the various entities of government: national, regional, and local government agencies and institutions such as the military" (Thomas).???????????

Proposition 30, formally known as "Schools and Local Public Safety Protection Act of 2012” would add Section 36 to Article XIII of the California Constitution. Proposition 30 increases personal income taxes for seven years for California residents with an annual income over $250,000 and sales taxes by .25 % for four years. This tax increase is placed on California 's top 5% of taxpayers and is estimated to generate average revenues of $6 billion dollars a year for California. 3 These revenues generated will be used to fund public schools, more specifically 89% of these temporary tax revenues will help fund K-12 schools and 11% of these revenues will help fund community colleges. These funds are prohibited to be used by schools for administrative cost purposes, however, local school governing boards are given the freedom to decide how they should best allocate these new resources. This measure would also include provisions of the recent “realignment” which would ensure counties continue to receive funding for programs such as public safety, health and social services. 3 With the rising costs of education and decrease in state funding for public schools, it is beneficial to vote in favor of Proposition 30 to better educate our future and help fund initiatives such as reducing class sizes, buying new textbooks and hiring more

People are important for the success of democracy. After electing their representatives, some individuals wish to be more involved in legislative decisions that affect them, so they take to lobbying and joining interest groups. This often provides them with an atmosphere of individuals who think like they do, while also allowing them to play more of a role than just voting for a few people to represent them. Lobbying and interest groups also allow for issues to be brought to the attention of the legislature and provide a way for these groups to talk to the legislators, whether it is over dinner or at a concert. By voicing their opinions and placing pressures on the legislation, these groups have become successful in fighting for their passions and their views on important

Says Grossmann on page 3, “interest groups often play a central role in setting the government agenda…[and] are often found to have a substantial impact on policy outcomes.” Many political candidates from both sides of the partisan aisle have run on a platform of neutralizing the force of special interests in Washington, and this illuminates why that’s an important issue. Special interests lobby because they have something to gain from the result of the policy, or those they represent do. It’s not always a nefarious intention, but the parochial nature of special interests is in conflict with policy that affects the American public at large, and those interests often win out because they wield power over lawmakers at the national, state and local