Texas State House Bill 11

On September 1, 2015 House Bill 11 became effective in the state of Texas. Mainly authored by Dennis Bonnen a Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives, House Bill 11 amends many laws and actions towards the security of the Texas-Mexico border. The bill mainly deals for a long term solution to human trafficking and the flow of illegal drugs that come through the border. Both parties of the Texas House of Representatives amended House Bill 11 through a 131-12 vote, since many believed organized crime fueled by illegal drugs have swept through communities across Texas. The main goal for House Bill 11 is to strengthen the border through three primary actions the first is for the state to enact harsher laws for the smuggling of people and illegal contrabands. The second is to strengthen the border patrol force through providing improved tools, more frequent border checkpoints throughout the land, and increasing the population of border patrol officers. The third action of House Bill 11 is improving the sharing of crime data throughout the state by law enforcement to connect crimes in identify large criminal enterprises and stopping organized crime.

The Mexican gun smuggling cartel business started around the year of 2003 (Grillo, par. 2). The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) began to research and investigate the Mexican drug cartels (Detty, pg.3). The ATF started to use a tactic called “gunwalking”. This tactic ran a series of sting operations in order to arrest Mexican drug cartel leaders (Detty, pg.4). The citizens of Mexico were given the

While researching the weaknesses of Texas legislature sessions, I notice the short amount of time given to make some major decisions along with the pay that the members of legislature receive. For me ,140 days of every odd year for members of legislature to meet with decisions regarding bills that will become laws maybe a little compressed. Another weakness that could be considered is how low the income for the members are. Typically, when a person is not paid well they do not take the initiative to achieve the overall goal, nor are they motivated due to other factors that may have their attention. However, I must admit that the process a bill must go through to become a law is a strenuous if not worthy one. The problem would be how many bills

Never exceeding more than seventy-five guards, this placed them severely understaffed for the need of manpower, but it was reinforced with the help of “Military troops along the southwest border performed intermittent border patrolling…Texas Rangers were also sporadically assigned to patrol duties by the state” (Border Patrol History, 2015). At that time the United States government was more concerned with intercepting enemy communications than they were about illegal entry into the country. However, struck by the realization of how ineffective their efforts were to secure and patrol the border without enforcement between stations; Frank W. Berkshire, the Supervising Inspector, addressed his concerns of uncoordinated efforts in enforcing

The Texas Constitution (1876) as well as the United States Constitution (1791) have a plethora of similarities conceptually, as they are both rooted with the same ideologies of democracy. However, what sets these two documents apart is that the Texas constitution goes into more depth on laws and how its government works. In contrast, the US Constitution is more vague allowing it to be a far more timeless and living document. This paper will be comparing and contrasting these four provisions from the U.S and Texas Constitutions: The Bill of Rights, amending the constitution, the legislative branch, and the executive branch.

The Constitution of the State of Texas is the document representing the structure and function of the Texas government. The current Constitution took effect on February 15, 1876 and is the sixth Constitution in the history of Texas. When first constructed, the Texas Constitution was a poorly organized document that did not explain clearly the responsibility for government actions. Since its conception (through June 2011), there have been 646 proposed amendments and 476 adopted amendments added to this document. The Texas Constitution is also highly restrictive; it only grants enumerated powers to the State of Texas and does not allow for implied powers. The constant change to this Constitution has added to its poor organized condition that is extremely difficult to understand, even by the courts.

I chose option 2 for this discussion because I am interested to know how a Texas bill will undergo several stages before becoming a law. I was reading through the flow from the introduction and presentation of the bill to the Texas Committee and Texas Senate up to the final stage where it becomes a law. It endures a lot of discussions, meetings, and voting process before reaching the final signature of the governor then develop into a law.

Intelligence and Warning is Border and Transportation Security is responsible for protecting America's borders, territorial waters, and transportation systems by centralizing information-sharing and databases that track and monitor all aspects of border control and America's transportation systems. Domestic Counterterrorism covers a wide variety of activities, ranging from National Security Agency monitoring of telephone conversations to local police monitoring of persons of interest. Protecting Critical Infrastructure and Key Assets identifies a clear set of national goals and objectives and outlines the guiding principles that will underpin our efforts to secure the infrastructures and assets vital to our national security, governance, public health and safety, economy, and public confidence. Defending against Catastrophic Threats reduces vulnerability of the United States to terrorism. Emergency Preparedness and Response will create one emergency response plan to be used at all levels of government and will ensure that first-responders, from the federal government level down to local levels, receive proper training and equipment.

The Texas legislature, as stated by Champagne, Harpham, & Casellas, is a bicameral legislature compromised of two chambers. That is, the Senate and the Texas House of Representatives (2017, p. 211). It includes 31 senators and 150 House members. The legislature serves as the most critical establishment that aids in representing the state (Champagne et al., 2017, p.211). Members of the Texas state legislature must meet the essential requirements, perform their duties to the best of their ability, represent citizens, and attend sessions.

Texas has a legislative session every two years. Currently the legislature is in session from January 10, 2017 to May 29 2017, a total of 140 days. During these 140 days the legislators have to work fast to try to get through all the bills. A bill is written and proposed by a Representative from the House of Representatives or from a Senator from the Senate. Once it is filed the bill goes to the Senate or House Committee, if it was filed in the senate than it would go to the senate committee and vice versa. After the bill passes committee it will go to the House or Senate floor for a vote. The bill then goes to the house or senate committee, whichever it was not in before. When it passes that committee it

Christopher Garza Professor Sharifian GOVT 2306-71003 September 30, 2017 Appeals to Apathy: Legislation in Texas Running for public office in the state of Texas is not an easy task. The state is rife with gerrymandering, special interest groups, and a generally apathetic voting populace. To challenge an incumbent means to battle against all of that. The population of Texas that does vote is most likely to vote for the same person that they have been voting for. Special Interest groups will fund their campaigns, giving them a greater platform to reach voters than one would have as an individual. Gerrymandering allows an incumbent to draw their district in a way that maximizes their voting base while minimizing their opposition. For

Texas has a rich history that stretches as far back as 1824, where Mexico provided land grants to encourage its settlement. Such influences had immeasurable effect on its constitution and culture. Texas has been influenced throughout its history, it applies a separate set of rules to follow in its own constitution. It limits its own legislature and constantly argues against the power of national government, which reflexes Texas’ own unique perspective about its history and culture. Texas’ prevailing traditionalistic political culture has resisted social change through legislation, the argument of state’s rights and culturally.

The Texas constitution in my opinion is very boring and nonsensical. Maybe its because I am not from Texas consequently I don’t necessarily believe this is a constitution that works when it really doesn’t. I feel it needs a whole lot of improvements and reevaluations due to so many amendments being tact on time after time which makes it very hard to understand! I’m just saying! Its all great and wonderful that most of the power to make “changes” in our society was given to the Texas electorates and not the elected. How nice of you to have the voters come back out to the polls two years after legislature to disapprove a bunch of issues that really have no relevance to the statewide issues at hand. The Texas constitution seems to a little long,

The formation of fusion centers is a step in the right direction to countering terrorist threats. By working efficiently and appropriately, information leading to arrests can be shared across county lines, state lines, and all around the world in a timely manner. Fusion centers can make law enforcement agencies more competent and effective in stopping crimes (to include terrorist attacks) before they take place. As long as the centers follow the laws they are governed by, they will remain ethical and can be a helpful addition in protecting the United States. Fusion centers in the United States perform a valuable role in countering terrorist threats, their positive influence far

In the State of New York, fusion center is a perfect example of information technology optimizing their performance in reducing crime within their police departments. The New York/New Jersey High Intensity Drug Trafficking Center serves as an information hub for law enforcement. According to (Johnson, 2008), the mass of intelligence data in the central location has proved to be a key factor in identifying individuals and organizations that are facilitating or carrying out terrorist activity in New York City.