TEXAS LEGISLATURE

The 'Texas Legislature' is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Texas. The legislature meets at the Texas State Capitol in Austin. In Texas, the Legislature is considered the most powerful branch of state government because of its aggressive use of the power of the purse to control and direct the activities of state government.
Texas entered the Union in 1845. The First Legislature met from February 16 to May 13, 1846.

Contents

Structure and operations

Qualification for service

Makeup of the Texas House of Representatives

Makeup of the Texas Senate

References

External links

Structure and operations

Like most state legislatures, it is a bicameral institution, consisting of the lower house House of Representatives with 150 members, and the upper house Senate with 31 members. The legislature meets in regular session on the second Tuesday in January of each odd-numbered year.^[1] The Texas Constitution limits the regular session to 140 calendar days. The Lieutenant Governor, elected statewide separate from the Governor, presides over the Senate, while the Speaker of the House is elected from that body by its members. Both have wide latitude in choosing committee membership in their respective houses and have a large impact on lawmaking in the state.
Only the Governor may call the Legislature into special sessions (the legislature may not call itself into session, as is the case in some other states), and the governor may call as many sessions as he wishes. For example, Governor Rick Perry called three consecutive sessions in 2003 to address congressional redistricting. The Texas Constitution limits the duration of each special session to 30 days; lawmakers may consider only those issues designated by the Governor in his "call," or proclamation convening the special session (though other issues may be added by the Governor during a session).
Both houses of the Legislature are officially organized on a bipartisan basis, with members of both parties serving in leadership positions such as committee chairmanships. Currently (2007), a majority of the members of each chamber are members of the Republican Party.

Qualification for service

The Texas Constitution sets the qualifications for election to each house as follows:

★ A senator must be at least 26 years of age, a citizen of Texas five years prior to election and a resident of the district from which elected one year prior to election. Each senator serves a four-year term and one-half of the Senate membership is elected every two years in even-numbered years, with the exception that all 31 Senate seats are up for election for the first legislature following the decennial census in order to reflect the newly redrawn districts. After the initial election, the Senate is divided by lot into two classes, with one class having a re-election after two years and the other having a re-election after four years.

★ A representative must be at least 21 years of age, a citizen of Texas for two years prior to election and a resident of the district from which elected one year prior to election. They are elected for two-year terms, running for re-election in even-numbered years.
Neither the House of Representatives nor the Senate has term limits.

Makeup of the Texas House of Representatives

'Affiliation'		'Members'
	Republican Party	81
	Democratic Party	69
'Total'		'150'

Makeup of the Texas Senate

'Affiliation'		'Members'
	Republican Party	20
	Democratic Party	11
'Total'		'31'

Senator		Party	District	Home Town	Took Office	Kevin Eltife	Republican	1	Tyler	2004	Bob Deuell	Republican	2	Greenville	2003	Robert Nichols	Republican	3	Jacksonville	2007	Tommy Williams	Republican	4	The Woodlands	2003	Steve Ogden	Republican	5	Bryan	1997	Mario Gallegos, Jr.	Democratic	6	Houston	1995	Dan Patrick	Republican	7	Houston	2007	Florence Shapiro	Republican	8	Plano	1993	Chris Harris	Republican	9	Arlington	1991	Kim Brimer	Republican	10	Fort Worth	2003	Mike Jackson	Republican	11	La Porte	1999	Jane Nelson	Republican	12	Lewisville	1993	Rodney Ellis	Democratic	13	Houston	1990	Kirk Watson	Democratic	14	Austin	2007	John Whitmire	Democratic	15	Houston	1983	John Carona	Republican	16	Dallas	1996	Kyle Janek	Republican	17	Houston	2002	Glenn Hegar	Republican	18	Katy	2007	Carlos I. Uresti	Democratic	19	San Antonio	2006	Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa	Democratic	20	Mission	2002	Judith Zaffirini	Democratic	21	Laredo	1987	Kip Averitt	Republican	22	Waco	2002	Royce West	Democratic	23	Dallas	1993	Troy Fraser	Republican	24	Horseshoe Bay	1997	Jeff Wentworth	Republican	25	San Antonio	1993	Leticia R. Van de Putte	Democratic	26	San Antonio	1999	Eddie Lucio, Jr.	Democratic	27	Brownsville	1991	Robert Duncan	Republican	28	Lubbock	1997	Eliot Shapleigh	Democratic	29	El Paso	1997	Craig Estes	Republican	30	Wichita Falls	2001	Kel Seliger	Republican	31	Amarillo	2004

References

★ "Citizen Handbook". The Senate of Texas. Retrieved 13 April 2005.

★ . Retrieved 13 April 2005.

★ Stanley K. Young, ''Texas Legislative Handbook'' (1973).

★ Univ. of Tex., ''The Legislative Branch'' in ''Texas Politics,'' [1] (last accessed Oct. 8, 2006) (stating that "The Texas Legislature is the most powerful of the three main branches of government[,]" primarily because it is "less weak than the other branches").

External links

★ Texas Legislature Online

★ Texas House of Representatives

★ Texas State Senate

★ Legislative Reference Library of Texas

★ Texas Politics - The Legislative Branch

★ Billhop - Texas Legislative Wiki