What Does the Veto Power Allow the Governor to Do

The Legislative Branch of Government

The Texas Constitution divides land authorities into three separate just equal branches: the executive branch, headed by the governor; the judicial branch, which consists of the Texas Supreme Court and all state courts; and the legislative co-operative, headed by the Texas Legislature, which includes the 150 members of the house of representatives and the 31 members of the land senate.

Members of the house of representatives are elected to two-year terms and represent districts of about 167,500 people each. Senators serve four-year terms and serve virtually 811,000 people each.

The legislature meets every odd-numbered yr to write new laws and to find solutions to the problems facing the state. This coming together time, which begins on the second Tuesday in Jan and lasts 140 days, is called the regular session. The governor can direct the legislature to meet at other times also. These meetings, called special sessions, can final no more than xxx days and deal merely with issues chosen by the governor.

On the kickoff day of each regular session, the 150 members of the firm of representatives cull ane of their members to be the speaker of the house. The speaker is the presiding officer of the house. He or she maintains order, recognizes members to speak during debate, and rules on procedural matters.

The speaker likewise appoints the chairs and vice chairs of the committees that written report legislation and decides which other representatives volition serve on those committees, subject area to seniority rules. There are 31 committees, each of which deals with a dissimilar subject surface area, and 5 committees that bargain with procedural or administrative matters for the house. Most members serve on two or iii dissimilar committees.

In the senate, the presiding officer is the lieutenant governor, who is non actually a member of the senate. The lieutenant governor is the 2nd-highest ranking officer of the executive branch of regime and, like the governor, is chosen for a 4-year term past popular vote in a statewide election.

The commencement thing that the speaker of the firm and the lieutenant governor ask their respective houses of the legislature to practice is to decide on the rules that the legislators will follow during the session. Some legislative procedures are provided for in the state constitution, but boosted rules can exist adopted by a house of the legislature if approved by a majority vote of its members.

Once rules have been adopted, the legislature begins to consider bills.

Introducing a Beak

A representative or senator gets an idea for a bill by listening to the people he or she represents and and then working to solve their problem. A beak may also grow out of the recommendations of an interim committee study conducted when the legislature is non in session. The thought is researched to make up one's mind what country law needs to be changed or created to all-time solve that trouble. A bill is so written past the legislator, often with legal assistance from the Texas Legislative Council, a legislative agency which provides neb drafting services, inquiry assist, computer support, and other services for legislators.

In one case a bill has been written, information technology is introduced by a member of the business firm or senate in the fellow member's own chamber. Sometimes, similar bills nigh a particular issue are introduced in both houses at the same time by a representative and senator working together. Even so, any pecker increasing taxes or raising money for apply by the land must start in the house of representatives.

House members and senators can introduce bills on whatever subject during the first sixty calendar days of a regular session. After 60 days, the introduction of any bill other than a local bill or a beak related to an emergency declared by the governor requires the consent of at least four-fifths of the members present and voting in the house or four-fifths of the membership in the senate.

After a bill has been introduced, a short description of the bill, chosen a caption, is read aloud while the bedroom is in session so that all of the members are enlightened of the pecker and its subject. This is called the beginning reading, and it is the point in the procedure where the presiding officeholder assigns the bill to a committee. This assignment is announced on the chamber floor during the first reading of the bill.

The Committee Process

The chair of each committee decides when the committee will encounter and which bills will be considered. The business firm rules permit a house committee or subcommittee to meet: (1) in a public hearing where testimony is heard and where official action may be taken on bills, resolutions, or other matters; (2) in a formal coming together where the members may discuss and take official activity without hearing public testimony; or (three) in a work session for discussion of matters before the committee without taking formal activeness. In the senate, testimony may be heard and official activity may be taken at any coming together of a senate committee or subcommittee. Public testimony is near e'er solicited on bills, allowing citizens the opportunity to nowadays arguments on different sides of an effect.

A firm committee or subcommittee property a public hearing during a legislative session must post notice of the hearing at to the lowest degree five agenda days before the hearing during a regular session and at least 24 hours in advance during a special session. For a formal meeting or a work session, written notice must be posted and sent to each member of the committee two hours in advance of the meeting or an announcement must be filed with the journal clerk and read while the house is in session. A senate committee or subcommittee must post find of a meeting at least 24 hours before the meeting.

Afterwards considering a nib, a committee may choose to take no activeness or may effect a report on the bill. The committee report, expressing the committee's recommendations regarding activeness on a nib, includes a tape of the committee's vote on the report, the text of the bill equally reported by the committee, a detailed bill analysis, and a financial note or other impact statement, as necessary. The report is then printed, and a copy is distributed to every fellow member of the business firm or senate.

In the house, a copy of the committee written report is sent to either the Committee on Calendars or the Committee on Local and Consent Calendars for placement on a calendar for consideration past the full business firm. In the senate, local and noncontroversial bills are scheduled for senate consideration by the Senate Administration Committee. All other bills in the senate are placed on the regular order of business for consideration past the full senate in the club in which the bills were reported from senate committee. A bill on the regular order of business may not be brought up for floor consideration unless the senate sponsor of the bill has filed a written notice of intent to append the regular society of business concern for consideration of the bill.

Flooring Action

When a neb comes up for consideration by the total house or senate, it receives its 2d reading. The pecker is read, again by caption only, and then debated by the full membership of the chamber. Any member may offer an subpoena, but it must be canonical by a majority of the members present and voting to be adopted. The members then vote on whether to laissez passer the bill. The beak is and so considered by the full body once more on third reading and final passage. A bill may exist amended again on tertiary reading, but amendments at this stage require a two-thirds majority for adoption. Although the Texas Constitution requires a beak to exist read on three separate days in each firm earlier it can have the force of police force, this constitutional rule may be suspended by a 4-fifths vote of the house in which the bill is pending. The senate routinely suspends this ramble provision in order to give a pecker an immediate third reading after its 2nd reading consideration. The business firm, withal, rarely suspends this provision, and tertiary reading of a bill in the house normally occurs on the day following its 2d reading consideration.

In either house, a bill may be passed on a voice vote or a record vote. In the house, record votes are tallied by an electronic vote board controlled by buttons on each member's desk. In the senate, tape votes are taken past calling the curlicue of the members.

If a nib receives a bulk vote on third reading, it is considered passed. When a nib is passed in the house where it originated, the pecker is engrossed, and a new copy of the bill which incorporates all corrections and amendments is prepared and sent to the opposite sleeping room for consideration. In the second house, the pecker follows basically the aforementioned steps it followed in the first firm. When the bill is passed in the reverse house, it is returned to the originating chamber with whatever amendments that take been adopted simply attached to the bill.

Action on the Other House'south Amendments and Conference Committees

If a bill is returned to the originating chamber with amendments, the originating bedchamber tin either concord to the amendments or request a conference committee to work out differences between the house version and the senate version. If the amendments are agreed to, the nib is put in final course, signed by the presiding officers, and sent to the governor.

Conference committees are equanimous of v members from each house appointed by the presiding officers. Once the conference committee reaches understanding, a conference committee report is prepared and must exist approved by at least three of the five conferees from each house. Conference commission reports are voted on in each house and must be canonical or rejected without amendment. If approved by both houses, the bill is signed by the presiding officers and sent to the governor.

Governor's Activeness

Upon receiving a bill, the governor has 10 days in which to sign the bill, veto it, or allow information technology to become constabulary without a signature. If the governor vetoes the bill and the legislature is still in session, the bill is returned to the business firm in which it originated with an explanation of the governor's objections. A two-thirds bulk in each house is required to override the veto. If the governor neither vetoes nor signs the neb within 10 days, the bill becomes a law. If a bill is sent to the governor within x days of final adjournment, the governor has until twenty days later final adjournment to sign the bill, veto it, or allow it to get law without a signature.

Ramble Amendments

Proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution are in the form of joint resolutions instead of bills and crave a vote of two-thirds of the entire membership in each house for adoption. Joint resolutions are not sent to the governor for approval, only are filed directly with the secretary of country. A joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Texas Constitution does non get effective until it is approved past Texas voters in a full general election.

• More than Detailed Information on the Steps in the Legislative Procedure

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Source: https://www.house.texas.gov/about-us/bill/

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