A Bill Can Be Acted on by the Full Membership Only When It Is Chosen for _____ by Committee Members.
The Legislative Branch of Authorities
The Texas Constitution divides state government into three separate but equal branches: the executive branch, headed by the governor; the judicial branch, which consists of the Texas Supreme Courtroom and all land courts; and the legislative branch, headed by the Texas Legislature, which includes the 150 members of the firm of representatives and the 31 members of the state senate.
Members of the house of representatives are elected to two-year terms and represent districts of almost 167,500 people each. Senators serve four-year terms and serve most 811,000 people each.
The legislature meets every odd-numbered year to write new laws and to find solutions to the bug facing the country. This meeting time, which begins on the second Tuesday in January and lasts 140 days, is chosen the regular session. The governor can direct the legislature to meet at other times too. These meetings, called special sessions, can last no more than 30 days and deal only with issues chosen past the governor.
On the outset mean solar day of each regular session, the 150 members of the firm of representatives cull one of their members to be the speaker of the house. The speaker is the presiding officer of the house. He or she maintains club, recognizes members to speak during debate, and rules on procedural matters.
The speaker likewise appoints the chairs and vice chairs of the committees that study legislation and decides which other representatives will serve on those committees, subject to seniority rules. There are 31 committees, each of which deals with a dissimilar discipline area, and 5 committees that deal with procedural or administrative matters for the house. Most members serve on two or 3 different committees.
In the senate, the presiding officeholder 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 government and, like the governor, is called for a four-twelvemonth term by popular vote in a statewide ballot.
The beginning thing that the speaker of the house and the lieutenant governor ask their respective houses of the legislature to do is to decide on the rules that the legislators volition follow during the session. Some legislative procedures are provided for in the land constitution, merely additional rules can exist adopted by a business firm of the legislature if approved by a majority vote of its members.
Once rules take been adopted, the legislature begins to consider bills.
Introducing a Nib
A representative or senator gets an idea for a pecker past listening to the people he or she represents and then working to solve their problem. A beak may also grow out of the recommendations of an acting committee study conducted when the legislature is not in session. The idea is researched to determine what country law needs to be changed or created to all-time solve that trouble. A pecker is then written by the legislator, oft with legal help from the Texas Legislative Council, a legislative agency which provides beak drafting services, enquiry aid, computer support, and other services for legislators.
Once a bill has been written, it is introduced by a member of the house or senate in the fellow member's ain chamber. Sometimes, like bills virtually a item issue are introduced in both houses at the aforementioned time by a representative and senator working together. Yet, any bill increasing taxes or raising coin for apply by the state must offset in the house of representatives.
Firm members and senators can introduce bills on any subject field during the first lx calendar days of a regular session. Afterward 60 days, the introduction of any nib other than a local pecker or a bill related to an emergency declared by the governor requires the consent of at to the lowest degree four-fifths of the members nowadays and voting in the house or four-fifths of the membership in the senate.
After a bill has been introduced, a short clarification of the bill, called a caption, is read aloud while the chamber is in session so that all of the members are aware of the bill and its subject. This is called the first reading, and it is the indicate in the process where the presiding officer assigns the bill to a commission. This assignment is announced on the chamber floor during the first reading of the bill.
The Commission Process
The chair of each committee decides when the committee will run into and which bills volition exist considered. The firm rules permit a house committee or subcommittee to encounter: (one) 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 have official action without hearing public testimony; or (3) in a piece of work session for discussion of matters earlier the committee without taking formal action. In the senate, testimony may be heard and official action may exist taken at any coming together of a senate committee or subcommittee. Public testimony is most always solicited on bills, assuasive citizens the opportunity to present arguments on different sides of an consequence.
A house committee or subcommittee holding a public hearing during a legislative session must post observe of the hearing at least v calendar days before the hearing during a regular session and at to the lowest degree 24 hours in advance during a special session. For a formal meeting or a work session, written discover must be posted and sent to each member of the committee 2 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 mail service observe of a meeting at least 24 hours before the meeting.
Afterwards considering a bill, a committee may cull to take no action or may consequence a report on the neb. The committee written report, expressing the committee'south recommendations regarding action on a bill, includes a record of the committee's vote on the report, the text of the bill equally reported past the committee, a detailed bill analysis, and a fiscal note or other affect statement, as necessary. The study is then printed, and a copy is distributed to every member of the house or senate.
In the firm, a copy of the committee report is sent to either the Committee on Calendars or the Committee on Local and Consent Calendars for placement on a calendar for consideration by the full house. In the senate, local and noncontroversial bills are scheduled for senate consideration by the Senate Administration Commission. All other bills in the senate are placed on the regular gild of business for consideration by the full senate in the order in which the bills were reported from senate committee. A beak on the regular guild of business organisation may non exist brought up for floor consideration unless the senate sponsor of the nib has filed a written notice of intent to suspend the regular gild of business organization for consideration of the bill.
Flooring Activity
When a bill comes upwardly for consideration by the full house or senate, information technology receives its second reading. The bill is read, over again by caption simply, then debated past the full membership of the chamber. Whatsoever member may offer an amendment, but it must be approved by a bulk of the members present and voting to be adopted. The members and so vote on whether to pass the bill. The bill is and then considered by the full body again on third reading and final passage. A pecker may be amended again on third reading, but amendments at this stage require a ii-thirds majority for adoption. Although the Texas Constitution requires a bill to be read on iii divide days in each firm before it tin take the force of law, this constitutional rule may be suspended past a four-fifths vote of the house in which the neb is pending. The senate routinely suspends this constitutional provision in order to give a bill an immediate third reading after its second reading consideration. The business firm, however, rarely suspends this provision, and tertiary reading of a bill in the firm commonly 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, tape votes are tallied by an electronic vote board controlled by buttons on each member'due south desk. In the senate, record votes are taken by calling the roll of the members.
If a bill receives a majority vote on third reading, it is considered passed. When a bill is passed in the house where it originated, the beak is engrossed, and a new copy of the neb which incorporates all corrections and amendments is prepared and sent to the reverse chamber for consideration. In the second house, the bill follows basically the aforementioned steps it followed in the first house. When the bill is passed in the opposite house, information technology is returned to the originating bedchamber with whatever amendments that have been adopted just fastened to the bill.
Activity on the Other House'south Amendments and Conference Committees
If a pecker is returned to the originating sleeping room with amendments, the originating sleeping accommodation can either concord to the amendments or asking a briefing committee to work out differences between the house version and the senate version. If the amendments are agreed to, the bill is put in final form, signed past the presiding officers, and sent to the governor.
Conference committees are equanimous of five members from each house appointed by the presiding officers. Once the conference committee reaches agreement, a conference committee report is prepared and must be approved past at least three of the 5 conferees from each house. Briefing committee reports are voted on in each house and must be approved or rejected without amendment. If canonical past both houses, the pecker is signed by the presiding officers and sent to the governor.
Governor's Action
Upon receiving a bill, the governor has 10 days in which to sign the bill, veto it, or allow it to become police force without a signature. If the governor vetoes the bill and the legislature is still in session, the bill is returned to the house in which it originated with an caption of the governor's objections. A 2-thirds bulk in each house is required to override the veto. If the governor neither vetoes nor signs the bill within ten days, the bill becomes a police. If a bill is sent to the governor within x days of final adjournment, the governor has until 20 days after terminal adjournment to sign the bill, veto it, or allow it to become law without a signature.
Constitutional Amendments
Proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution are in the grade of joint resolutions instead of bills and require a vote of two-thirds of the entire membership in each house for adoption. Joint resolutions are not sent to the governor for approving, but are filed straight with the secretary of state. A joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Texas Constitution does not become effective until it is canonical by Texas voters in a general election.
- More Detailed Information on the Steps in the Legislative Procedure
Source: https://house.texas.gov/about-us/bill/
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