Practicing TEXAS Politics, Enhanced 17th Edition
By Lyle C. Brown, Joyce A. Langenegger, Sonia R. García, Robert E. Biles, Ryan T. Rynbrandt, Veronica Vega Reyna and Juan Carlos Huerta
Detailed Contents:
Chapter 1: The Environment of Texas Politics 1
Everything Is Changing in Texas . . . . . . . 2
Texas Politics and Political Culture . . . . . . 3
Government, Politics, and Public Policy in Texas . 3
Types of Political Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Texas Political Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
A Changing Culture? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
The People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Texans Throughout History: From Conflict
Toward Cooperation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Texans Today . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Religious Diversity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
The Land and Population Distribution . . . . 17
Urbanization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Suburbanization and Gentrification . . . . . . . . 18
Rural Texas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
The Regions of Texas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
The Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
The Texas Economy Through History . . . . . . . 24
New Economic Directions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Meeting New Challenges . . . . . . . . . . 31
Immigration: Federal and State Problems . . . . 31
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Poverty and Social Problems . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Chapter 2: Federalism and the Texas Constitution 42
The American Federal Structure . . . . . . . 43
Distribution of Constitutional Powers . . . . . . . 44
Interstate Relations and State Immunities . . . . 47
State Powers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Federal-State Relations: An Evolving Process . . 53
The Texas Constitution: Politics of Policymaking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Historical Developments . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Today: After More Than a Century of Usage . . . 62
Constitutional Amendments and Revision . . 66
Constitutional Revision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
More Revision Attempts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Piecemeal Revision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
The Texas Constitution: A Summary . . . . . 71
The Bill of Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
The Powers of Government and
Separation of Powers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Suffrage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Local Governments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Other Articles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Chapter 3: Local Governments 80
Local Politics in Context . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Local Governments and Federalism . . . . . . . 82
Grassroots Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Municipal Governments . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Legal Status of Municipalities . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Forms of Municipal Government . . . . . . . . . 86
Municipal Politics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Rules Make a Difference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Socioeconomic and Demographic Changes . . . 94
Municipal Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Municipal Government Revenue . . . . . . . . . 97
Generating Revenue for Economic
Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Counties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Structure and Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . .103
County Finance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
County Government Reform . . . . . . . . . . .111
Border Counties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Special Districts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Public School Districts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Junior or Community College Districts . . . . . . 116
Noneducation Special Districts . . . . . . . . . . 117
Metropolitan Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Councils of Governments . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Municipal Annexation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Chapter 4: Political Parties 125
Role of Political Parties . . . . . . . . . . 126
Political Ideology . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Conservatism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .127
Libertarianism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Liberalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Electoral Trends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Third Parties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Independents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
An Overview of Texas Political History . . 132
1840s to 1870s: The Origin of the Party System 132
1870s to 1970s: A One-Party Dominant System . 133
1970s to 1990s: An Emerging Two-Party System . 134
2000 to 2016: Republican Dominance . . . . . . 135
2016 and Beyond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Party Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Temporary Party Organization . . . . . . . . . .143
Selection of National Convention Delegates . . 147
Permanent Party Organization . . . . . . . . . .149
Chapter 5: Campaigns and Elections 155
Political Campaigns . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Conducting Campaigns in the 21st Century . . . 156
Campaign Reform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Campaign Finance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .160
Racial and Ethnic Politics . . . . . . . . . 163
Latinos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
African Americans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Women in Politics . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Voting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Obstacles to Voting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Democratization of the Ballot . . . . . . . . . . 172
Voter Turnout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .173
Administering Elections . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Primary, General, and Special Elections . . 183
Primaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
General and Special Elections . . . . . . . . . .187
Chapter 6: The Media and Politics 192
Where Do We Get Our Information? . . . 193
Print Media: Newspapers and News Magazines . 195
Electronic Media: Radio and Television . . . . . 197
Digital Media: The Internet and Social Media . . 200
The Media’s Roles in Politics . . . . . . . .203
Providing Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Maintaining Democracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Setting the Public Agenda . . . . . . . . . . . .211
Shaping Our Views? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Campaigns and Citizen Participation . . . 215
Campaigns and the Traditional Media . . . . . .216
Digital Campaigning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .217
Citizen Participation in the Digital Age . . . . . . 218
Bias? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Media Bias and the News . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
What Research Finds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .221
Regulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Regulation of Print and Broadcast Media . . . . 222
Internet Regulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .223
State and Local Regulation . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Latinos, African Americans, and
Women in Texas Media . . . . . . . . . . 225
Change in the Media: More Participation,
More Sources, but Less News? . . . . . . 227
Concentration of Ownership . . . . . . . . . . .227
For Good and for Bad: The Rise of
the Internet and Social Media . . . . . . . . .232
The Future? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
Chapter 7: The Politics of Interest Groups 238
Interest Groups in the Political Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
What Is an Interest Group? . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
The Reasons for Interest Groups . . . . . . . . .240
Characteristics of Interest Groups . . . . . . . . 242
Types of Interest Groups . . . . . . . . . 245
Economic Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Professional/Public Employee Groups . . . . . .247
Social Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Public Interest Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Texas Power Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Interest Group Activities . . . . . . . . . 255
Lobbying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .256
Electioneering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
Campaign Financing by Political Action
Committees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
Bribery and Unethical Practices . . . . . . . . . 264
Power and Regulation in
Interest Group Politics . . . . . . . . . . . 265
Regulation of Interest Group Politics . . . . . . . 266
Interest Group Power and Public Policy . . . . .269
Pinpointing Political Power . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
Chapter 8: The Legislative Branch 273
Legislative Framework . . . . . . . . . . 276
Election and Terms of Office . . . . . . . . . . .276
Sessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
Districting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
Legislators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
Qualifications and Characteristics . . . . . . . . 284
Compensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Legislative Organization . . . . . . . . . . 291
Presiding Officers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
Committee System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .293
Legislative Caucus System . . . . . . . . . . . .295
Legislative Operations . . . . . . . . . . . 297
Powers and Immunities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
Rules and Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
How a Bill Becomes a Law . . . . . . . . . . . .301
Influences Within the Legislative
Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
Research Organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
The Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
Chapter 9: The Executive Branch 315
Gubernatorial Elections . . . . . . . . . . 318
Gubernatorial Politics: Money Matters . . . . . . 318
Gubernatorial Politics: Budgetary Influence . . .320
Overview of the Governorship . . . . . . 321
Compensation and Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . 321
Staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .324
Succession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
Removal from Office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .325
Informal Powers of the Governor . . . . . 326
Executive Powers of the Governor . . . . 328
Appointive Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
Removal Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .330
Military Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
Law Enforcement Power . . . . . . . . . . . . .332
Budgetary Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .332
Executive Orders and Proclamations . . . . . . . 333
Economic Development . . . . . . . . . . . . .334
Legislative Powers of the Governor . . . . 335
Message Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
Bill Signing Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
Veto Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .336
Special Sessions Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
Judicial Powers of the Governor . . . . . 338
Appointment and Removal of Judges and
Justices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
Acts of Executive Clemency . . . . . . . . . . . 339
The Plural Executive . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
The Lieutenant Governor . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
The Attorney General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
The Comptroller of Public Accounts . . . . . . .343
The Commissioner of the General Land Office . .344
The Commissioner of Agriculture . . . . . . . . 345
The Secretary of State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
The State Bureaucracy . . . . . . . . . . . 347
The Institutional Context . . . . . . . . . . . . .348
State Employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .349
Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352
Health and Human Services . . . . . . . . . . . 354
Employment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
Economic and Environmental Agencies . . . . .357
Chapter 10: The Judicial Branch 363
State Law in Texas . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364
Sources of Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .365
Code Revision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
Courts, Judges, Lawyers, and Juries . . . 366
Trial and Appellate Courts . . . . . . . . . . . .366
Selecting Judges and Justices . . . . . . . . . .375
Disciplining and Removing Judges and
Justices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
Lawyers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .379
Juries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .382
Judicial Procedures in
Civil Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385
Civil Trial Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386
Trial and Appeal of a Civil Case . . . . . . . . . 387
Judicial Procedures in Criminal
Cases . . . 388
Criminal Justice System . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388
Criminal Trial and Appeal . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389
Chapter 11: Finance and Fiscal Policy 393
Fiscal Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
Taxing Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396
Budget Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398
Spending Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400
Revenue Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400
The Politics of Taxation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
Revenue from Gambling . . . . . . . . . . . . .407
Other Nontax Revenues . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
The Public Debt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
Budgeting and Fiscal Management . . . . 414
Budgeting Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
Budget Expenditures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
Budget Execution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419
Purchasing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419
Facilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419
Accounting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .419
Auditing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
Future Demands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
Public Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
Public Higher Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424
Public Assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .430
Infrastructure Needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431
Chapter 12: Public Policy and Administration 435
Making Public Policy in Texas . . . . . . . 436
Models of Policymaking . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437
The Institutional Context . . . . . . . . . . . . .440
Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442
Public Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442
Colleges and Universities . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448
Health and Human Services . . . . . . . . 454
Human Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457
Health and Mental Health Services . . . . . . . . 458
Employment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461
Economic and Environmental Policies . . . 462
Business Promotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463
Economic Regulatory Policy . . . . . . . . . . . 464
Environmental Regulation . . . . . . . . . . . . 468
Immigration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472
Chapter 13: The Criminal Justice System 477
Elements of the Criminal Justice System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479
Criminal Justice Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479
Criminal Justice Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481
The Death Penalty . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483
Reinstitution of the Death Penalty . . . . . . . .483
Reviewing the Death Penalty . . . . . . . . . . . 485
Correction and Rehabilitation . . . . . . . 489
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice . . . . 490
Local Government Jails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498
Private Prisons and Jails . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500
Juvenile Justice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500
State and Local Agencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501
Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502
Problems and Reforms: Implications
for Public Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503
Overcrowding and Mental Illness in Prison . . . 503
Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .504
Exoneration Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506
Racial Bias in the Criminal Justice System . . . .507
Misconduct by District Attorneys and
Prosecutors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508
Glossary 513
Endnotes 526
Index 559