Texas House of Representatives: Difference between revisions
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{{American politics/party colors/Republican/row}} || Bryan Hughes || R || [[Marshall, Texas|Marshall]] || 5 || [[Camp County, Texas|Camp]], [[Upshur County, Texas|Upshur]], [[Wood County, Texas|Wood]], [[Harrison County, Texas|Harrison]] |
{{American politics/party colors/Republican/row}} || Bryan Hughes || R || [[Marshall, Texas|Marshall]] || 5 || [[Camp County, Texas|Camp]], [[Upshur County, Texas|Upshur]], [[Wood County, Texas|Wood]], [[Harrison County, Texas|Harrison]] |
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{{American politics/party colors/Republican/row}} || Leo Berman || R || [[Tyler, Texas|Tyler]] || 6 || [[Smith County, Texas|Smith]] |
{{American politics/party colors/Republican/row}} || [[Leo Berman]] || R || [[Tyler, Texas|Tyler]] || 6 || [[Smith County, Texas|Smith]] |
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{{American politics/party colors/Republican/row}} || [[Tommy Merritt]] || R || [[Longview, Texas|Longview]] || 7 || [[Smith County, Texas|Smith]], [[Gregg County, Texas|Gregg]] |
{{American politics/party colors/Republican/row}} || [[Tommy Merritt]] || R || [[Longview, Texas|Longview]] || 7 || [[Smith County, Texas|Smith]], [[Gregg County, Texas|Gregg]] |
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Revision as of 16:24, 15 August 2010
Texas House of Representatives | |
|---|---|
| Coat of arms or logo | |
| Type | |
| Type | |
| Leadership | |
Speaker pro Tempore | |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 150 |
 | |
Political groups | Democratic Party (73) Republican Party (76) |
| Elections | |
Last election | November 4, 2008 |
| Meeting place | |
 | |
| House Chamber, Texas State Capitol, Austin | |
| Website | |
| http://www.house.state.tx.us | |
The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the Texas Legislature. The House is composed of 150 members elected from single-member districts across the state. The average district has about 150,000 people. Representatives are elected to two-year terms with no term limits. The House meets at the Texas Capitol in Austin.
Leadership of the House
The Speaker of the House is the presiding officer and key leader of the House. The Speaker's duties include maintaining order within the House, recognizing members during debate, rule on procedural matters, the appointment chairships and members to committees, sending bills for committee review. The Speaker pro tempore is a primarily a ceremonial position; by long-standing tradition, the Speaker pro tempore presides over the House during its consideration of local and consent bills.
Unlike other state legislatures, the House Rules do not formally recognize majority or minority leaders for parties represented in the House. However, each political party has a caucus that elects officers and participates in the lawmaking process. The leader of the Republican caucus is the Caucus Chairman, while the leader of the Democratic Caucus is the House Democratic Leader.
The current Speaker of the House is Joe Straus, a Republican from San Antonio. The Speaker pro tempore is Craig Eiland, a Democrat from Galveston. The current Republican Caucus Chairman is Larry Taylor of Friendswood and the current House Democratic Leader is Jim Dunnam of Waco.
Leaders
| Position | Name | Party | Residence | District |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Speaker of the House | Joe Straus | Republican | San Antonio | 121 |
| Speaker Pro Tempore | Craig Eiland | Democratic | Galveston | 23 |
Committee Structure
The following represents the House committee structure for the 81st Legislature.
- Agriculture and Livestock
- Appropriations
- Subcommittee on Business and Economic Development
- Subcommittee on Criminal Justice
- Subcommittee on Education
- Subcommittee on General Government
- Subcommittee on Health & Human Services
- Subcommittee on Hurricane
- Subcommittee on Stimulus
- Border & Intergovernmental Affairs
- Business & Industry
- Calendars
- Corrections
- County Affairs
- Criminal Jurisprudence
- Culture, Recreation, & Tourism
- Defense & Veterans' Affairs
- Elections
- Energy Resources
- Environmental Regulation
- Federal Economic Stabilization Funding (Select Committee)
- General Investigating & Ethics
- Higher Education
- House Administration
- Human Services
- Insurance
- Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence
- Land & Resource Management
- Licensing & Administrative Procedures
- Local & Consent Calendars
- Natural Resources
- Pensions, Investments, & Financial Resources
- Public Education
- Public Health
- Public Safety
- Redistricting
- Rules & Resolutions
- State Affairs
- Technology, Economic Development, & Workforce
- Transportation
- Urban Affairs
- Ways & Means
There are also statutory joint committees, composed of members of both the House and the Senate
- Criminal Justice Legislative Oversight
- Legislative Audit Board
- Legislative Budget Board
- Legislative Library Board
- Sunset Advisory Commission
- Texas Legislative Council
Current composition
| Affiliation | Party (Shading indicates majority caucus)
|
Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Template:American politics/party colors/Republican| | Template:American politics/party colors/Democratic| | |||
| Republican | Democratic | Vacant | ||
| End of previous legislature | 79 | 71 | 150 | 0 |
| Begin | 76 | 74 | 150 | 0 |
| November 6, 2009[1] | 77 | 73 | ||
| March 18, 2010[2] | 77 | 72 | 149 | 1 |
| April 02, 2010[3] | 76 | 72 | 148 | 2 |
| April 20, 2010 | 77 | 73 | 150 | 0 |
| May 31, 2010[4] | 76 | 73 | 149 | 1 |
| Latest voting share | 51.0% | 49.0% | ||
List of members
Notable past members
- Henry Watkins Allen, later 17th Governor of Louisiana (1853)
- Mickey Leland, U. S. House of Representatives (1979–1989)
- Ray Barnhart, Federal Highway Administrator (1981–1987)
- Dolph Briscoe, Governor of Texas (1973–1979)
- Tom DeLay, U.S. House Representative (1985–2006) and House Majority Leader (2003–2006)
- O.H. "Ike" Harris, Dallas County representative from 1963-1965; state senator (1967-1995)
- Robert Dean Hunter, former executive vice president of the Independent Colleges and Universities of Texas
- Kay Bailey Hutchison, current U.S. Senator (1993–present)
- Ray Hutchison, husband of Kay Bailey Hutchison
- Barbara Jordan, feminist advocate and U.S. House Representative (1973–1979).
- Craig Washington, U. S. House of Representatives (1989–1995)
- Rick Perry, current Governor of Texas, (2000–present)
- Coke R. Stevenson, Governor of Texas (1941–1947)
- Sarah Weddington, attorney for Jane Roe for the 1973 Roe v. Wade case in the U.S. Supreme Court
- Charles Wilson, U.S. House of Representatives (1973–1996), subject of the book and film Charlie Wilson's War
- Jack Brooks, U.S. House of Representatives (1953–1995)
- Sam Rayburn, U.S. House Representative (1913–1961) and Speaker of the House (1940–1961)
Recent controversies
House voting controversy
On May 14, 2007, CBS Austin affiliate KEYE reported on multiple voting by representatives during House floor sessions.[5] The report noted how representatives register votes for absent members on the House's automated voting machines. Each representative would vote for the nearest absent members (apparently regardless of party affiliation). This practice was in direct violation of a Rule of the House; however, no representative had ever been disciplined for the practice in the almost 70 years since the rule was adopted. Speaker Craddick, responsible for enforcement of House Rules, issued a statement that discipline for violations of the rule is left to the individual members.
Craddick removal controversy
Chaos erupted in the Texas House of Representatives on Friday, May 25, 2007, when Rep. Fred Hill, R-Richardson, attempted to offer a motion to remove Tom Craddick as Speaker and have the House elect a new speaker. Craddick (also a Republican) refused to allow him to make the motion.[6] The attempts to oust Craddick continued through the weekend as other Republicans made additional motions, which were also disallowed.
The last time a Texas House speaker was removed by a vote of his fellow members was in 1871, when the House adopted a resolution removing Speaker Ira Evans. The Republican House majority removed Evans because he was seen as cooperating too much with Democrats on an elections bill.[6] While Craddick's close allies say the 2007 attempt to remove Craddick was just an effort by Democrats to gain greater control of the Legislature before the legislative and congressional redistricting process of 2011,[6] Rep. Byron Cook, R-Corsicana, says the fight was about Craddick consolidating power with lobbyists and using campaign contributions to maintain control in the House: "This is about the convergence of money and power and influence," Cook said."[6]
In January 2009, Craddick lost the Speaker's chair after a challenge from Joe Straus.
See also
- Killer Ds a group of Texas House Democrats who left the state of Texas in 2003 to prevent House consideration of the redistricting legislation that would have benefited Texas Republicans.
References
- ^ Democrat Chuck Hopson (D-011) switched parties and joined the Republicans
- ^ Democrat Terri Hodge (D-100) resigns
- ^ Republican Brian McCall (R-066) resigns
- ^ Republican Carl Isett (R-084) resigns
- ^ CBS Channel 42 KeyeTV Investigates: One Lawmaker, Many Votes?, May 14, 2007, available at "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG6X-xtVask"; see also Wilson, Nanci, One Lawmaker, Many Votes?, May 14, 2007, available at "www.keyetv.com/topstories/local_story_134224129.html"
- ^ a b c d R.G. Ratcliffe and Gary Scharrer. "The House struggles to move forward". Houston Chronicle, chron.com (May 27, 2007). Retrieved 2007-05-27.
