EXECUTIVE
BRANCH
Introduction
• After the 2005 regular session of the Texas Legislature,
Governor Rick Perry vetoed funding for public education
in the 2006-2007 state budget; he called the legislature
into a special session to cut property taxes and to reform
the funding system for public education.
• By eliminating $35 billion worth of education spending for
public education, Governor Perry hoped to pressure the
legislature into doing something it was unable to do
during its regular session.
• What the governor did to push education finance reform
through the legislature indicates something about the
powers of the governor of Texas.
The Governor
• Qualifications and Background
• An American citizen
• At least thirty years of age
• Resident of state for five years preceding election
• Terms of Office, Selection, and Removal
• Four years term
• Increased from two years by a constitutional
amendment adopted in 1972
• No limitations on the number of terms of service
• Elections are held in even-numbered years (e.g.,
2002, 2006) not coinciding with the national
presidential elections.
The Governor
• Terms of Office, Selection, and Removal (cont.)
• May be removed through a process of
impeachment and removal by the legislature
• Impeachment is the formal process through which
the House accuses an executive or judicial branch
official of misconduct serious enough to warrant
removal from office.
• House votes to impeach the governor by majority
vote.
• Senate conducts a trial and may vote to remove by
a two-thirds margin.
The Governor
• Staff Support
• Consist of 247 full-time professional staff
members, who serve at the pleasure of the
governor
• Includes chief of staff, general counsel,
and a press secretary
• The size of the governor’s staff has grown
over the years because state government
has become larger and more complex.
Powers and Responsibilities of the
Governor
• Legislative Powers
• Delivers the State of the State address at the beginning of
each legislative session
• A message delivered to the legislature at the beginning of
each legislative session on the condition of the state.
• Cast a veto
• Veto is an action by the chief executive of a state or nation
refusing to approve a measure passed by the legislature.
• The legislature can override the governor’s veto by a twothirds vote of each chamber, voting separately.
• Since the Texas became a state, the legislature has
successfully overridden only 52 out of more than 1,600
gubernatorial vetoes for an override rate of 3 percent.
Powers and Responsibilities of the
Governor
• Legislative Powers (cont.)
• Exercise the line-item veto
• Line-item veto is the authority of the governor to
veto sections or items of an appropriations bill
while signing the remainder of the bill into law.
• Call special sessions of the legislature
• The Texas Constitution places no limits on the
number of special sessions a governor can call.
• Appointive Powers
• Responsible for staffing positions on more than 200
state administrative boards and commissions
Powers and Responsibilities of the
Governor
• Judicial Powers
• On the recommendation of the Board of Pardons and
Paroles, may grant reprieves, commutations, and
pardons.
• A reprieve is the postponement of the implementation
of punishment for a criminal offense.
• A commutation is the reduction of punishment for a
criminal offense.
• A pardon is the exemption from punishment for a
criminal offense.
• Nominates appellate and district judges to fill vacated
posts until the next election.
Powers and Responsibilities of the
Governor
• Budgetary Powers
• Although the Texas Constitution requires the governor to
submit budget proposals to the legislature, the Legislative
Budget Board is also required to prepare a budget.
• However, the budget submitted by the Legislative Budget
Board (LBB) carries more weight than the one submitted
by the governor.
• Most important power of the governor for influencing the
budget is the line-item veto.
• With the concurrence of the LBB enjoys budget execution
authority, which is the power to cut spending or transfer
money between agencies during the period when the
legislature is not in session.
Powers and Responsibilities of the
Governor
• Law Enforcement and Military Powers
• Appoints the three-member board that heads the
Department of Public Safety
• Empowered to assume command of the Texas
Rangers when circumstances warrant
• Commander-in-chief of the Texas National Guard
• Ceremonial Powers
• As ceremonial leader of the state, the governor greets
foreign leaders, speaks at local chamber of commerce
luncheons, issues proclamations on state holidays,
and shakes hands with visiting community groups.
Powers and Responsibilities of the
Governor
• Political Party Leadership
• Unofficial leader of his or her political party in the state
• As politics has become more competitive in the state,
recent governors have frequently spoken out on
partisan controversies and campaigned for their party
candidates in state and national elections.
• Administrative Powers
• The Texas governor is probably weakest in the area of
administrative powers because of the plural executive.
• The plural executive refers to division of executive power
among several elected officials.
Powers and Responsibilities of the
Governor
• Administrative Powers (cont.)
• In Texas the governor shares executive power
with the land commissioner, attorney general,
comptroller, lieutenant governor, and
commissioner of agriculture.
• In sum, the governor has few direct controls
over the administration of state programs in
such important policy areas as education,
agriculture, insurance regulation, corrections,
welfare, highway construction, and utility
regulation.
Measuring Gubernatorial Powers
• The official powers of the governor of Texas ranked 49th
in the nation based on an index created to measure
official powers of state governors.
• A number of political scientists believe that the unofficial
and informal powers are at least as important as the
constitutional/legal authority of the governor.
• The informal political resources of the governor thus
include
• Political bargaining skills
• Negotiating skills
• Communicating skills
Measuring Gubernatorial Powers
• The success of Governor Bush in dealing with the
legislature is because he set limited goals for
himself and communicated regularly with legislators.
• Governor Bush targeted policy areas high on
the official policy agenda and worked closely
with Speaker of the House Pete Laney and
Lieutenant Governor Bullock to ensure
passage of his programs.
• At the same time Governor Bush avoided
controversies by persuading the legislature to
kill controversial bills.
Measuring Gubernatorial Powers
• The style of Governor Bush can be contrasted sharply
with the style of Governor Perry, who has not enjoyed
a similar type of experience with the legislature.
• Governor Perry has had poor relationships with the
leadership of the Texas legislature and has even
ignored the legislative process until bills reached
his desk.
• The governor has been forced to take public
stands on a number of controversial measures.
• The governor has issued numerous vetoes which
have angered legislators and lobbyists.
The Governor and the
Policymaking Process
• Possesses ample tools to be a successful leader in
agenda setting, policy formulation, and policy
adoption
• Offers policy initiatives on any subject
• Presents a budget to the legislature
• Calls the legislature into a special session for
the sole purpose of considering the
governor’s proposals
• Possesses veto power
• Weakest in the areas of policy implementation
The Executive Bureaucracy
• A decentralized executive bureaucracy
• No one official is in charge of the entire executive
structure.
• It is a legacy of Jacksonian democracy and the postReconstruction distrust of central authority.
• Jacksonian democracy is the view associated with
President Andrew Jackson that the right to vote
should be extended to all adult male citizens and all
government offices of any importance should be filled
by election.
• It was designed to guard against excessive
concentration of power in one person or department.
The Executive Bureaucracy
• The executive bureaucracy includes more
than 200 boards, agencies, offices,
departments, committees, councils, and
commissions, encompassing a wide array
of public officials.
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Elected executive officials
Appointed executive officials
Elected boards and commissions
Appointed boards and commissions
Elected Executive Officials
• Lieutenant Governor
• First in line of succession to the governor’s office
• Foremost powers lie in the Senate as the presiding
officer
• Member of several boards and councils, including the
LBB and the Legislative Redistricting Board
• Attorney General
• State’s attorney that represents the state government
and its various components in court
• Renders legal advice to the state, local officials, and
agencies in the form of opinions
Elected Executive Officials
• Comptroller of Public Accounts
• State’s chief tax administrator
• Collects taxes on behalf of the state
• Responsible for safekeeping of state’s revenue
• Estimates state revenues for the next biennium at the
beginning of each legislative session and certifies that
the state’s appropriation bill falls within the revenue
estimate.
• The certification is required before the appropriation
bill becomes law unless the legislature votes by a
four-fifths margin to adopt an unbalanced budget.
Elected Executive Officials
• Commissioner of Agriculture
• Administers all statutes relating to agriculture
• Enforces the state’s weights and measures laws
• Agency administers the school lunch program, which is a
federal program that provides free or reduced-cost
lunches to children of poor families.
• Commissioner of the General Land Office
• Manages the state’s public land by leasing it for mineral
exploration and production, and for agricultural purposes
• Manages the Veteran’s Land Program, which provides
low-interest loans to the state’s military veterans to buy
land
Appointed Executives
• Secretary of State
• Most significant appointed executive official
• State’s chief election officer, responsible for
the uniform application, operation, and
interpretation of election laws
• Head of the Texas Education Agency
• Executive Commissioner of the Texas
Health and Human Services Commission
• Adjutant General of Texas National Guard
Elected Boards and Commissions
• Railroad Commission
• A three member commission whose members are
elected to serve six-year overlapping terms
• Originally established to enforce state laws
concerning railroads, but its duties have expanded
to other areas
• Regulates commercial vehicle transportation, gas
utilities, liquefied petroleum gas, and oil and gas
exploration
• Regulates oil and gas production in the state and
protects the rights of producers and royalty owners
Elected Boards and Commissions
• State Board of Education
• A board of fifteen members who are elected to
serve four-year terms that are staggered among
the members
• Oversees the investment of the money in the
Permanent School Fund, which in turn generates
investment income known as the Available School
Fund, distributed annually to Texas school districts
on a per-student basis under laws passed by the
legislature
• Approves curricula and selects textbooks for use
in the state’s public schools
Appointed Boards and
Commissions
• Appointed commissions comprise a substantial
part of the executive branch.
• They constitute a wide array of unpaid
individuals appointed to serve as board
members of commissions (which may also
be called a department, board, council, or
authority) within the executive branch.
• These agencies perform a wide variety of
functions and they are a challenge to
classify; however, it is possible to group
many by form or function.
Appointed Boards and
Commissions
• Administrative Departments
• These are administrative units responsible
for implementing policy and carrying out
basic state functions.
• These include the Texas Department of
Criminal Justice, Texas Department of
Agriculture, and the Lottery Commission.
Appointed Boards and
Commissions
• College and University Boards
• These units oversee the state’s public
colleges and universities.
• University boards consist of nine members
appointed by the governor, with Senate
concurrence to serve overlapping six-year
terms.
• They include the University of Texas Board
of Regents and the Texas A&M Board of
Regents.
Appointed Boards and
Commissions
• Licensing Boards
• These boards are responsible for licensing and
regulating various professions.
• Some of these include Board of Chiropractic
Examiners, Cosmetology Commission, and Polygraph
Examiners Board.
• Regulatory Boards
• These state agencies regulate various areas of
business and industry.
• They include the Public Utility Commission, the Texas
Department of Insurance, and the Texas Alcoholic
Beverage Commission.
Appointed Boards and
Commissions
• Social Service Agencies
• Agencies created to facilitate the receipt of federal funds
and to promote the interests of particular groups in
society.
• These include the Governor’s Committee on People with
Disabilities, Diabetes Council, and Cancer Council.
• Promotional and Preservation Agencies
• Agencies charged either with promoting economic
development or preserving the state’s historical heritage.
• Some of them include the Food and Fiber Commission
and the Texas Historical Commission.
Privatization
• Texas has become a leader in privatization,
which is the process that involves the
government’s contracting with private
business to implement government programs.
• Today, the privatization of public services in
Texas includes health care and social welfare
services, plus the housing of the state’s
prison inmates in private correction facilities.
Politics and Administration
•
Administrative policymaking in Texas is a complex process involving the
legislature, governor, interest groups and the executive-branch
bureaucracy.
• The legislature
• The legislature has ultimate control over most administrative
agencies.
• It has ongoing oversight and administrative control, including
sunset review, the periodic evaluation of state agencies by the
legislature to determine whether they should be reauthorized.
• The sunset review process involves the agency facing review,
the Sunset Advisory Commission, the legislature, and also the
governor.
• In addition to the sunset process, the legislature uses the
committee system and the LBB to oversee the executive
bureaucracy.
Politics and Administration
• The Governor
• The legal/constitutional powers of the governor for
influencing administrative policymaking are relatively
weak, but the line-item veto and threat of veto can
be effective weapons at times.
• Interest Groups
• Numerous interest groups in Texas are vitally
concerned with the programs administrated by
various state agencies.
• These groups can use a number of approaches and
strategies for influencing the state bureaucracy, for
example, lobbying and campaign support.
Politics and Administration
• Bureaucrats
• State employees are primarily concerned
with their own jobs in their own departments
in their own agencies.
• Bureaucrats rally to protect their departments
and programs against proposed budget cuts
or reorganizations.
• Bureaucrats have resources with which to
defend their interests, and they find power in
alliances with legislative leaders and interest
groups.
Conclusion
• The governor and the various agencies
and departments of the executive
branch play an important role in the
policymaking process.
• The stages of the policymaking process
are:
• Agenda building
• Policy formulation and adoption
• Policy implementation and evaluation