GOVT 2306 Exam II
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The Texas State Board of Education is responsible for all the following EXCEPT
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Funding public school districts.
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this is term two
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this is definition two
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Why did the Texas Constitution establish a plural executive?
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There was suspicion of a strong chief executive.
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Setting local telephone and electric rates is the responsibility of the
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Public Utilities Commission
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Why must Texas gubernational candidates purchase print and electronic advertisements in 19 media markets to reach every corner of the state?
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It is necessary because Texas is such a large geographic area.
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For a Texas Governor, what is the benefit of a post-adjournment veto?
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The legislature is prevented from overriding it.
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The Texas governor has all of the following legislative powers EXCEPT the power to
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break tie votes in the Senate.
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In Texas, if a sitting governor is unable to hold office due to impeachment and conviction, resignation, or death, who becomes governor?
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the lieutenant governor
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What makes the greatest difference between strong and weak governors of Texas?
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differences in personality.
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Which of the following is the best example of the Texas governor's military powers?
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The governor can declare martial law during a natural disaster.
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_________ is the only Texas governor to be impeached and convicted.
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James Ferguson
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Which of the following is the best example of the Texas Governor's exercise of senatorial courtesy?
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The governor will not appoint someone to office unless that appointee's state senator agrees.
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The governor of Texas has
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few formal powers, so the office is one of the weakest chief executives in the United States.
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What is the primary task of the Texas secretary of state?
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to handles elections and voter registration/
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Governors can be quite powerful in spite of weaknesses of the office by doing all of the following EXCEPT
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filling legislative bills at the beginning of every legislative session.
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Which of the following is NOT a qualification a person would need to be a viable candidate foe governor of Texas?
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born in Texas
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Which state office was eliminated in 1996?
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state treasurer
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During which constitution was the Texas governor very powerful, and many regarded state government as oppressive and corrupt?
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The Reconstruction of 1869
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What is the ultimate check on the governor?
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Impeachment
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The _____________ is the oldest state agency in Texas.
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General Land Office
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In Texas, which officer in the plural executive is NOT elected by voters?
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the secretary of state
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The chief lawyer for Texas is the
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attorney general
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Why was partisanship in Texas judicial elections NOT an issue until 1978?
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Up until that time, Texas was essentially a one-party state.
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Courts that can review matters relating to disposition of property of deceased persons are referred to as what?
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statutory probate courts
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In _________, the first women to serve as a Texas state was appointed.
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1935
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What types of cases does the Texas Supreme Court here?
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civil appeals
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In Texas, which judicial candidate race is considered the most expensive, where candidates are likely to raise over $1 million?
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Supreme Court
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Why is it difficult for voters to learn about judicial candidates in Texas?
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Voters are called upon to vote for too many different judicial races in a single election.
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The majority of the cases that justice of the peace judges hear are those regarding
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traffic misdemeanors
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According to the Texas Judicial Campaign Fairness Act, what dollar amount is a law firm limited to when donating to any statewide judicial candidate?
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$30,000
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What is the most important role the governor of Texas plays in the judicial process?
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The governor has the power to appoint judges to fill any vacancies on the bench for the time period before the elections are held.
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Between 1980 and 1985, judicial candidates in Texas made a mass change in their campaign strategies. What was that change?
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Candidates began making a switch from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party.
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There are _____ courts of appeals in Texas, with _________ justices serving those courts.
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14; 80
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What is the most important type of case that the Texas Supreme Court handles?
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tort-law case
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Which of the following best describes the requirement(s) necessary to be a judge in the Texas Supreme Court?
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35 years of age, citizen of the US, resident of Texas, practicing attorney or judge for at least 10 years.
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The Texas Judicial Campaign Fairness Act
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limits the amount of campaign contributions a judicial candidate can receive from an individual donor.
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Which of the following are NOT part of the Texas judicial system?
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commissioners' courts
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Municipal courts have jurisdiction over
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violations of city ordinances
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Since the late 1980s, the Texas Supreme Court has
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taken a more pro-business direction.
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A person who files a civil lawsuit against another party is called a
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plaintiff
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Civil Rights organizations representing Latinos and African Americans have argued that for minorities to get elected into office
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there must be a small judicial districts where minority voters make up the majority.
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An indictment is also known as a
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true bill
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How many states also have in place a campaign fairness act similar to that of Texas's Campaign Fairness Act?
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none; Texas is the only one.
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Why does it typically cost more money to win a seat on the Texas Supreme Court than a seat on the Texas court of criminal appeals?
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There are interest interest groups that contribute money to the criminal appeals court candidates' campaign, which keeps down the costs of the election.
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In theory, Texas has a dual-budget system, meaning the budget authority is shared by the governor and the legislature; however, in practice, the primary player(s) in the budget is/are
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the legislature.
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Nationally, what two factors caused the bubble in the real estate market?
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low interest rates and loose credit standards.
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What entity determines how much money is available to public education through the Permanent School Fund?
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the State Board of Education.
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Given the budget structure and constitutional limitations upon spending and taxing, legislators seeking to balance the budget are left with
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few choices as to how to balance the budget.
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According to the text, just as the economy began to improve and state state revenues started increasing, a new threat arose to threaten the newly balanced budget. It was the
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increasing health care costs due to recent efforts to reform the health care system.
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Authorized by voters in 1991, the Texas state lottery generates a sizable sum for the state budget. Which of the following statements regarding the Texas lottery is true?
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The lottery is played by large numbers of people from all social classes.
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The Permanent School fund was created in
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1854
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Texas has a reputation of being a ____________ state.
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low service, low tax state.
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The ___________ budget is one composed of funds for dedicated revenues that target money for specific purposes.
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General Revenue-Dedicated Funds
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The Texas Constitution specifies that state payments for assistance to needy children and their caretakers shall NOT exceed ___________ percent of the state's budget in any biennium.
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1
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Federal money is an important part of Texas budget, but monies that Texas receives from the federal government
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often comes with strings attached.
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The revenues flowing from the motor fuels tax are dedicated to all of the following EXCEPT
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health and human services.
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Prior to 2003, tuition for public colleges and universities in Texas was set by the
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state legislature
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The purpose of a the Biennial Revenue Estimate is to provide
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a detailed forecast of total revenues that state is expected to take in.
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Which of the following is at the heart of the budget process in Texas?
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The Texas comptroller.
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Overall, the tax system in Texas is generally considered to be regressive, which means that
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the tax burden consumes a greater percentage of income received by lower-income individuals.
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When compared to the rest of the nation, the real estate collapse in Texas was
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less severe
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If Texas instituted a progressive income tax,
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low-income Texas would pay a lower tax rate than wealthy Texans.
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Which statement regarding state-federal spending in Texas is true?
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Texas spend less on state-federal programs than most states do.
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From an overall standpoint, which statement is true?
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The Texas economy is closely tied to the national economy.
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For universities to be eligible for National Research University Fund they must meet at least all of the following criteria EXCEPT
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have an open enrollment for undergraduate students for 10 years.
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What is the argument commonly used by supporters of a state income tax?
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It is a fairer and more reliable source of revenue.
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In 2012, Texas ranked ___________ when compared to other states on the per capital federal dollars flowing into the state.
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high
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Who pays the greatest portion of their income in property taxes?
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poor homeowners and renters.
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Dropout rates in Texas
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higher among minorites
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The debate over public education in Texas goes back to the
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break with Mexico
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The origins of modern welfare policy lie in
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President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal
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Welfare reforms are measured along which two dimensions?
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the number of people on welfare and the success of getting people into the workforce.
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____________ calls for the wealthy districts to transfer funds to poorer districts in order to equalize funds available to all public schools across the state.
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The Robin Hood plan.
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The most persistent social problem facing Texas is
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poverty
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The percentage of Texans living in poverty is approximately __________ percent.
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15
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By the late 1960s, de facto segregation
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was still a problem in urban public schools with large minority population.
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Which statement is true regarding poverty in Texas?
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In Texas, the poverty rate among children is much higher than the rest of the United States.
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Ross Perot was appointed by Governor Mark White to chair a committee on education. As committee chair, he was particularly scornful of
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athletic programs
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What stage of the policy making process involves instituting incentives or sanctions?
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Implementation
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Which statement regarding the Affordable Care Act is true?
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Congress was sharply split along party lines.
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The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Plessy v. Ferguson in
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Brown v. Board of Education
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Which statement is true concerning welfare in the late 1980s?
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Conservatives tried to require that welfare recipients must participate in job training as condition of receiving benefits.
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Two of the strategies that have been developed by the Texas Water Development Board to meet the long-term needs of Texas include
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the focus on conservation and expanding and developing available surface water.
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All of the following are challenges facing education policy in Texas EXCEPT
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the increasing teen pregnancy rate among minority female students.
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The 2007 session of the state legislature passed the Religious Viewpoint Antidiscrimnation Act, which
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ensured religious-oriented clubs the same access to school facilities and protected students who expressed religious beliefs.
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In Brown v. Board of Education, segregated school districts were ordered to
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desegregate their schools \"with all deliberate speed.\"
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Under the separate but equal doctrine in the 1920s and 1930s, the amount of money Texas spent on black students was ___________ the amount spent on white students in public schools.
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lower than
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The single most important issue confronting Texas policy makers with regard to Medicaid is
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the cost
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Which statement regarding water policy in Texas is true?
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Water rights are complicated matter balancing private property considerations and the public good.
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What is the level of popularity of the commissioner system of city government in Texas today?
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No city in Texas today has a pure commissioner system, a handful claim variation of the system.
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A nonschool special district includes everything EXCEPT
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school districts
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A ____________ form of government is one in which public policies are developed by the city council and executive and administrative functions are assigned to a professional city manager.
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council manager
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The mayor-council form of government is most common in
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smaller general-law cities.
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Which problem has been found recently in the system of special districts?
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Real estate developers have moved a few people onto land, rent free, who then vote for huge bond measures that residents are obliged to pay.
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A school board can do all of the following EXCEPT
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draft standardized evaluation exams.
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What type of government is called hidden government because people often do NOT know it exists?
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special districts.
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What is an at-large election?
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an election in which voters elect officials from the entire geographical area, rather than from a smaller district within the area
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What was the effect of Dallas's shifting from an at-large to a single-member district system in 1991?
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The change was responsible for an election of a significant number of African American and Hispanic council members.
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In the case Avery v. Midland County, the U.S. Supreme Court held that
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the principle of \"one person, one vote\" applied to count commissioners's courts.
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Which of the following statements about counties in Texas is INCORRECT?
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All counties have approximately the same number of people.
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A school districts is
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a special districts
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What is the main difference between a special district and a county?
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A special district provides only one specific service within a geographic region.
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Commissioner forms of government were at their height of popularity
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in 1918, during the Progressive era.
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Why are Texas counties important?
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They provide the main form of government in rural areas.
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The mayor and city council members are subject to recall if ______ percent of the qualified voters in a district sign a petition of recall and a recall election is successful.
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10
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The __________ is a public official who is the main record keeper of court documents.
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district clerk
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In large Texas counties, the _______ prepares the county budget.
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auditor
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Which of the following is the most common form of local government in Texas
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special districts
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What is the key problem with counties in Texas?
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Many of them are too small and underpopulated to function well.
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The commissioner form of city government was developed as a response to the
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hurricane at Galveston in 1900.
