Educational Resources
The Legislative Branch
Resources
Readings
Data
- Partisan Composition of the Texas House of Representatives
- Partisan Composition of the Texas Senate
- Texas Legislature Bill Filing Statistics: Bills Filed
- Texas Legislature Bill Filing Statistics: Bills Passed
- Texas Legislature Bill Filing Statistics: Bill Passage Rate
- Legislative salaries and staff
- Legislature age and occupation profiles
- Texas State House Districts, 2003-2012
- US House Districts in Texas, 2004-2012
- Texas State Senate Districts, 2003-2012
- One Person, Less Than One Vote
- Warchests of House Committee Chairs
- Bills Passed: Signed or Vetoed
- Referendum and recall in the states
- Days from the Start of the Texas Legislative Session until House Committee Assignments
- Committee Chairs of the Texas House in the 84th Legislature
- Committee Chairs of the Texas Senate in the 84th Legislature
The Executive Branch
Resources
Readings
Data
- Making the Cut: Qualifications
- Compensation of Governors and President
- Who's Next?: Order of Succession
- Republican Elected Officials, 1974-2002
- Spreading the Power Around
- Powers of Number Two Executives
- Public lands managed by General Land Office
- Texas Attitudes about Gov. Greg Abbott
- Greg Abbott Job Approval Trend
- Texas Attitudes about Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick
- Dan Patrick Job Approval Trend
The Justice System
Resources
- Texas Judicial Branch
- Court of Criminal Appeals
- Texas Supreme Court
- Court Structure of Texas
- The Texas Judicial System (Office of Court Administration)
- Texas Judicial Directory
- Court Jurisdiction Maps
- State District Courts
- Courts of Appeals Districts
- Texas Department of Criminal Justice
- Texas Department of Public Safety
Readings
- Texas court caseloads by court and case type
- Crimes and punishments
- Organization of Texas courts
- Comparing Texas and U.S. court caseloads
- Appellate judge terms compared
- Appellate Court districts
- Profiling Texas Judges
- Different methods of selecting judges
- Different groups judge the justice system
- Houston attorneys: selecting Texas judges
- Public opinion about confidence in police
- Criminal procedure in Texas
- Sample Jury Summons
- Executions carried out in Texas and the US
- Geography and ethnicity of Texas death row
- Profiling Texas prison inmates
- Rating crime in the U.S., Texas, and the South
- Texas corrections facilities
- Texas prison budgets
- Cruel and unusual punishment: Ruiz
- Texas and U.S. incarceration rates
- Building prison capacity
- Crime, the most important problem?
Bureaucracy
Resources
Readings
- State government employment and payroll
- Government employment in Texas counties
- Reinventing government
- Expenditures of the state of Texas by function
- A diagram of the policy making process
- The science of 'muddling through'
- Recommendations from the Sunset Commission
- Sunset review schedule through 2015
- Iron triangles, aka subgovernments
- Theories of economic regulation
- Special sessions of the legislature
- Taxonomy of bureaucratic leadership
- Bureaucracy responds to child support problem
- Government employment across the states
- Federal employment across the states
- Politics of CHIPping in
- Federal aid to state agencies
- Federal money earmarked for Texas
- Federal money earmarked for states
Interest Groups
Links
Graphics
- Interest group influence in the states
- Financing of professional sports stadiums
- Political capacity in the grass roots
- Interest group diversity
- Texas interests go to Washington
- Organizing for change
- Non-profit organizations and politics
- Effective political action
- Interests lobbying the Texas legislature
- Interests lobbying Texas government
- Ten Commandments of lobbying
- A guide to constructive confrontation
- Civil disobedience and non-violent action
Voters, Campaigns, and Elections
Resources
Readings
- The 2000 election: Bush/Gore by county
- Getting on the primary ballot
- The demographics of voting
- Rates of participation in Texas and the U.S.
- State voter residency requirements
- Reasons for not voting
- Smith vs. Allwright: white primaries
- Black elected officials in Texas, 1970-2000
- Latino elected officials in Texas, 1974-2003
- Cumulative Voting in Texas
- Voting rules and election outcomes
- Congressional and Texas legislative fundraising
- On the stump (Stump Speeches)
- Campaign media costs, 2004
- U.S./Texas campaign contribution limits
- Contributions to Texas candidates
- Free media versus earned media
- Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison campaign annoucement, 17 August 2009
Data
- Comparing turnout in constitutional elections
- Texas Election Results: Presidential Election Vote Totals
- Texas Election Results: Presidential Election Vote Shares
- Texas Election Results: Gubernatorial Vote Counts
- Texas Election Results: Gubernatorial Vote Share
- Texas Election Results: Lieutenant Governor Election Vote Counts
- Texas Election Results: Lieutenant Governor Election Vote Share
- Texas Election Results: Attorney General Election Vote Counts
- Texas Election Results: Attorney General Election Vote Share
Political Parties
Resources
Readings
- Yellow Dog and Blue Dog Democrats
- Money and votes in Texas
- The Texas Delegation to the United States House of Representatives 1845-2013
- Decline of Democratic dominance in Texas
- The rise of the Republican South
- Ideology in the Texas Congressional Delegation
- Increase in Republican elected officials
- Party organization in Texas
- Suggestions for organizing your precinct
- Party identification in Texas
- Demographics of race and ethnicity in Texas
Political Economy
Readings
- State government employment and payroll
- Government employment in Texas counties
- Reinventing Government
- Expenditures of the state of Texas by function
- A diagram of the policy making process
- The science of 'muddling through'
- Recommendations from the Sunset Commission
- Sunset review schedule through 2015
- Iron triangles, aka subgovernments
- Theories of economic regulation
- archive/html/pec/features/0400_01/slide1.html
- Taxonomy of bureaucratic leadership
- Bureaucracy responds to child support problem
- Government employment across the states
- Federal employment across the states
Public Policy
Data
- Texas Attitudes about Public Education
- Texas Attitudes about Health Care
- Texas Attitudes about Immigration and Border Security
- Texas Attitudes about Gun Rights/Violence
- Texas Attitudes about State Taxes
- Texas Attitudes about Abortion
- Texas Attitudes about Voting & Elections
- Poverty Rates for the 10 Poorest States
- Poverty Rates for the 10 Poorest US Counties
- Texas Poverty By Racial/Ethnic Group
- Poverty Rates for the US and Texas