Lrevelution

Section 1 - DIVISION OF POWERS; THREE SEPARATE DEPARTMENTS; EXERCISE OF POWER PROPERLY ATTACHED TO OTHER DEPARTMENTS

The powers of the Government of the State of Texas shall be divided into three distinct departments, each of which shall be confided to a separate body of magistracy, to wit*: Those which are Legislative to one; those which are Executive to another, and those which are Judicial to another; and no person, or collection of persons, being of one of these departments, shall exercise any power properly attached to either of the others, except in the instances herein expressly permitted.

*The power of comprehending and judging

Article 3 - LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT

Section 1 - SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

The Legislative power of this State shall be vested in a Senate and House of Representatives, which together shall be styled "The Legislature of the State of Texas."

Now that the legislators are elected by the people, and with or without the help of interest groups, let's look at the structure of the Texas Legislature.

The Texas Constitution provides for regular biennial sessions in odd number years and for no longer than 140 days. Since 1975, members of the Texas legislature have received a salary of $7,200 each year as established by a constitutional amendment.

As stated in the book, six other states (all with considerably less population than Texas) also have biennial sessions; the rest have either annual or continuous sessions or the authority to divide a biennial session across two years.

Do, in your opinion, regular biennial sessions of 140 days of the Texas Senate and House of Representatives give legislators sufficient time to take care of the peoples' business and to carefully consider bills? Are the majority of Texas libertarians (remember assignment 1) trying to limit government intervention to a minimum? Or is this a matter of money (look at COMPENSATION, pg. 173)?

Explain and justify your answer.