The United States government and the Texas government are structured in similar ways. Both systems include an executive, legislative, and judiciary branch, a system of checks and balances, and separation of powers, but their differences lie in the way that these base systems are implemented. These differences are born of the different values contained by Texas at the time of writing it’s constitution, as well as the overall different political culture.
Both Judicial systems have several levels of courts including a supreme court that hears appeals from the lower courts. This is significant because it gives the citizen a chance to be heard again, and provides a system for the errors of the lower courts to be corrected in a fair and just way.
Texans had a strong overreaching, overpowering governor under the Reconstruction Constitution of 1869, so when redrafting they split his power over multiple people in the executive branch. Called a Plural Executive, the power was fragmented to the governor, Lieutenant Governor, Comptroller, Attorney General, and more in order to prevent one person from having too much power. This is in stark contrast to the United States executive branch, which shifts all the power onto the president.
The Texas constitution is constantly being amended. The US Constitution allows for broad federal control but is practically impossible to amend. Texas is strikingly different. With over 500 amendments, requiring a two-thirds vote in the state house, senate, and a majority popular vote at the next election. This is significant because it is a fundamentally different process, final say about how things such as taxes is given to the people directly rather than to their representatives.
Both the state constitution and the United states constitution have a bill of rights section. This ensures that protections are guaranteed both by the state and by the nation. The Texas constitution does a step farther, adding the right to republican government and affirming that political power is inherit in all people and that people have the right to alter the government. This is significant because it reminds people that they are the basis of the power of the government.
The Texas Judicial system relies on voters to pick judges rather than by appointment, as is done in the Federal courts. The Texas Supreme court judge, for example, must be re-elected by the people each year. This causes conflict of interest; special interest groups and companies contribute money to these justices campaigns. While legislation has placed limits on this spending, it is still a flaw in the Texas system.
One similarity of the two systems is in the checks and balances. Both systems require laws to be passed by both the house and senate of the state, following the governor’s signature. One minor difference, however, is that the Governor of Texas can line-item veto the state budget while the president cannot. Congress tried to give this power to the President with the “Line Item Veto Act of 1996”, however it was struck down by the supreme court in “Clinton v. City of New York” when they declared it unconstitutional in a six -to-three majority. This is a huge item because line item veto can completely cut projects and funding to various areas of the state government. The governor has the final say over what is NOT being funded, and can align the state budget with his agenda.
In conclusion, the United States and the Texas constitution have many similarities and differeances.