Emergency Items of the Governor: An Analysis of the 86th Legislature 2019 Bush School Legislative Capstone Capstone Scholars: Sydney Cerza Zack Cochran Grace Kelly Court Manske Leah McKinley Elizabeth O’Connor Samantha Wiseman Capstone Advisor: Dr. Ann Bowman 7 June 2019 P a g e | ii Table of Contents Table of Contents .......................................................................................................................................... ii Table of Figures ............................................................................................................................................. v List of Tables ................................................................................................................................................ vi Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 4 Qualitative Analysis of Legislative Staff Roles ............................................................................................... 6 Emergency Items of Prior Governors ..................................................................................................... 15 Quantitative Analysis of the History of Legislative Sessions ....................................................................... 18 The Roots of the Texas State Legislature: The Legislature of the Republic of Texas ............................ 19 The Texas State Legislature Over Time ................................................................................................. 20 Conclusions from Examining the Texas State Legislature Over Time ................................................... 24 Development of the Other 49 State Legislatures .................................................................................... 25 The 13 Colonial Assemblies ................................................................................................................... 25 Territories Become States ....................................................................................................................... 27 Outliers .................................................................................................................................................... 28 Conclusions from the Development of the other 49 state legislatures .................................................... 29 The Modern Texas State Legislature in Comparison to the Other 49 State Legislatures ....................... 29 Citizens per member of the Legislature .............................................................................................. 29 Term of Office ..................................................................................................................................... 31 Frequency and Length of Session ....................................................................................................... 31 Staff per Legislator During Session ..................................................................................................... 33 Partisanship of Legislatures ................................................................................................................ 34 Demographics of Legislators .................................................................................................................. 35 Age ...................................................................................................................................................... 35 Gender ................................................................................................................................................ 35 Race ..................................................................................................................................................... 36 Religion................................................................................................................................................ 37 Education ............................................................................................................................................ 37 Occupation .......................................................................................................................................... 38 Conclusions from Comparison of Modern State Legislatures ................................................................ 39 School Finance ............................................................................................................................................ 40 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 41 Bird's Eye View: The Texas Public School System ............................................................................... 41 P a g e | iii Foundations of Public Education in Texas ............................................................................................. 42 The History of School Finance in Texas ................................................................................................. 45 Case Study I: Governor "Pappy" O'Daniel, No Collaboration with Legislature? No Reform. ............... 48 The Build Up to the 86th Legislative Session ......................................................................................... 56 House Bill 3: The Texas Plan ................................................................................................................. 57 Passage out of the House ........................................................................................................................ 59 HB 3: Conference Committee Report – The Final Word on School Finance in 2019 ............................ 61 Comparison of HB 3 to Gilmer-Aikin Laws Trajectory ......................................................................... 61 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................................. 62 Property Tax Reform ................................................................................................................................... 71 What is a Property Tax and How Are They Calculated? ........................................................................ 72 What are Property Taxes Used For? ....................................................................................................... 75 History of State-Wide Property Taxes in Texas ..................................................................................... 76 State Role in Property Tax ...................................................................................................................... 78 Texas in Comparison .............................................................................................................................. 80 History of Property Tax as an Emergency Item ...................................................................................... 82 86th Legislative Session Emergency Item ............................................................................................... 84 Senate Bill 2 and House Bill 2 .............................................................................................................. 84 House Joint Resolution 3 and House Bill 4621 .................................................................................... 85 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................................. 87 Teacher Pay ................................................................................................................................................. 88 Defining the 2019 Status of Teacher Salaries in Texas .......................................................................... 89 Expectations for Teacher Salaries ........................................................................................................... 92 History of Emergency Items Related to Teacher Salaries ...................................................................... 93 Legislative History of Teacher Salaries in Texas ................................................................................... 96 Senate Bill 3: Across-the-Board Raises .................................................................................................. 97 School Safety ............................................................................................................................................. 101 Defining the 2019 Universe of School Safety in Texas ........................................................................ 102 Expectations for School Safety ............................................................................................................. 105 History of Emergency Items Related to School Safety ......................................................................... 105 Legislative History of School Safety in Texas ...................................................................................... 106 Senate Bill 11: A Bill to Strengthen School Safety .............................................................................. 108 Mental Health ..........................................................................................................................................