GOVT 2301 FINAL EXAM STUDY LIST
Maymester 2012

Dr. Garrison

(Revised 5-14-12)
(dye9etx/txvol1ml+may12)

Local Government:
 

Unitary government

  Dillon’s Rule

  Charter

  Ordinance

  Cooley’s Rule

  Home Rule
 preemption
 mandates

Revenues especially taxes

  Sales tax

  Rates, exemptions

  Regressive tax

  Income tax

  Property tax

   Central appraisal district

   Homestead & other exemptions

   real property

   tangible personal property

   Abatements

   Roll back election

Public school finance

  Inequality in school spending

  San Antonio ISD v. Rodriguez (1973)

  Edgewood ISD v. Kirby
  West Cove ISD, et. al. v. Neeley (2004)
 Neeley v. West Cove ISD, et. al.(2005)
"Robin Hood”
  Equality and “efficiency” & "adequacy" issues
Government grants

Borrowing

Bond elections

general obligation bond

revenue bond

Municipal Government

City functions

P&Z (planning and zoning)

Revenues and expenditures

General law cities

Home rule cities

Charter
TX Municipal League
red-light runners

annexation

ETJ

4 forms of city government

  Executive roles

  Ordinances

  Commission form

    Fusion of legislative and executive

  Weak mayor council form

  Strong mayor council form

    Partisan elections

   Ward or single member district elections

   Political machine

 Council-manager form

   At large or at large, place elections

   Nonpartisan elections

Majority minority population

At large vs. single member districts

cumulative voting
proportional representation

Federal Voting Rights Act

Manager vs. strong mayor

Urban problems

Urban vs. suburban issues

 Annexation

Towns

townships

Special District government

  Special district functions

  Revenues and expenditures

  “Robin Hood” law

  Analogous to council-mgr. Form

  Independent School District

  Charter schools

  Community college district

Health and hospitals

  Hospital district

    welfare

    Indigent care, Parkland Hospital

    Medicaid

  Municipal utility districts
Water districts
North Texas Municipal Water District
toll roads

County government
TX Assn of Counties

  County functions

   Indigent

  Revenues and expenditures

  Commissioners court

  Commissioners & precincts

    Avery v. Midland County, Texas

  County elected officials & functions
   county judge
    DA

   criminal district attorney
   county attorney

   Sheriff and county jail
County & District Clerk
Judges & Constables
Tax Assessor Collector
treasurer

auditor
Local Government Code

general ordinance-making authority

  Criticisms of county government

Metro or Regional government

  Metropolitan government

  Councils of Governments (COGS)

    Regional planning, NCTCOG

Metropolitan Transit Authority

  DART

  DFW Airport - Love Field

    Wright Amendment

Texas Open Meetings law
Trinity River Corridor
Trans-Texas Corridor

FEDERALISM
 

The Federalist, No. 51
Federalism & pros & cons

  Sovereignty

  Ideology & federalism

 devolution

  Madison’s “compound republic” – “Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.”

  Liberty, disperses & moderates power, participation, efficiency, responsiveness,   innovation, manage conflict, strengthen union

 “It is one of the happy incidents of the federal system that a single courageous state may serve as a laboratory, and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country.” -- Justice Louis Brandeis

  Federalism negatives
Unitary government/system

Confederation/cy

Nullification, Interposition

“An indestructible union of indestructible states”

A compact of states or a compact of people?

Secession

Texas v. White

Constitutional Federalism

   Enumerated (expressed) powers

   Supremacy clause

   “ Necessary & proper” (elastic) clause

    Implied powers

   Concurrent, reserved, & denied powers

police powers

   10^th Amendment

     reservation clause
bill of attainder
ex post facto law

State-State constitutional clauses

  Privileges and immunities clause

  Full faith and credit clause
    Gay marriage

  Extradition
interstate compacts

Expanding national power

   McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)

     Implied powers

     Intergovernmental tax immunity

     Supremacy clause

   Bill of Rights applied to the states via 14^th Amendment due process clause
     equal protection clause

  Commerce power/clause

    Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)

    Interstate/intrastate commerce

    Shrinking intrastate, expanding interstate                   

Fiscal federalism

  16^th Amendment – federal income tax
Grants-in-aid

     categorical

      bloc
      revenue sharing
      speed limit, legal age
      South Dakota v. Dole

preemption

sovereign immunity 
17th Amendment
New Deal
mandates, unfunded

The No Child Left Behind law
The Patient Protection & Affordable  Care Act of 2010
Devolution

  TANF

   Supreme Court & devolution

Police powers

Dual federalism

Cooperative federalism
"marble cake"
 

The Political Culture of Texas & the States:
 

Texas demographics & social, cultural, and political implications
TX economy
TX wealth & poverty
NTX: Native Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, African Americans, Asian Americans, Anglos, Tejanos
political culture, Texas Creed: individualism, liberty, constitutionalism, equality, American Creed, TX mystique political subcultures: moralistic, individualistic, traditionalistic
TX traditional/individualistic subculture Texas political culture
      Legacy of political independence

       Alamo, Republic of Texas

        5 states division, Flag, Public lands

     Frontier Experience

       lawless, guns, violence
      Texas Rangers

       exploit the environment

       oil/gas subculture

   The Old South

      Yellow Dog Democrats, “Damn Yankees”

      Poll tax, White primary

      Race & Class in Texas Politics

  Religious Heritage
      Christian Protestant fundamentalism

       “Bible Belt,” liquor, gambling, horseracing, blue laws

      Catholic Church
  Tradition of agrarian protest

     Southern populism
Population & Cultural Heterogeneity:

 urbanization

 metropolitanization

Hispanic/Latino
Chicanos
Tejanos
Spanish legal tradition, community property state, Mexico, NAFTA,

the Border, maquiladoras, colonias, illegal drugs, illegal guns
Cinco de Mayo
Metro governments

undocumented alien
Trans-Texas Corridor

illegal immigration

The Huntington Theory of Hispanization
African Americans
Juneteenth
Native Americans
Asian Americans

COMPREHENSIVE ITEMS
politics
government
authority
legitimacy
Articles of Confederation
confederation
constitution
The Constitution principles & ideas
Declaration of Independence ideas
natural rights
separation of powers
checks and balances
expressed, enumerated & implied powers
federal & state powers
the supremacy clause
federalism
unitary government
civil liberties
Bill of Rights
14th Amendment
     due process of law
     equal protection of the law
civil rights
constitutionalism
republicanism
popular sovereignty
consent of the governed
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan
John Locke, 2nd Treatise on Government
Montesquieu, de Tocqueville
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Abraham Lincoln
democracy
pluralism, elitism
capitalism
political ideology
    conservatism
    liberalism
    libertarianism
    populism/communitarianism
political party system roles & ideas
Republican Party
Democratic Party
Tea Party
Occupy Wall Street
 third parties
voting & elections systems
electoral college
Voting Rights Act
     preclearance
     single member districts
     language minorities
LULAC
MALDEF
NAACP
public opinion
political socialization
media-  roles, effects, ownership
judicial review & Marbury v. Madison (1803)
Texas v. White (1868)
Smith v. Allwright (1944)
Ruiz v. Estelle
Pyler v. Doe
Edgewood v. Kirby
Lulac v. Perry (2006)
Texas Constitution of 1876 as amended & its problems