From the Texas Tribune: Analysis: Abbott and the Challenge of Twisting State Agency Arms

In 2306 we discussed the means Texas governors use to expand their power. Here's a look at Governor Abbott's efforts:

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Here are the legal powers of a Texas governor: Veto, appointment and persuasion.

The first and second are pretty clear. The governor can veto legislation he or she doesn’t like, and the Legislature can override that veto with a supermajority. Governors appoint the members of boards and commissions that oversee the state’s executive branch agencies, with the Senate riding shotgun to approve or disapprove of those appointees.

Like any other agency head, the governor attends to his own office work, like ladling out economic development funds, deciding who oversees the divisions of the governor’s office and so on. Almost everything else is persuasion.

Gov. Greg Abbott is testing his salesmanship skills this week with a letter asking the Texas Lottery Commission to stop exploring new forms of gambling.

But unlike governors in other states, Texas governors don’t have cabinet-style powers: They don’t have the ability to enforce their orders in the executive branch.

The governor can demand that an agency do this or that but can’t enforce that demand by controlling agency budgets, regulatory powers or even who remains on the payrolls.

Persuasion is the whole bag. A governor can’t even fire an appointee without the consent of the Senate.

That’s why you hear the political science and government nerds referring to Texas as a “weak-governor” state: The executive branch of government is powerful, but its titular head is not.