For my 11 week GOVT 2305 students: The 1000 word essay

The essay will be due before you know it. If you haven't already, get going on it.

I'll help.

Here's the assignment:

Executive Influence on the Legislature

Describe how successful Governor Abbott has been in influencing the agenda of the 89th Texas Legislative Session.

Some of the powers the governor is granted in the Texas Constitution allow him to impact the legislative process. He can declare that certain pieces of legislation are emergencies, meaning they can be considered before any other. He can also veto legislation without the possibility of an override by the legislature. He can also veto and funding he does not care for, again without the possibility of an override. There are other informal ways he can persuade and/or coerce the legislature to pass the bills he wants passed.

Used skillfully, these allow a governor to dictate what the legislature will do.

Has our governor been successful this session?

I'll break this down to a few smaller questions: 

- What are the legislative powers of the governor?
- What is emergency legislation? 
- What legislation did Governor Abbott declare emergencies? Why?
- How did he promote each of these laws? 
- What opposition existed for each of these laws? 
- How successful have past governors been in promoting their legislative agenda?

(Idea: Input these into ChapGPT and see what you get.)

There will be more, plus helpful sources of information.