Texas Senate

The Lieutenant Governor of Texas serves as the President of the Senate. Unlike most lieutenant governors who are constitutionally designated as presiding officers of the upper house, the Lieutenant Governor regularly presides over the chamber rather than delegate this role to the President Pro Tempore. The Lieutenant Governor's duties include appointing chairs of committees, committee members, assigning and referring bills to specific committees, recognizing members during debate, and making procedural rulings. The Lieutenant Governor may also cast a vote should a Senate floor vote end in a tie. If the Senate votes to dissolve itself into the Committee of the Whole, in which all members are part of the Committee, the President Pro-Tempore presides over the proceedings, with the Lieutenant Governor acting as a regular voting member. Due to the various powers of committee selection and bill assignment, the Lieutenant Governor of Texas is considered one of the most powerful lieutenant governorships in the United States.

Unlike other state legislatures, the Texas Senate does not have official majority or minority leaders. Instead, the President Pro Tempore is considered the second most powerful position, regardless of part affiliation. Presidents Pro Tempore are usually the most senior members of the Senate. The President Pro Tempore presides when the Lieutenant Governor is not present or when the legislature is not in regular session.

{{Further|Twelfth Texas Legislature#Rump Senate}}

There have been at least three cases of quorum-busting in Texas Senate history. The first case was in 1870, with the Rump Senate, followed by the 1979 Killer Bees{{cite news |title=12 Texas State Senators, Claiming Political Victory, Come Out of Hiding |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/05/23/archives/12-texas-state-senators-claiming-political-victory-come-out-of.html |access-date=9 November 2021 |work=New York Times |date=23 May 1979}} and finally the "Texas Eleven" in August 2003 during the controversial mid-decade redistricting plan at the time.Fikac, Peggy, August 21, 2003, [http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=doc&p_docid=0FD1538CCF2D0E85&p_docnum=1 Senators' 1870 walkout also drew GOP's wrath Reconstruction-era tiff led to arrests and one expulsion], San Antonio Express-News

The following represents the Senate committee structure for the 88th Legislature (numbers in parentheses are the number of committee members, as appointed by the President of the Texas Senate).{{cite web | url=https://journals.senate.texas.gov/SJRNL/88R/HTML/88RSJ01-11-F.HTM | title=Wednesday, January 11, 2023 - 2nd Day }}

• Administration (7)
• Border Security (5)
• Business and Commerce (11)
• Criminal Justice (7)
• Education (13)
• Under this Committee, a Subcommittee on Higher Education (5)
• Finance (17)
• Health & Human Services (9)
• Jurisprudence (5)
• Local Government (9)
• Natural Resources and Economic Development (9)
• Nominations (9)
• State Affairs (11)
• Transportation (9)
• Veteran Affairs (7)
• Water, Agriculture and Rural Affairs (9)

In addition to these committees, there are also six joint committees composed of members of both the State Senate and House:

• Criminal Justice Legislative Oversight
• Legislative Audit Committee{{cite web | url=https://sao.texas.gov/About/LegislativeAuditCommittee/ | title=Texas State Auditor's Office - Legislative Audit Committee }}{{NoteTag|This committees has six members: the Speaker of the House and the Lieutenant Governor (who serve as joint chairs), the Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, the Chairs of the House Appropriations and Ways and Means Committees, and one Senator appointed by the Lieutenant Governor; the Committee in turn hires and oversees the State Auditor of Texas.}}
• Legislative Budget Board{{cite web | url=https://www.lbb.texas.gov/default.aspx | title=Legislative Budget Board }}{{NoteTag|This committee has ten members: the Speaker of the House and the Lieutenant Governor (who serve as joint chairs), the Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, the Chairs of the House Appropriations and Ways and Means Committees, three Senators appointed by the Lieutenant Governor, and two Representatives appointed by the Speaker.}}
• Legislative Reference Library Board{{Cite web|url=https://lrl.texas.gov/|title=Legislative Reference Library ||website=lrl.texas.gov|accessdate=September 2, 2023}}{{NoteTag|This committee has six members: the Speaker of the House and the Lieutenant Governor the Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, two Senators appointed by the Lieutenant Governor, and one Representative appointed by the Speaker.}}
• Sunset Advisory Commission
• Texas Legislative Council{{Cite web|url=https://tlc.texas.gov/|title=Texas Legislative Council|website=tlc.texas.gov}}{{NoteTag|This committee has 14 members: the Speaker of the House and the Lieutenant Governor (who serve as joint chairs), the Chair of the House Administration Committee, six Senators appointed by the Lieutenant Governor, and five Representatives appointed by the Speaker.}}

[[File:TxSen2022Comp.svg|none|thumb|500x500px|Senate districts and party affiliation after the 2022 election

{{leftlegend|#ff0000|Republican Party}}

{{leftlegend|#0000ff|Democratic Party}}]]

† Elected in a special election

• Edward Clark, Lieutenant Governor of Texas (1859–1861), Governor of Texas (1861).
• Wayne Connally, Senator from Wilson County (1967–1973), brother of Governor John Connally.
• Lloyd Doggett, Texas Supreme Court Justice (1989–1994), U.S. House of Representatives (1995–present).
• Robert L. Duncan, State Senator from Lubbock, 1996–2014; Chancellor of the Texas Tech University System since 2014
• Chet Edwards, U.S. House of Representatives (1991–2011).
• Pat Fallon, U.S. House of Representatives (2021–present)
• James W. Flanagan, U.S. Senate (1870–1875).
• Sylvia Garcia, U.S. House of Representatives (2019–present)
• Glenn Hegar, current Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts (2015–present).
• John Ireland, Texas Supreme Court Justice (1876), Governor of Texas (1883–1887).
• Eddie Bernice Johnson, U.S. House of Representatives (1993–2023).
• Rienzi Melville Johnston, U.S. Senate (1913).
• Barbara Jordan, U.S. House of Representatives (1973–1979).
• Earle Bradford Mayfield, U.S. Senate (1923–1929).
• William Neff "Bill" Patman, Senator from Jackson County (1961–1981), U.S. House of Representatives (1981–1985).
• Dan Patrick, current Lieutenant Governor of Texas (2015–present).
• Jerry E. Patterson, Commissioner of the Texas General Land Office (2003–2015).
• Lawrence Sullivan Ross, Governor of Texas, (1887–1891).
• Joseph D. Sayers, Lieutenant Governor of Texas (1879–1881), U.S. House of Representatives (1885–1899), Governor of Texas (1899–1903).
• Allan Shivers, Lieutenant Governor of Texas (1946–1949), Governor of Texas (1949–1957).
• Preston Smith, Governor of Texas (1969–1973).
• Frank Tejeda, U.S. House of Representatives (1993–1997).
• James W. Throckmorton, Governor of Texas (1866–1867), U.S. House of Representatives (1875–1879, 1883–1887).
• Carlos Truan, Senator from Corpus Christi (1977–2003); author of Texas Bilingual Education Act.
• Jim Turner, U.S. House of Representatives (1997–2005).
• Matthias Ward, U.S. Senate (1858–1859).
• Kirk Watson, Mayor of Austin (1997-2001, 2023–present)
• Ferdinand C. Weinert, Texas House and Texas Senate (1893–1935), Texas Secretary of State (1913).
• Louis Wigfall, U.S. Senate (1859–1861).
• Charles Wilson, U.S. House of Representatives (1973–1997).
• Roy Blake, Sr., Senator from Nacogdoches County, Texas, (1978-1989), [President Pro Tempore] (1987–1989).

{{Main|Political party strength in Texas}}

The Senate was continuously held by Democrats from the end of the Reconstruction era until the Seventy-fifth Texas Legislature was seated in 1997, at which point Republicans took control. The Republican Party has maintained its control of the Senate since then.

• Texas Senate, District F (1846–1848)
• Texas Senate, District 32 (1853–1866)
• Texas Senate, District 33 (1853–1866)

{{Portal|Texas|Politics}}

• Texas Legislature
• Texas House of Representatives
• List of presidents pro tempore of the Texas Senate
• List of Texas state legislatures
• Texas Government Newsletter, voting history of the Texas Legislature.

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• [http://www.senate.state.tx.us/ Official Texas Senate website]

{{Texas State Senate}}

{{Texas state legislative districts}}

{{United States legislatures}}

{{Texas}}

{{State agencies of Texas}}

{{Authority control}}

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Category:Government of Texas

Category:State upper houses in the United States