By Auyana Aird

Over 50 delegates on the House floor, get the opportunity to get real work experience on what the State of Texas Government would be like.

In real life, the process is somewhat different. The House Chambers in legislature meet in a regular legislative session in Austin every two years. By statute, the legislature convenes in a regular session on the second Tuesday in January of every odd-numbered year. These sessions are limited to 140-day duration. The constitution also allows the governor to call additional special sessions as necessary. During a called session, which cannot exceed 30 days, the legislature may consider legislation only on matters specified in proclamations.

“I like that I get to hear many different opinions, and that we all could speak about one thing but it does take forever to get it done.” Delegate Charis Maxwell from Hood County YMCA said

In the environment at the Youth Government, the House chambers has a process that is unique. The lobbyists select a number of bills they want on the docket, then the speaker then picks the ones he or she wants to be presented to the floor. The bill authors will then present, then the assorted members of the house will come and debate the bills put forth.

The Speaker of the House in both Youth government and State government is prominently the same. The speaker is the presiding officer of the House of Representatives. The Texas Constitution requires the House of Representatives, each time a new legislature convenes, to choose one of its own members to serve as speaker.

As presiding officer, the speaker maintains order during floor debate, recognizes legislators who wish to speak, and rules on procedural matters. The constitution also requires the speaker to sign all bills and joint resolutions passed by the legislature. As a member of the House of Representatives, the speaker may vote on all questions before the house.

“The house floor is very competitive, when I walk on the house floor I know I’m going to get competition, it is straight to the point and I love all the intelligent minds in the house.” Delegate Mouctar Diallo from Oak Cliff YMCA said.

Both State of Texas youth and government House Chambers and the Official Texas Youth and Government is not much different than you think.