Course GOVT 2306.004, State and Local Government Professor Robert Lowry Term Spring 2017 Meetings Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 2-2:50 pm, HH 2.402 Professor s Contact Information Office Phone 972-883-6720 Office Location Green Hall 3.533 Email Address robert.lowry@utdallas.edu Office Hours Mon. 3:30-5 pm, Tues. 1:30-3 pm Teaching Assistant: Adrienne Gathman Office Location Green Hall 3.314 Email Address Adrienne.Gathman@utdallas.edu Office Hours Monday 3-3:45 pm; Tuesday 2:30-3:45 pm Teaching Assistant: Connor Endicott Office Location Green Hall 3.314 Email Address Cwe160030@utdallas.edu Office Hours Wed. 6-7 pm; Friday 3-4 pm General Course Information Prerequisites None Course Description Learning Objectives/Outcomes This course is a survey of state and local government and politics with special reference to the constitution and politics of Texas. We will be emphasizing the comparative approach to studying state and local government, politics and public policy in all 50 states. However, class time and readings will be devoted to the Texas state constitution in particular, and we will discuss many examples of Texas institutions, politics and policies throughout the semester. Students should, at the completion of the course, be able to: 1. Apply important theoretical and scholarly approaches to understanding state and local institutions behavior, citizen involvement and interactions between citizens and institutions of government. 2. Describe the development of the Texas Constitution. 3. Describe state and local political systems and their relationship to federal government.
4. Identify, describe and analyze various mechanisms of citizen political involvement including public opinion, political parties and interest groups and electoral processes. 5. Understand the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government in Texas. 6. Analyze issues, public policies and political culture in Texas. The following book is available in the UTD bookstore and should be purchased: Kevin B. Smith and Alan Greenblatt, Governing States and Localities. Thousand Oaks, CA: CQ Press, 5 th ed., 2016 [Referred to in the assignments as S&G] Required Texts & Materials Note: A variety of supplementary materials, including chapter summaries, study questions, and video presentations, are available online at https://edge.sagepub.com/smithgreenblatt5e Other required readings are listed at the end of the syllabus and referenced by number in the course schedule below. Additional readings may be added to the syllabus. These will be announced in class and on elearning. Students are not required to print material available electronically. Assignments & Academic Calendar Date Topic(s) Assignment(s)* Jan. 9 Course introduction Jan. 11 The comparative method S&G chap. 1 Jan. 13 State political culture S&G chap. 1 Jan. 16 NO CLASS MLK DAY Jan. 18 Federalism S&G chap. 2 Jan. 20 S&G chap. 2 Jan. 23 State constitutions S&G chap. 3 Jan. 25 S&G chap. 3 Jan. 27 The Texas Constitution [1] Jan. 30 State and local public finance S&G chap. 4, [2] Feb. 1 S&G chap. 4, [2] Feb. 3 Catch-up & Review Feb. 6 Test 1 Feb. 8 Political participation and voting S&G chap. 5 Feb. 10 S&G chap. 5
Feb. 13 Parties and interest groups S&G chap. 6 Feb. 15 S&G chap. 6 Feb. 17 Campaign finance [3], [4] Feb. 20 Legislative branch S&G chap. 7 Feb. 22 S&G chap. 7 Feb. 24 Governors and other executives S&G chap. 8 Feb. 27 S&G chap. 8 Mar. 1 Catch-up & review Mar. 3 Test 2 Mar. 6 Courts S&G chap. 9 Mar. 8 Courts & bureaucracy S&G chaps. 9, 10 Mar. 10 Bureaucracy S&G chap. 10 Mar. 13-17 NO CLASS SPRING BREAK Mar. 20 Local & metropolitan government S&G chaps. 11, 12 Mar. 22 S&G chaps. 11, 12 Mar. 24 S&G chaps. 11, 12 Mar. 27 Special districts; At-large elections [5], [6], [7], [8] Mar. 29 K-12 education S&G chap. 13 Mar. 31 K-12 education S&G chap. 13 April 3 Catch-up & review April 5 Test 3 April 7 Higher education [9] April 10 Crime and punishment S&G chap. 14 April 12 S&G chap. 14 April 14 Health & welfare S&G chap. 15 April 17 S&G chap. 15 April 19 State and local economic policies [10], [11] April 21 Environment S&G chap. 16 April 24 S&G chap. 16 April 26 Catch-up & review April 28 Test 4 * Numbers in brackets refer to the Additional Readings at the end of the syllabus. Course Policies Grading Criteria Late Work Course grades will be based on four exams on February 6, March 3, April 5, and April 28. Each exam will receive equal weight. The final grading scale will be no stricter than the conventional 90-80- 70-60 cutoffs. Make-up exams will be given in the event of a documented medical,
family or work emergency. If such a situation arises, you should notify me as soon as possible. Class Attendance University Policies I will not take attendance, but you are strongly encouraged to attend class and take notes. I will be covering material in class that supplements the assigned readings. This material may be on the exams. In addition, while I will post the outline from each class on elearning I will not be posting detailed lecture notes. Additional UTD policies regarding student conduct and discipline, campus carry, academic integrity, email use, withdrawing from class, grievance procedures, incomplete grades, disability services, religious holy days, and resources to help you succeed can be found at http://coursebook.utdallas.edu/syllabus-policies/. These descriptions and timelines are subject to change at the discretion of the Professor. ADDITIONAL READINGS All readings may be accessed from the Additional Readings folder in elearning, or control-click on the link to access internet readings directly. [1] Champagne, Anthony and Edward J. Harpham. 2013. The Texas Constitution. In Governing Texas: An Introduction to Texas Politics, 69-100. New York: W.W. Norton. [2] Liptak, Adam. 2016, Dec. 26. Charged a Fee for Getting Arrested, Whether Guilty or Not. New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/26/us/politics/charged-a-fee-for-getting-arrestedwhether-guilty-or-not.html?_r=0 [3] National Conference of State Legislatures. 2016. State Campaign Finance Laws: An Overview. http://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/campaignfinance-an-overview.aspx Note: Follow the links at the end of each section. [4] Stapleton, J.T. 2015, Oct. 23. 2014 Candidate Elections Overview. National Institute on Money in State Politics. http://followthemoney.org/research/institutereports/2014-candidate-elections-overview/ [5] Texas Senate Research Center. 2014. Invisible Government: Special Purpose Districts in Texas. http://www.senate.state.tx.us/_assets/srcpub/spotlight_special_purpose_districts.pdf Read pages 1-3 and 43 and skim the rest.
[6] Bauroth, Nicholas. 2009. Special Districts: Nonschool. In Donald P. Haider- Markel (ed.), Political Encyclopedia of U.S. States and Regions, Vol 2, 967-969. Washington, DC: CQ Press. [7] Brooker, Wess T. 2009. At-Large District. In Donald P. Haider-Markel (ed.), Political Encyclopedia of U.S. States and Regions, Vol 2, 675-676. Washington, DC: CQ Press. [8] Cooper, Christopher A. 2009. Legislative Districts: MMD and SMD. In Donald P. Haider-Markel (ed.), Political Encyclopedia of U.S. States and Regions, Vol 2, 840-842. Washington, DC: CQ Press. [9] Mumper, Michael and Melissa L. Freeman. 2011. The Continuing Paradox of Public College Tuition Inflation. In Donald E. Heller (ed.) The States and Public Higher Education Policy: Affordability, Access, and Accountability, 37-60. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2d edition. [10] Hansen, Susan B. 2009. Economic Development. In Donald P. Haider-Markel (ed.), Political Encyclopedia of U.S. States and Regions, Vol 2, 741-744. Washington, DC: CQ Press. [11] Johnson, David. 2016, March 30. See the Minimum Wage in all 50 States. Time http://time.com/4274938/minimum-wage-state-map/