Explain the reasons why the Texas Legislature is considered by many to be unprofessional.

This assignment is designed to examine the lack of professionalism in our state legislature, evaluate measures to increase this professionalism and make a recommendation for change. The student is expected to use the following outline to guide the drafting of this 2 page, typed, double-spaced paper.

I. Explain the reasons why the Texas Legislature is considered by many to be unprofessional. Examples include low salaries, temporary nature of legislative sessions, high turnover of legislative staff, a high cost of winning elections, lack of financial support from political parties, etc. (40 points)

II. Describe various options for change, which may include higher salaries, full-time legislative sessions, state-subsidized campaigns, etc. (20 points)

III. Considering the various options for change, choose one or two and make a recommendation. In this section of the paper, you need to consider the costs and possible opposition by the public for your recommendation. Of course, policy recommendations don’t happen in a vacuum and these things must be taken into consideration. (20 points)

IV. Draw a final conclusion about the need (or lack thereof) of a more professional legislature and the feasibility (or lack thereof) of your recommendation based on the political reality in the state. In this section, I will also take into consideration the format, spelling and grammatical aspects of the paper. (20 points)