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| is a title often given to the presiding officer of a senate. It corresponds to the speaker in some other assemblies |
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| a period when the body convenes outside of the normal legislative session. |
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| Special Interim Committee |
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| a Senate committee appointed by the lieutenant governor to study an important policy issue between regular sessions. |
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| a political principle requiring that two thirds rather than a simple majority of the members of a politically organized group must concur in order to exercise the power to make decisions binding upon the whole group — compare majority rule. |
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| a prohibited practice whereby one representative presses the voting button of another member who is absent. |
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| is the power of an executive authority to nullify or cancel specific provisions of a bill, usually a budget appropriations bill, without vetoing the entire legislative package |
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| a person is not absolved from a conviction completely, but, his/her punishment is substituted with a lesser punishment |
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| Comptroller of Public Accounts |
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| The major duties of the office are keeping accounts of state funds, acting as tax administrator and collector for the state, and furnishing research and statistics for estimating revenue. |
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| Sunset Advisory Commission |
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| is an agency of the Texas Legislature that evaluates state agencies and makes recommendations to the legislature on the need for, performance of, and improvements to agencies under review. |
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| of a court is the power to hear a case for the first time, as opposed to appellate jurisdiction, when a higher court has the power to review a lower court's decision. |
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| is one of the most fundamental concepts in criminal justice. It refers to a person's relapse into criminal behavior, often after the person receives sanctions or undergoes intervention for a previous crime |
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| Preponderance of evidence |
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Definition
| The greater weight of the evidence required in a civil lawsuit for the trier of fact (jury or judge without a jury) to decide in favor of one side or the other. |
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| Beyond a reasonable doubt |
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| The standard that must be met by the prosecution's evidence in a criminal prosecution: that no other logical explanation can be derived from the facts except that the defendant committed the crime, thereby overcoming the presumption that a person is innocent until proven guilty. |
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| is a body of rules that defines and protects the private rights of citizens, offers legal remedies that may be sought in a dispute, and covers areas of lawsuch as contracts, torts, property and family law. |
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| is the judicial process whereby a will is "proved" in a court of law and accepted as a valid public document that is the true last testament of the deceased, or whereby the estate is settled according to the laws of intestacy in the state of residence [or real property] of the deceased at time of death in the absence of a legal will. |
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| as “any commission, percent- age, brokerage, or other fee that is contingent upon the success that a person or concern has in securing a Government contract.” |
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| in the United States are groups of citizens empowered by United States federal or state law to conduct legal proceedings, chiefly investigating potential criminal conduct and determining whether criminal charges should be brought. |
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