Updated with the latest legislative and election results, Brown/Langenegger/Garcia/Biles/Rynbrandt/Reyna/Huerta's PRACTICING TEXAS POLITICS, ENHANCED, 17th Edition, shows you the ins and outs of public-policy making in the Lone Star State. It includes a special focus on the role of a growing Latino population, the effects of 2018 elections, the results of the 86th Texas Legislative Session and the impact of oil and gas on state finances. "Point/Counterpoint" features examine both sides of controversial issues -- illustrating that there is rarely a single "right" answer -- while "Students in Action" features spotlight students making a meaningful difference. Equipping you with anywhere, anytime learning, MindTap Political Science digital learning solution provides everything in one place -- eBook, activities, flashcards, quizzes, dictionary and more -- to maximize your study time.

Updated with the latest issues, Brown/Langenegger/Garcia/Biles/Reyna/Huerta/Farmer-Neal/Altema McNeely's PRACTICING TEXAS POLITICS, ENHANCED, 18th EDITION, gives you an insider's look at how public-policy making is conducted in the Lone Star State. It includes a special focus on the role of a growing Latino population in all aspects of Texas government, actions of the 88th Regular Legislative Session, effects of the 2022 elections, the COVID-19 pandemic, the historic February 2021 winter storm and the impact of the oil and gas industry on state finances. Throughout the text, critical thinking, communication, social responsibility and other state competency skill designations are specifically identified -- helping you maximize your study time and course success. With the MindTap online homework solution, Infuse, and Cengage Read mobile app, you can easily fit learning into your day -- anywhere, anytime.

The #1 selling book for Texas government courses, with a new focus on the future of Texas politics.

Texas and California are the leaders of Red and Blue America. As the nation has polarized, its most populous and economically powerful states have taken charge of the opposing camps. These states now advance sharply contrasting political and policy agendas and view themselves as competitors for control of the nation's future. Kenneth P. Miller provides a detailed account of the rivalry's emergence, present state, and possible future. First, he explores why, despite their many similarities, the two states have become so deeply divided. As he shows, they experienced critical differences in their origins and in their later demographic, economic, cultural, and political development. Second, he describes how Texas and California have constructed opposing, comprehensive policy models--one conservative, the other progressive. Miller highlights the states' contrasting policies in five areas--tax, labor, energy and environment, poverty, and social issues--and also shows how Texas and California have led the red and blue state blocs in seeking to influence federal policy in these areas. The book concludes by assessing two models' strengths, vulnerabilities, and future prospects. The rivalry between the two states will likely continue for the foreseeable future, because California will surely stay blue and Texas will likely remain red. The challenge for the two states, and for the nation as a whole, is to view the competition in a positive light and turn it to productive ends. Exploring one of the primary rifts in American politics, Texas vs. California sheds light on virtually every aspect of the country's political system.

A vivid history of America's biggest, baddest prison system and how it came to lead the nation's punitive revolution In the prison business, all roads lead to Texas. The most locked-down state in the nation has led the way in criminal justice severity, from assembly-line executions to isolation supermaxes, from prison privatization to sentencing juveniles as adults. Texas Tough, a sweeping history of American imprisonment from the days of slavery to the present, shows how a plantation-based penal system once dismissed as barbaric became the national template. Drawing on convict accounts, official records, and interviews with prisoners, guards, and lawmakers, historian Robert Perkinson reveals the Southern roots of our present-day prison colossus. While conventional histories emphasize the North's rehabilitative approach, he shows how the retributive and profit-driven regime of the South ultimately triumphed. Most provocatively, he argues that just as convict leasing and segregation emerged in response to Reconstruction, so today's mass incarceration, with its vast racial disparities, must be seen as a backlash against civil rights. Illuminating for the first time the origins of America's prison juggernaut, Texas Tough points toward a more just and humane future.

Recent changes in the Texas court system are described herein. There is an account of recent developments in state constitution-making in Texas.