LEGISLATIVE PARTY DEVELOPMENT AND THE SPEAKER SYSTEM - THE CASE OF THE TEXAS HOUSE

This study examines the consequences of the minority political party i n formerly one-party state legislatures increasing its membership unti l it reaches or surpasses a critical threshold. With the Texas House o f Representatives from 1985 to 1991 as the research site, the focus is upon changes in legislative party organization and legislators' behav ior, and upon the relationship of changes in partisan behavior and org anization to decline in the speaker system. Findings confirm the propo sition that the minority party's distinctiveness should grow as the si ze of the party increases beyond a particular threshold. It is also fo und that reaching the threshold of membership may indeed be sufficient to entice the minority into organizing, even without poor treatment f rom legislative leaders. And support is also found for the proposition that legislative organization for ''policy'' and for ''politics'' nee d not develop simultaneously. Finally, it is argued that the rise of t he ''party system'' in these legislatures will inevitably lead to a de cline in the speaker system.