During the 2020 COVID pandemic, Governor Greg Abbott was criticized by members of both parties — by the Democrats for inadequate restrictions and by the Republicans (his own party) for having too many restrictions. In response, a constitutional amendment was proposed in the 2021 Texas legislative session that would limit the powers of the governor in a pandemic or other crisis. What restrictions on the governor’s powers were proposed? What were the arguments for and against these restrictions? What happened to this proposal during the regular session? Do you believe that the governor exceeded his authority during the pandemic or do you believe the governor’s actions did not go far enough? Be sure to explain your position in detail.
The writing assignment should be a minimum of 750 words. You should find much of the information you need to complete the assignment in the textbook, but you may also need to use additional sources (such as news articles or government websites). Make sure to provide a citation for all sources used in your paper. See the Writing Assignment Instructions for more information.
Students should offer evidence for their arguments. Thus, submissions that are more comprehensive and detailed will earn a higher point total. Each assignment should be a minimum of 750 words. Submissions must include a works cited page (note: there must be a parenthetical citation at the end of each sentence that contains information from a source). The textbook should be one of the sources and included on the works cited page (sources other than the textbook should be used as well).
You should use New Courier or Times New Roman, 12 point font, double-spacing, and one-inch margins on all four sides of the paper. The assignment is to be formatted according to the Modern Language Association (MLA) style which includes a works cited page but does NOT include a title page. Students should research this style in order to properly format the assignment (see the Purdue Online Writing Lab).
