Friday marked the bill filing deadline for the 84th Regular Session. When the deadline had passed, a total of 6,305 bills and joint resolutions had been filed. How does this compare to previous sessions?

 

 

Bills and Joint Resolutions	83rd Regular Session (Nov. 12, 2012-Feb. 21, 2013)	84th Regular Session (Nov. 10, 2014-Feb. 26, 2015)
House filed	1,733	2,057
Senate filed	743	834
Total filed	2,476	2,891
House referred to committee	1,188	837
Senate referred to committee	588	721
Total referred to committee	1,776	1,558
House scheduled for hearing	30	25
Senate scheduled for hearing	82	24
Total scheduled for hearing	112	49
House reported out of committee	1	2
Senate reported out of committee	33	5
Total reported out of committee	34	7

 

House and Senate Bills
Filed	5,868
Sent to the Governor	1,437
Signed by the Governor	1,395
Signed by the Governor/line item veto	2
Vetoed by the Governor	26
Filed without the Governor's signature	14
Sent to the Comptroller	5
Joint Resolutions
Filed	193
Filed with the Secretary of State	10
Concurrent Resolutions
Filed	256
Sent to the Governor	176
Signed by the Governor	176

Bill statistics:
Midnight, June 16 was the last day the governor could sign, veto, or allow to become law without his signature bills passed during the 83rd Regular Session. When the deadline had passed, the governor had vetoed 26 bills (not including the line-item vetoes on SB 1, the General Appropriations Act, and HB 1025, a supplemental appropriations bill), signed 1,573 bills and concurrent resolutions and filed 14 bills without his signature. Joint resolutions that passed both chambers of the Legislature were filed with the Secretary of State, and will be on the ballot for the November 5, 2013, general election.

Vetoed bills:
Texas Constitution, Article IV, Section 14 states that if the governor vetoes a bill after the session has adjourned, he or she is required to give notice in the form of a proclamation. The library has compiled veto proclamations issued by Governor Perry for the 83rd Regular Session and made them available here.

Effective dates:
The library reviews the text of all bills that become law to determine their effective dates, and enters the information into the Texas Legislature Online. To find the effective date of a bill, check the "Last action" field on the bill's main page. In some cases, different sections of a bill may have different effective dates, in which case additional remarks will be given to provide the information.

In addition to updating the Texas Legislature Online with effective date information, the library compiles a list of bills and their effective dates following each regular and called session. The list is made available on the library's website once it is complete.

Signed copies of bills:
Bills that the Governor signed or allowed to become law without his signature are sent to the Secretary of State’s office, where they are made available online on the Bills and Resolutions page.

You can determine whether a bill sent to the Governor was signed or filed without signature by checking the bill in the Texas Legislature Online. If the bill passed but was filed without signature, you will see the action "Filed without the Governor's signature."

Session law chapter numbers:
The Secretary of State’s Bills and Resolutions page also lists the session law chapter number that is assigned to each bill that has become law. The session laws contain the text of all bills passed into law during a particular legislative session. Chapter numbers are used primarily for citing a bill in a legislative history annotation.

 

Below are bill statistics as of 10:00 a.m. on June 10. Sunday, June 16 is the deadline for the Governor to sign or veto bills. For additional information on what happens to legislation filed during the 83rd Regular Session, please see our FAQ page.

 

After 140 days, the regular session of the 83rd Legislature adjourned sine die on May 27, 2013.  What's next for the thousands of pieces of legislation considered during the regular session?

How many bills were filed? How many passed?

The legislative statistics report from Texas Legislature Online shows 5,868 House and Senate bills were filed during the regular session of the 83rd Legislature; 1,437 bills passed. 

 

See our bill statistics page for more historical statistics.

 

No. Under Article 4, Section 14 of the Texas Constitution, bills passed by the Legislature must be submitted to the Governor for approval. The Governor can sign a bill, veto it, line-item veto an appropriation, or allow a bill to become law without his signature.

 

How long does the Governor have to approve or veto legislation?
The Governor has twenty days after final adjournment to consider bills received in the final ten days (not counting Sundays) of the session. Sunday, June 16 is the last day the Governor can sign or veto legislation.

 

The text of a bill may include effective date provisions requiring the bill to take effect immediately, to take effect on a specified day, or there may be no mention of an effective date. Different sections of a bill may have different effective dates.

 

According to Article III, Section 39 of the Texas Constitution, a bill cannot become effective until at least 90 days after the session ends unless the bill passes both chambers with a favorable vote by two-thirds of the members. 

 

Monday, August 26, 2013 is the 91st day following final adjournment; bills that do not specify an effective date and those that did not have the two-thirds vote necessary to take effect earlier will take effect on August 26.

 

If a bill received the votes necessary to become effective immediately, it will take effect on the date of the last action necessary for it to become law. This could be when the Governor signs it, when the Governor files it with the Secretary of State without approving or vetoing it, or when the time for the Governor to act expires, if the bill has not been approved or vetoed during that time.

 

Use Texas Legislature Online to track the status of bills.

 

Bills that did not make it completely through the legislative process die with the end of the session and are not automatically reintroduced during the next session. 

 

Joint resolutions that propose amendments to the Texas Constitution do not require the approval of the Governor, and are filed with the Secretary of State. Proposed constitutional amendments are sent to the voters for approval or disapproval. 

 

The 83rd Legislature passed 6 joint resolutions proposing constitutional amendments. These proposed amendments will be on the ballot on November 5, 2013. 

 

Most concurrent resolutions must be sent to the Governor for approval. The Governor must approve a concurrent resolution for it to take effect. 

 

Simple resolutions are passed by only one chamber of the Legislature, and do not require the Governor's approval.

 

As we approach the end of the 83rd Regular Session, the library will be compiling daily bill statistics.

 

As we approach the end of the 83rd Regular Session, the library will be compiling daily bill statistics.

 

As we approach the end of the 83rd Regular Session, the library will be compiling daily bill statistics.

 

As we approach the end of the 83rd Regular Session, the library will be compiling daily bill statistics.

 

The Texas Legislature meets in regular session for 140 days every other year. To keep the legislative process moving smoothly, the House and Senate rules include a series of end-of-session deadlines.  Deadlines that take effect in the next week are:

 

May 21: Last day for the House to consider second reading Senate bills or joint resolutions on the Daily or Supplemental Calendar.

 

May 22: Last day for the House to consider local and consent Senate bills on second and third reading, and all third reading Senate bills and joint resolutions on the Supplemental Calendar. Last day for the Senate to consider bills or joint resolutions on second or third reading.

 

May 23: Senate amendments must be distributed in the House before midnight.

 

May 24: Last day for the House to act on Senate amendments.  Before midnight, Senate copies of conference committee reports on tax, general appropriations, and reapportionment bills must be printed and distributed.

 

May 25: Before midnight, copies of all conference committee reports must be distributed. 

 

May 26: Last day to adopt conference committee reports or concur on amendments.

 

May 27: Last day of session.  Corrections only.