On the Bills and Resolution page, use the drop-down menu to select one of the following types of bills: House Bills, House Concurrent Resolutions, House Joint Resolutions, Senate Bills, Senate Concurrent Resolutions, or Senate Joint Resolutions.

Using the Bill Lookup option on the Texas Legislature Online (TLO), you can find out whether a bill was signed by the governor or filed without the governor's signature by checking the Actions table. If a bill passed but was filed without the governor's signature, you will see the action, "Filed without the governor's signature." Bills filed without the governor's signature are also sent to the Secretary of State with the signatures of Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate.


On TLO, you can also view lists of bills based on a specific action by the governor.

1. On TLO's homepage, click on the "Reports" link under Additional searches.

2. The "General Reports" section has three lists of bills by the governor's action.

83rd — 86th Legislative Sessions

Signed copies of bills and concurrent resolutions enacted during the 83rd through the 86th Legislative Sessions (2013—2019) are available through the Legislative Archive System on the library's website.

For example, to obtain a signed copy of HB 36, 86th R.S. (2019), look for the "Signed legislation" link on the History page of the bill file.




78th — 86th Legislative Sessions

The University of North Texas Libraries provides access to images of signed copies of bills from the 78th throught the 86th Regular Sessions (2003—2019) in their Texas Laws and Resolutions Archive in The Portal to Texas History.


Prior to the 78th Legislative Session

Copies of signed bills older than the 78th Regular Session (2003) are available through the Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC). Digitized copies of signed bills from the 1st through the 18th Legislative Sessions (1846—1883) are available in TSLAC's Texas Digital Archive. Please call (512) 463-5480 for more information about accessing copies of signed bills.

Effective Dates on TLO

To find the effective date of a bill, look up the bill in TLO and see the "Last Action" field in the history window.

For example, the "Last Action" field for SB 2, 87th Legislature, Regular Session, indicates that the bill is effective immediately and includes the effective date.

Sometimes a bill becomes effective on a specific date other than the beginning of the fiscal year (i.e., September 1) or the beginning of the calendar year (i.e., January 1). In these cases, the effective date is not stated in the "Last Action" field, but instead is indicated further down the page in the Actions table.

For example, the effective date for SB 197, 87th Legislature, Regular Session, is provided in the "Comment" column of the last action in the Actions table.

In some cases, sections of a bill may have different effective dates. These other effective dates are provided in the "Remarks" field.

For example, the "Last Action" field for HB 766, 87th Legislature, Regular Session, refers to the comments in the "Remarks" field because Section 2 of the bill has a different effective date from the rest of the bill.

You can also view lists of bills by effective date on TLO.

1. On TLO's homepage, click on the "Reports" link under Additional Searches.

2. The "General Reports" section has links to four lists of bills by effective date.

For House and Senate bills from the 87th Regular Session (2021), the two largest groupings are:

• Bills Effective Immediately: 329
• Bills Effective on September 1st: 666

For more information about bill effective dates, see the Section 3.14 of the Texas Legislative Council Drafting Manual.

Texas legislators also pass resolutions and bills in each session to commemorate certain dates. Below are the recognition months, weeks, and days observed with resolutions and bills by the 87th Legislature from September — December 2021. Click here to see a list of all the recognition dates from this past session. This list includes all enrolled bills and resolutions with Texas Legislature Online (TLO) subjects:

• Holidays (I0395)
• Resolutions--Official Designations--10-Year Significant Dates (I0016)
• Resolutions--Official Designations--Special Dates (I0721)

2021:
September
Pulmonary Fibrosis Awareness Month (HR 1499)
September 11: Patriot Day 2021 (HR 1674), Official State Bison Herd of Texas Day (SR 336)
September 16: Diez y Seis de Septiembre 2021 (HR 2094)
September 17: Constitution Day (HR 1501), National POW/MIA Recognition Day (HR 1503)
September 26: Gold Star Mother's Day (HR 1505)
September 30: Vanessa Guillén Day (HR 2090)

October
Mental Health Condition and Substance Use Disorder Parity Awareness Month (HB 2595)
Second Week in October: Indigenous Peoples' Week (HCR 62)

November
Ukrainian Genocide Remembrance Month (HR 253)
American Diabetes Month (HR 1603)
November 1-2: El Día de los Muertos (HR 2099)
November 5: Type 1.5 Diabetes Awareness Day (HCR 29)
November 7: Victims of Communism Day (HB 1057)
First Week of November: Festival of Diwali (HR 1012)
November 11: Veterans Day (HR 922)
November 18: National Rural Health Day (HR 1605)
November 23: Texas Association of Builders Day (HR 977)
November 25: Thanksgiving (HR 1766)

December
December 1: Rosa Parks Day (HB 3481)
December 25: Christmas (HR 1607)

Note: Buddy Check Day, 11th Day of Each Month:
"The 11th day of each month is Buddy Check Day to encourage veterans to contact other veterans, including those with whom they served, who may need assistance." (SB 460, effective September 1, 2021)

To see recognized months, weeks, and days from the 86th Legislature, please view our blog post from December 30, 2019.

2. Then click on the "General Reports" tab to see the lists of bills by the governor's action.