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Bill Statistics & Upcoming Deadlines, May 8

May 8

posted by TexasLRL in Legislation, 85th Session, Bill statistics, Legislative process

 

As the 85th Legislature draws to a close, a series of end-of-session deadlines begins to take effect. Below is a list of deadlines that occur next week:

  • Wednesday, May 17: 9 a.m. Deadline for house to distribute its last House Local & Consent Calendar with local house bills.
  • Friday, May 19: Last day for house to consider local house bills on second and third reading. First day senate can consider bills and resolutions the first day they are posted on the Senate Intent Calendar.
  • Saturday, May 20: Last day for house committees to report senate bills and senate joint resolutions.
  • Sunday, May 21: 10 p.m. Deadline for house to distribute its last House Daily Calendar with senate bills and senate joint resolutions.

House and Senate calendars are available on the Texas Legislature Online, and Senate agendas are available in hard copy from the library (Rm. 2N.3). 

 

Bill statistics for the period of Nov. 14, 2016 - May 7, 2017 are below.

 

  House Bills (HB) & Joint Resolutions (HJR) Senate Bills (SB) & Joint Resolutions (SJR)
Filed  4,443 2,351
Reported out of committee 1,885 967
Passed by chamber of origin 769 747
Referred to committee in opposite chamber 355 446
Reported out of committee in opposite chamber 42 144
Passed opposite chamber 13 38
Sent to the Governor 1 7
Signed by the Governor 1 3

 

 

 

This entry was posted on May 8, 2017 at 3:45 PM and has received 2205 views. Print this entry.

Adjournment Times for the Last 30 Days of Session, 76th-84th Legislatures

May 2

posted by TexasLRL in Legislative process

As we enter the last month of session, late nights in the chambers are inevitable. Check out the graphs below for an overview illustrating how the past several sessions have compared on just how late those nights were, which days of the week have seen later adjournment times on average, and other comparisons.

 

For the purposes of these graphs, "adjournment" includes recessing for the day. Saturdays and Sundays in which neither chamber was convened were calculated as null values.

 

Cover image: Rusty Kelley, house sergeant-at-arms, 65th Legislature (1977). Courtesy of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission.

 

This entry was posted on May 2, 2017 at 10:10 AM and has received 1336 views. Print this entry.

Bill Statistics & Upcoming Deadlines, May 1

May 1

posted by TexasLRL in Legislation, 85th Session, Bill statistics, Legislative process

As the 85th Legislature draws to a close, a series of end-of-session deadlines begin to take effect. Below is a list of deadlines that occur next week:

  • Monday, May 8: Last day for house committees to report house bills and house joint resolutions.
  • Tuesday, May 9: Deadline for house to distribute last House Daily Calendar with house bills and joint resolutions.
  • Wednesday, May 10: Deadline for house to distribute last House Local and Consent Calendar with consent house bills.
  • Thursday, May 11: Last day for house to consider house bills and joint resolutions on second reading on House Daily or Supplemental Calendar.
  • Friday, May 12: Last day for house to consider consent house bills on second and third reading and all third reading house bills or joint resolutions on House Supplemental Calendar.

House and Senate calendars are available on the Texas Legislature Online, and Senate agendas are available in hard copy from the library (Rm. 2N.3). 

Bill statistics for the period of Nov. 14, 2016 - April 30, 2017 are below.

  House Bills (HB) & Joint Resolutions (HJR) Senate Bills (SB) & Joint Resolutions (SJR)
Filed  4,441 2,346
Reported out of committee 1,535 824
Passed by chamber of origin 381 581
Referred to committee in opposite chamber 76 132
Reported out of committee in opposite chamber 1 37
Passed opposite chamber 1 7
Signed by the Governor 0 0

 

This entry was posted on May 1, 2017 at 3:01 PM and has received 1955 views. Print this entry.

Understanding Budget Riders

Apr 24

posted by TexasLRL in Legislation, Legislative process

There comes a time in every session when advancing the state budget becomes the primary focus of attention. Since this pivotal season is upon us, we thought it would be an excellent time to broach the subject of budget riders.
 
What is a budget rider?
 
Riders are enumerated policy directives or contingent appropriations that follow traditional line item appropriations in the General Appropriations Act. The term also applies to general provisions in Article IX and special provisions at the end of each article.[i]
 
Riders convey specific instructions on how agency funds can be collected or spent. Riders may also express legislative intent and be used to provide funds for administrative functions.
 

 

 
Where do riders come from?
 
In most cases, riders carry over from one biennium to the next. Riders passed in the previous session are routinely included in introduced versions of House and Senate appropriations bills.
 
The opportunity to alter rider language first occurs in the Senate Finance and House Appropriations committees. In addition to making decisions about line item appropriations, House and Senate budget committees consider rider additions and revisions. The work of the Legislative Budget Board (LBB) is essential to this process. Decision documents prepared for the committees are available on the LBB's website. Initial and adopted versions of the documents include items discussed during the decision-making process. Adopted rider documents, which provide the text of new and amended riders as passed by the committees, are particularly helpful to researchers. 
 

 
Riders can also be added, amended, and deleted on the floor and again in conference committee. Relevant documents are available through the Texas Legislature Online and LBB websites.
 
Where can I find the text of a rider?
 
Locating the text of a rider within a General Appropriations Act is simple when you know the article number, agency name, rider number, and year of passage. The task is more complex when available information is inaccurate or incomplete. In any case, the LRL is happy to help with the search. 
 
In addition to copies of General Appropriations Acts going back to the 40th Legislature, introductions to the budget process from the Senate Research Center and House Research Organization are available on the Library's website. Recent GAAs and supporting documents are available through the Legislative Budget Board. 
 

[i] Senate Research Center. Budget 101: A Guide to the Budget Process in Texas, 2017, p. 72.

This entry was posted on April 24, 2017 at 9:03 AM and has received 12136 views. Print this entry.

TxLege Terms: Committee Substitute

Apr 3

posted by TexasLRL in TxLege Terms, Legislative process

In this occasional post, we explain terms used in the Texas legislative environment.

 

When a house or senate committee is considering a bill, they have various reporting options: they may report favorably without amendments, report unfavorably, report favorably as amended, or report favorably as substituted. The latter is called a "committee substitute."

 

 
A committee substitute must be "germane"—it must address the same subject as the original bill.

 

How can you tell that a bill has been "substituted"? On Texas Legislature Online or the Legislative Archive System, the bill's actions will include entries like "Committee substitute considered in committee" and "Reported favorably as substituted." The committee report will note if it is a substitute, and will add a "CS" to the bill number. (So, HB 20 becomes CSHB 20.) In the Journal, it will be noted with the CS until it passes to engrossment.

 

 

 

This entry was posted on April 3, 2017 at 3:45 PM and has received 9144 views. Print this entry.

Bill Filing Deadline Statistics, 85th Legislature

Mar 13

posted by TexasLRL in Legislation, 85th Session, Bill statistics, Legislative process

Friday marked the bill filing deadline for the 85th Regular Session. When the deadline had passed, a total of 6,654 bills and joint resolutions had been filed. How does this compare to previous sessions?

 

This entry was posted on March 13, 2017 at 1:54 PM and has received 2433 views. Print this entry.

TxLege Terms: Enabling Legislation

Mar 7

posted by TexasLRL in TxLege Terms, Legislative process

In this occasional post, we explain terms used in the Texas legislative environment.

 

Legislators propose amendments to the Texas Constitution by filing joint resolutions (JRs). These JRs must be passed in both the house and senate by a two-thirds vote, and then approved by the voters of the state.

 

A legislator also may file a complementary bill to the JR describing how the JR would be implemented if approved. This complementary bill is called the enabling legislation. It may be passed during the same session as the JR or in a subsequent session. If voters reject a constitutional amendment (JR), the enabling legislation has no effect.

 

For example, the 84th Legislature passed seven constitutional amendments that were on the November 2015 ballot. In the House Research Organization's Amendments Proposed publication, their explanation of each ballot proposition includes whether the proposition has an enabling bill (in this case, propositions 1, 2, and 4) and what the enabling bill does. All seven constitutional amendments passed in 2015, so the joint resolutions' respective bills also went into effect as scheduled.

 

Investigate our Constitutional Amendments database to learn more about the process of amending Texas' constitution. Here you can search for amendments, find reports analyzing proposed amendments, see past amendment election dates and outcomes, and find additional sources.

 

 
 

 

This entry was posted on March 7, 2017 at 9:00 AM and has received 4053 views. Print this entry.

60-Day Bill Filing Deadline FAQ

Mar 6

posted by TexasLRL in Legislation, 85th Session, Legislative process

60-Day Filing Deadline F.A.Q.:

When is the deadline for filing bills?

The deadline for filing bills and joint resolutions, other than local bills, emergency appropriations, and bills that have been declared an emergency by the governor, is the 60th calendar day after the legislature convenes for its regular session.

 

When is the 60-day filing deadline for the 85th regular session of the Texas Legislature?

Friday, March 10th, 2017.

 

Where can I find the other deadlines for the 85th regular session?

Other significant dates can be found on the Legislative Council's Dates of Interest page. The Texas Legislative Council also created a calendar showing deadlines for action under the House and Senate Rules for the last month of the regular session. End-of-session deadline calendars and dates of interest for previous sessions are available on our website: Session Deadline Calendars.

 

What happens next?

As indicated in Sec. 5(b), Art. III of the Texas Constitution, for the next 30 days of the regular legislative session, the committees of each chamber hold hearings to consider all bills, resolutions, and other undecided matters.

 

Did you know?:

  • After the 60-day filing deadline during a regular session, any proposed bill or joint resolution requires permission to introduce by an affirmative vote of four-fifths of those members present and voting (see Senate Rule 7.07(b) and House Rule 8, Sec.8) Local bills, emergency appropriations, and emergency matters submitted by the governor are not subject to these rules.

This entry was posted on March 6, 2017 at 10:20 AM and has received 4012 views. Print this entry.

Bill Statistics at the 45th Day of Session

Feb 27

posted by TexasLRL in Legislation, 85th Session, Bill statistics, Legislative process

Thursday, February 23 marked the 45th day of the 85th Regular Session. That means we're 3/4 of the way to the 60-day bill filing deadline, which is Friday, March 10, 2017. For those who are curious, here is a look at bill statistics in comparison to a similar period last session.

 

Bills and Joint Resolutions
84th Regular Session

(Nov. 10, 2014-Feb. 26, 2015)
85th Regular Session

(Nov. 14, 2016-Feb. 23, 2017)
House filed 2,057 2,396
Senate filed 834 1,094
Total filed 2,891 3,490
House referred to committee 837 1,024
Senate referred to committee 721 814
Total referred to committee 1,558 1,838
House scheduled for hearing 25 3
Senate scheduled for hearing 24 32
Total scheduled for hearing 49 35
House reported out of committee 2 2
Senate reported out of committee 5 23
Total reported out of committee 7 25

 

This entry was posted on February 27, 2017 at 9:00 AM and has received 1431 views. Print this entry.

Texas Legislative Guides: 85th Regular Session

Feb 16

posted by TexasLRL in 85th Session, Legislative process

This post includes a list of guides published by Texas legislative agencies to assist you in following the legislative process. These guides will help you track and read a bill, understand the terminology used in the Texas Legislature, learn about issues facing the Legislature, and much more.

 

Texas Legislative Information and Resources, prepared by the Research Division of the Texas Legislative Council for the 85th Legislature (2017).
Identifies resources for locating information that is available about current and past legislation.

Research Spotlight: Legislative Lexicon, prepared by the Texas Senate Research Center (2017).
Provides definitions of words, terms, and phrases used in the Legislature.

Reading Statutes and Bills, prepared by the Research Division of the Texas Legislative Council (2017).
Presents a basic overview of Texas statutes and bills, as well as tips for reading and understanding them.

Topics for the 85th Legislature, by House Research Organization (2016).
Highlights many of the issues the 85th Legislature may consider during its 2017 regular session.

Texas Legislative Glossary, prepared by the Texas Legislative Council for the 85th Legislature.
Defines terms related to the legislative process in Texas.

 

Issues Facing the 85th Texas Legislature, prepared by the Texas Senate Research Center (2017).
Outlines broad categories and topics of interest for the 85th Legislature.

 

 

 

 

This entry was posted on February 16, 2017 at 11:15 AM and has received 2009 views. Print this entry.

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