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Resource Highlight: Legislative Committee Minutes Online

Aug 7

posted by TexasLRL in Resource highlights, Committees, Legislative process

The following legislative committee minutes in the LRL collection are scanned and available on our Committee minutes and related documents page:

 

House: 42nd – 77th

Senate: 27th – 77th

Interim: 38th – 77th

 

We most recently added interim minutes from the 62nd Legislature (1971-1972). As always, some committees are unique (see the interim committees on vegetable marketing and imported fire ant infestation), and others address major issues like school finance and coastal resources that the Legislature continues to work on today.

 

Minutes and other committee records from the 77th Legislature (2001) onward are available via Texas Legislature Online.

This entry was posted on August 7, 2019 at 9:00 AM and has received 1371 views. Print this entry.

Resource Highlight: Spotlight on the 86th Legislature

Jul 31

posted by TexasLRL in Resource highlights, Legislative process, 86th Session

Now that session is over, do you need to find statistics on bills passed, dates that bills take effect, constitutional amendments up for election, and more? Use the links below to find information for the 86th Legislature:

This entry was posted on July 31, 2019 at 8:30 AM and has received 962 views. Print this entry.

Resource Highlight: Index to Sections Affected

Feb 12

posted by TexasLRL in Resource highlights, Research minute, Legislative process

Do you need to track bills by code or find out how a particular bill would change the statutes? Check out the LRL's Index to Sections Affected (ISAf). Librarians already have indexed more than 2,300 bills this session, and they are continually entering data for the 86th Legislature as bills are received throughout the day.

 

Search features include:

  • Search by the Code/Statute—e.g., Government Code, Ch. 824 (right)
  • Search by Bill—find all the code sections affected by a bill (especially helpful when looking at a Sunset bill or a large omnibus bill)
  • Limit search results by bill type (House or Senate, bill or resolution) and/or version (introduced, house and senate committee reports, engrossed, enrolled, vetoed, or any)
  • Link to the current statutes in your search results

ISAf additionally is helpful to determine the status of the law after a session has concluded and before the online statutes have been updated.

 

Also, you can subscribe to ISAf to receive updates in an RSS feed. 

 

This entry was posted on February 12, 2019 at 10:00 AM and has received 1849 views. Print this entry.

Research Minute: Committee Resources

Feb 6

posted by TexasLRL in Resource highlights, Committees, Research minute, Legislative process

With Senate and House committees appointed and meetings underway, do you need to know more about a certain committee? The Library has many helpful resources in the Committees section of our website. You can...

 

 

This entry was posted on February 6, 2019 at 10:00 AM and has received 1133 views. Print this entry.

Resource Highlight: End of Session Deadlines Calendar, 86th Legislature

Feb 1

posted by TexasLRL in Resource highlights, Legislative process, 86th Session

The end of session deadlines calendar for the 86th Regular Session is now available. The calendar is a practical summary of deadlines for action under House and Senate rules, and is not intended as an interpretation. You can view end-of-session deadline calendars and dates of interest for previous sessions on the library website: Session deadline calendars

This entry was posted on February 1, 2019 at 9:00 AM and has received 2082 views. Print this entry.

Resource Highlight: State Budget Timeline

Jan 22

posted by TexasLRL in Resource highlights, Legislative process

Check out the LRL's state budget timeline as you follow the budget process for the 2020–2021 biennium. The Senate and House's preliminary funding recommendations will be posted when both bills are filed, as will the governor's budget recommendations.

 

You can click through the timeline to see what is scheduled to happen in each date range. The LRL will add links to documents as they are released.

 

Past budget timelines are available in PDF form just below the timeline, as well as a variety of other budget resources. Be sure to check back for updates as budget planning progresses for the upcoming biennium.

 

This entry was posted on January 22, 2019 at 2:30 PM and has received 1778 views. Print this entry.

Resource Highlight: First Days of Session Business

Jan 3

posted by TexasLRL in Resource highlights, Members of the Legislature, Legislative process

On the first day of session next week, Tuesday, January 8, the House of Representatives will elect a new Speaker of the House, and the Senate will elect a new Senate President Pro Tem, per Texas Constitution, Article 3, Section 9. Access past Senate President Pro Tem information and Speaker election documents on our website to learn more about historic leaders within the Texas Senate and House.

 

The two chambers typically adopt their rules from the previous session for the first day, and then adopt updated rules in the following days. Visit our House & Senate Rules and Precedents page to see historic rules of the Texas Legislature.

 

A list of the members-elect for the 86th Legislature is available here.

This entry was posted on January 3, 2019 at 8:58 AM and has received 1046 views. Print this entry.

Resource Highlight: Senate Standing Committee Minutes Before 1973

Nov 6

posted by TexasLRL in Resource highlights, Committees, Search tips

House and Senate committee minutes are a valuable resource for understanding the work that goes into crafting legislation. Senate standing committee minutes in the Legislative Reference Library collection from before 1973 have been scanned and are available in the LRL's committee minutes database. 

 

Scanned minutes, particularly from earlier sessions, may also include other committee documentation, including agendas, exhibits, hearing notices, press releases, rules, testimony, transcripts, and vote sheets. Some interesting examples include:

Other interesting items include the minutes of the 60th Legislature's Senate Public Health Committee, which include a notebook containing bills with analysis and comment, and the legal paperwork surrounding the Committee of the Whole Senate (76th) – Election of Lieutenant Governor, convened to select the lieutenant governor when Rick Perry vacated the seat to become governor.

 

Note that some of the investigation committees' transcripts are best accessed using the committee search function.

 

The LRL database also allows users access to committee documents from House, Senate, and Joint committees, 63rd–77th Legislatures (1973–2001), as well as to search for minutes from the 78th–85th Legislatures that are available through Texas Legislature Online.

 

Visit our blog post about House standing committee minutes prior to 1973 to learn more about those resources.

This entry was posted on November 6, 2018 at 1:00 PM and has received 1025 views. Print this entry.

Resource Highlight: State Budget Timeline

Aug 14

posted by TexasLRL in Resource highlights, Legislative process

The LRL's state budget timeline has been updated to reflect the budget process for the 2020–2021 biennium. Currently, state agencies are in the process of developing strategic plans and Legislative Appropriation Requests (LARs). The LARs documents will be available in the Legislative Budget Board's database here.

 

You can click through the timeline to see what is scheduled to happen in each date range. The LRL will add links to budget bills and related documents as they are released.

 

Past budget timelines are available in PDF form just below the timeline, as well as a variety of other budget resources. Be sure to check back for updates as budget planning progresses for the upcoming biennium.

This entry was posted on August 14, 2018 at 3:15 PM and has received 1515 views. Print this entry.

Resource Highlight: 12th–15th Legislature Enrolled Bills Now Available

Aug 1

posted by TexasLRL in Legislation, Resource highlights, Search tips

Basic bill information for enrolled bills from the 12th–15th Legislatures (1870–1876) is now available in the Legislative Archive System (LAS). This includes bill numbers, captions, chapters numbers, and session law scans. We've also added the joint and concurrent resolutions that were published in the General and Special Session Laws to LAS from these sessions.

Enrolled bills from the 12th–15th Legislatures are accessible through both the direct search and the advanced search. When using the advanced search, select "View All" for the bill status.
 

Please note that enrolled bills from the following two sessions are only accessible through the direct search in LAS:

  • 12th Adjourned Session (Sept. 22, 1871–Dec. 2, 1871)
  • 14th 2nd Regular Session (Jan. 22, 1875–March 15, 1875)

For related information about these and other sessions, don't forget to check the session snapshot and the scanned House and Senate Journals.

Since LAS is a work in progress, complete information is not available for all bills and all sessions. Visit LAS' status page for more details about this ongoing project. For assistance using LAS, please contact the library.

 

 

This entry was posted on August 1, 2018 at 11:10 AM and has received 1381 views. Print this entry.

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