Legislative library home page
Legislative Reference Library of Texas
your partner in legislative research
Legislative Reference Library of Texas
your partner in legislative research
Skip to main content

Resource Highlight: House Standing Committee Minutes Before 1973

Jun 5

posted by TexasLRL in Resource highlights, Committees, Legislative process

House and Senate committee minutes are a valuable resource for understanding the work that goes into crafting legislation. House 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. For example:

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.

 

The digitization of the Senate standing committee minutes prior to 1973 is in process.

 

Image: On April 9, 1969, several leaders from the Baylor College of Medicine, including Dr. Michael E. DeBakey, testified before the House and Senate's respective State Affairs committees, offering possible solutions for the state's physician shortage.

This entry was posted on June 5, 2018 at 2:30 PM and has received 2638 views. Print this entry.

Resource Highlight: Parliamentary Manuals

May 1

posted by TexasLRL in Resource highlights, Search tips

Want to improve your knowledge of parliamentary procedures before the 86th Legislature begins? The LRL has a resource guide for you! You can download Resources in Parliamentary Procedure as a PDF, peruse it on our website, or check out a physical copy.

 

Of course, studying Texas parliamentary procedure starts with the House and Senate Rules. When House and Senate rules are silent, the Legislature relies on resources such as Mason's Manual of Legislative Procedure and the practice of the United States Congress as reflected in published precedents such as Hinds’ Precedents and Cannon’s Precedents (see House Rule 14, Section 1, and Senate Rule 20.01).  Additional reference materials available in the LRL include the Texas Legislative Manual, historic Texas legislative procedure and rules materials, other congressional guides and precedents, constitutional reference materials, Hugh Brady's editions on Texas house and senate practices, and more. When available, the guide links to digitized resources.

 

Images, left to right: The Texas Legislative Manual; Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and Rules of the House of Representatives; Texas House Rules; Senate Manual; and [Texas] Senate Rules are significant resources for understanding parliamentary procedure in Texas.

 

Senate Parliamentarian Noel Brown and House Parliamentarian Collier Read Granberry review a legislative manual for the 50th Legislature (1947). Collier Read Granberry Papers, Box 3Y92, The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.

This entry was posted on May 1, 2018 at 2:15 PM and has received 1913 views. Print this entry.

Resource Highlight: Governors’ Press Releases

Feb 6

posted by TexasLRL in Resource highlights

Interested in the day-to-day activities of the Texas governor’s office? The LRL collects governors’ press releases in our print holdings. Starting with Governor W. Lee O’Daniel (1939–1941) and up to Governor Greg Abbott (2015–present), these records document governors' responses to legislation and significant events, appearances at important meetings, and more.

 

Contact the library at (512) 463-1252 for information about gubernatorial materials in our collection. (And check out our Texas Governors database for digital resources.)

This entry was posted on February 6, 2018 at 8:11 AM and has received 809 views. Print this entry.

Resource Highlight: Citation Manuals

Nov 14

posted by TexasLRL in Resource highlights

Figuring out how to cite sources, especially legislation, often can be a challenge. The LRL has several guides that can help you properly form legal citations.

  • The Greenbook: Texas Rules of Form, 13th edition, by the Texas Law Review, provides guidelines and examples for citing Texas legal authorities. The book describes how to cite constitutional documents, statutes, municipal laws, revisor’s notes, agency materials, historical resources, and more. See our legal citations to legislation post for some Greenbook tips about citing session laws, unenacted bills, and concurrent and joint resolutions.
  • Note that a different citation method is available in the Texas Legislative Council Drafting Manual. (Available online and in print at the library)
  • Legal scholars and practitioners will know that The Greenbook is meant to be a supplement to The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (20th edition 2015), which provides a more comprehensive view of legal citation and may answer questions not covered in The Greenbook. In cases where you are citing Texas authorities and The Greenbook conflicts with The Bluebook’s guidelines, you should use The Greenbook’s form. 

These manuals are available for checkout at the LRL.

 

This entry was posted on November 14, 2017 at 8:53 AM and has received 1902 views. Print this entry.

Resource Highlight: Press Book of the Texas Senate

Jan 4

posted by TexasLRL in Resource highlights

Who were the members of the Texas Capitol press corps in 2015? Who were the members in 1995? To find this information, look no further than the Press Book of the Texas Senate. Published each session since 1969, the Press Books identify members of the Texas Capitol press corps, and detail Senate policies and procedures related to the press. The 2015 volume as well as those from previous sessions are available for viewing at the Legislative Reference Library. 

 

This entry was posted on January 4, 2016 at 1:59 PM and has received 1567 views. Print this entry.

Previous Entries