GOVT 2306

The Bill Making Process in Texas

In this section we walk through the bill making process in the state an

closely follow the information made available online by the Texas

Legislature.

The bulk of the material will be obtained through the website called

the Guide to Texas Legislative Information.

We will primarily follow the material it contains on the section on the

Legislative Process. The Texas Medical Association provides a nice brief

overview of the process.

We will also look at what’s contained in the Legislative

Reference Library of Texas, which “performs research for Texas

legislators, their staff, and legislative committees.”

Clicking here takes you to the TLR’s page on Bill Statistics which shows

you how many bills have been introduced and passed going back

to the 19th Legislative Session.

The South Texas College of Law has a page detailing how to determine legislative intent. So does the LRL.

They also provide summaries of the work done by legislative

sessions dating back to the 48th Session.

Members of the Texas Legislature can obtain help in creating legislation from the Texas

Legislative Council.

Detailed background about the facts related to the subject matter

of bills is provided by the House Research Organization.

When the legislature is in session, you can track bills by going to the Texas Legislature Online and click

on Bill Lookup.

The Texas Tribune has a page that allows you to search the bills

introduced in the 82nd Session.

There are several types of bills that can be introduced to the

legislature, these are designated with different prefixes before the

numbers which designate the order in which they were

introduced.

The two general categories of legislation: bill and resolutions.

Resolutions are used to establish law, rather they “are commonly used to propose

amendments to the Texas Constitution; take care of housekeeping functions; convey

congratulations or condolences to individuals or groups in the state; express legislative intent; express an opinion or sentiment on matters of public interest; give direction to a state agency

or official; or call on certain governmental agencies, offices, or units such as the U.S.

Congress to take a specific course of action.”

There are three types, each with a distinct heading.

Joint resolutions are titled “HJR” and “SJR” depending on whether they

originate in the House or Senate. They are used to propose amendments to the Texas Constitution and require a 2/3rds vote in each chamber to pass.

They are not submitted to the governor, but do have to ratified by a simple majority of the popular vote.

Concurrent resolutions are titled “NCR” and “SCR” and are used “when both chambers have an interest in a particular matter. Such resolutions may originate in

either chamber but must be adopted by both. Concurrent resolutions may be used for matters

affecting operations and procedures of the legislature, such as joint sessions or adjournment sine die. They

also are used to memorialize (petition) the U.S. Congress, give directions to a state agency or officer,

express views of the legislature, or express congratulations or condolences. Concurrent

resolutions, except those that pertain solely to matters between the two chambers, must be submitted to the

governor for approval.”

Simple resolutions are titled “HR” and “SR” and “pertain to matters

considered by the chamber of origin only. They are used for such purposes as adopting or changing rules of procedure or expressing congratulations or condolences.”

The legislature spends the bulk of its time focusing on bills.

What is a bill? A type of legislative measure that requires passage by both chambers of the legislature

and action by the governor. A bill is the primary means used to create and change the laws of the state.

“HB” and “SB” are the designations given to House Bills and Senate Bills. The difference

between the two depends on whether the bill in question was introduced in the house or Senate.

Generally a bill introduced in one chamber is accompanied with a “matching bill” introduced

in the other chamber. Bills have to passed by both chambers with identical language in order for them to be presented to the governor for a

potential signature.

Types of bills:

PublicLocal – or non controversial

Emergency

Here’s a quick walk through of the bill making process following the

steps outlined in the GTLI.

For diagrams of the process for House and Senate bills click here. The Texas House also has a quick

run-through of the process.

The process itself “is governed by the Texas Constitution, applicable statutes,

and the rules of procedure of the senate and house, and the different phases of

activity typically occur within a prescribed timetable. The rules of procedure are

adopted by the respective chambers at the beginning of each session.”

A quick general point: the process is cumbersome and contains many points

where bills can be defeated. While Texas has a far higher rate of bill passage than

the US Congress, most bill do not make it through the process.

While the legislature has the power to pass laws, the ability do so is hamstrung.

And one more quick point – or a reminder: Sessions of the Texas

Legislature are limited to 140 calendar days. This does not give

much time for bills to be considered. Activity can be very

fast, especially toward the end of the session.

Here are dates of interest for the 83rd Session which convenes

January 8, 2013.

How a Bill Originates

Bills originate as ideas from variety of places. They can come from the legislator, a particular constituency of the legislator,

or a legislative committee. In Texas, powerful interest groups often generate

bills that collectively attempt to influence the nature of governance in the state.

Sometimes bills can be introduced repeatedly until conditions are ripe for

their passage.

Bills have to be in a specific form – which can be found in the Texas

Legislative Council’s Drafting Manual.

Bills can only contain one subject, with the exception of general

appropriations bills which are prepared by the Texas Budget Board.

Example of Groups:

Texas Public Policy FoundationALEC

Introducing a bill

Any member of either chamber can introduce bills in that chamber by providing a required number of copies to the chief clerk, who then

assigns the bill a number.

A few rules apply to when and how bills can be introduced.

Bills can be pre-filed beginning the Monday following the general

election.

For the 83rd session, that date is Monday November 12, 2012.

Any bill can be introduced on any subject during the first 60 days of

the session. After 60 days, only local or emergency bills can be

introduced.

The governor can also declare certain bills to be “emergency

bills” and these are fast-tracked through the legislative process.

Referral to a committee

After a bill is introduced into one of the chambers of the legislature, the caption is read and it is referred to a

committee by the Speaker or Lieutenant Governor.

This is an additional power for each of these offices. Discretion over which

committee considers the bill can help determine the fate of a bill.

Committees exist in order to allow subsets of legislators to focus on specific types of

legislation. The Speaker and the Lieutenant Governor have the sole power to appoint

members to committee, as well as appoint committee chairs. This is a key source of their strength. Committee members can then hold

hearings on the bills, modify it, or table it meaning that it dies in committee.

Bills must be reported out of committee in order for it to move forward. This is the most common place for

bill to die.

Committees may the most important institution in the

legislature because that is where the actual subject matter of

legislation is established.

It is crucial for members of the legislature to be assigned to committees that give

them jurisdiction over issues important to their constituents. This need creates

leverage for each chamber’s presiding officer. Members must cooperate with the

officer’s objectives in order to be appointed to their preferred committees.

“Committees are formed at the beginning of the regular session and generally consist of 5 to 29

members. For committees of the house of representatives, membership of most

committees is determined in part by seniority and in part by appointments by the speaker.

Each representative sits on at least one committee, and most representatives sit on two

or three committees. The house in the 80th Legislature had 40 substantive and procedural

standing committees.”

“For committees of the senate, membership is determined entirely by appointments by the lieutenant governor. Senators generally sit on

three or four committees each, and the senate in the 80th Legislature had 15 standing

committees.”

Click here for House Committees

Click Here for Senate Committees

There are two general types of committees in the Texas

Legislature.

Substantive committees, where bills are considered, and

procedural committees, that determine how the legislature

operates.

The committee chair may decide to appoint subcommittees to

consider certain types of bills.

Once a bill is referred to committee, a determination is

made as to whether the bill will involve any costs. If so, a fiscal note must be prepared by the Legislative Budget Board that accompanies the bill as it goes through the legislative process.

FISCAL NOTE—An estimate, prepared by the Legislative Budget Board, of the probable costs that will be incurred as an effect of a

bill or joint resolution.

Committees can then hold public hearings on the bills – if they

choose to do so.

After consideration, the committee may choose to report out a bill.

This means they pass it and report to others in the legislature why.

If the committee reports unfavorably on a bill, it is generally dead, but if an interested minority of the committee approves of the bill, it can issue a minority report

which can be adopted by a minority of the House or by 2/3rds

of the Senate.

Committee Reports

“ After considering a bill, a committee may choose to take no action or may issue a report on the bill to the house or senate.

Committee reports are advisory only and may take several forms. The committee may recommend passage of the bill

without amendments, or it may recommend amendments to the bill or even substitute a new bill for the original document.

The committee report includes a record of the committee’s recommendations and vote regarding house or senate action on the bill, including the recommendation regarding placement on

a calendar; the text of the bill as reported by the committee, which may be the introduced text or a substitute; any proposed

amendments; a detailed bill analysis; a fiscal note or other impact statement; and other attachments as necessary.”

Committee reports are printed and delivered to each member of the

chamber in question.

For bills in the House, a copy is also delivered to the calendars

committee which then schedules the bill for floor consideration.

Getting from the Committee to the Floor:

Calendars and Agendas

The House Calendar

The Texas House has a Committee on Calendars which has wide

discretion in determining when bills reported out of committee will

be heard on the House floor.

Click here for the page in the Texas Legislature Online that describes

and contains these calendars.

There are four types of calendars

1 - the Daily House Calendar, which contains a list of new bills and resolutions scheduled by the Committee on Calendars for consideration by the house;

2 - the Supplemental House Calendar (prepared by the Committee on Calendars), which may contain: (a) measures passed to third reading on the previous day; (b) measures on the Daily House Calendar for a previous day that were not reached for consideration; (c) measures on the Daily House Calendar for the current day; (d) postponed business from a previous day; and (e) notice to call from the table a measure laid on the table subject to call on a previous day;

3 - the Local, Consent, and Resolutions Calendar, which contains a list of local or noncontroversial bills scheduled by the Committee on Local and Consent Calendars for consideration by the house; and

4 - the Congratulatory and Memorial Calendar, which contains a list of congratulatory and memorial resolutions and motions scheduled by the Committee on Rules and Resolutions for consideration by the house

The Senate Agenda and Intent Calendar

The Senate Agenda contains information on various measures that

the Senate may act on. Only one of which is the consideration of bills

reported out of committee. These are officially to be heard in the order they are reported out of committee to the

Senate.

Here’s language from the GTLI:

“Senate rules require that bills and resolutions be listed on the regular order of business and be considered on

second reading in the order in which committee reports on the measures are submitted to the senate. During a regular session, the senate adopts a further

rule specifying that before a bill or joint resolution may be brought up for floor debate out of its regular order, notice of intent must be filed with the secretary of the

senate by 3 p.m. on the last preceding calendar day the senate was in session. . . .

. . . senator may give notice on no more than three bills or resolutions before April 15 and on no more than five

bills or resolutions on or after April 15. Senate rules direct the secretary of the senate to prepare a list of all

legislation for which notice has been given. The list, called the Intent Calendar, must be made available to each senator and to the press not later than 6:30 p.m. on the day the notice is filed. No bill or resolution may be considered on its first day on the Intent Calendar,

and a vote of two-thirds of the senators present is required before any of the measures listed on the

Intent Calendar may be debated.”

That last part is important. An opportunity exists to consider bills

out of order if the desired bill is placed on the intent calendar.

This has led to a custom in the Senate. At the beginning of each

session a dummy bill is introduced and placed on the Intent Calendar.

Since it is on top of the Intent Calendar, a 2/3rds vote is

necessary in order for any other bill to be considered by the Senate.

This allows the Senate to be more responsive to minorities than the

House.

Floor Action

Bills are then read a second time before the chamber (the caption only). It can then be debated by the chamber. The chamber may then amend the bill by simple

majority vote. After amendments are considered, the bill is read a

third time and a final vote is held.

“If the bill receives a simple majority vote, it is considered passed, and the chief clerk of the

house or the secretary of the senate, as appropriate, certifies the bill’s final passage,

noting on it the date of its passage and the vote by which it passed. When the bill is passed in

the originating chamber, the bill is engrossed (all corrections and amendments are incorporated into it), and an exact and accurate copy of the

engrossed bill is prepared and sent to the opposite chamber for consideration.”

Consideration in the other chamber

The process in the other chamber mostly mirrors that in the originating

chamber.

The chamber itself however is different and the factors that motivate

one may not motivate the other. There is no guarantee that a bill supported by the House will be

approved by the Senate or voice versa.

In a bicameral legislature, each chamber is a check on the power

of the other.

The majoritarian pressures the electorate can place to act quickly

in the House is checked by the processes that slow things down in

the Senate.

Consideration of local and noncontroversial bills

A significant number of bills introduced in the House and Senate

do not deal with any substantive state matters, but rather local matters, or issues that are non-controversial.

Each chamber has a committees that sets the calendar that deals with each.

Click here for the House Local and Consent Calendars Committee.

Click here for the Senate Committee on Administration,

which sets the Local and Uncontested Calendar for that

chamber.

Return of a bill to the originating chamber

If a bill has been passed by the other chamber without

amendment, then it is returned to the originating chamber where the

bill is then enrolled.

ENROLLED—The stage in a bill’s legislative progress when it has been passed by both

chambers of the legislature in identical form and is prepared for signature by the

presiding officers of both houses.

Conference committee

If amendments have been made to a bill in one chamber, that were not accepted in

the other a conference committee can be requested by the presiding officers in each chamber to reconcile differences between

the two.

The resulting report is introduced in both chambers and if it is passed, the report is

enrolled, signed by the presiding officers of each chamber and sent to the governor.

If the report is not accepted by either chamber the bill dies.

Governor's action

If a bill is sent to the governor within 10 days of the final

adjournment (sine die), the governor can sign or veto it or

allow it to become a law without his signature. Vetoes or signatures must happen within 20 calendar

days after final adjournment.

If the bill is sent with more than 10 days remaining, the vetoed bill is returned to the chamber where it originated and if a 2/3rds majority

votes for the bill – as well as a 2/3rds majority of the other chamber – then the veto is

overturned.

The Texas Governor also has line item veto authority which allows

for the veto of specific budget items. This is an effective tool for

limiting spending.

For the 82nd Session

Bills SignedBills Vetoes

Bills Allowed to Become Law

Effective date

Following a constitutional mandate, bills do not become

effective for 90 days following the adjournment of the session where

it was enacted.

The Legislature, by a 2/3rds vote can direct otherwise.

Filing and publication of laws

Once a bill becomes a law, the executive clerk to the governor

sends the bill to the Secretary of State which files the bill.

Bills are kept at the Texas State Library and Archives Commission.

Further information about past laws can be found here:

General and Special Laws of the State of Texas

The content of bills is incorporated into Texas Government Code.