Lens on the Legislature: Half Time

As noted in the January 14th Lens on the Legislature, the Texas Constitution limits each regular session to 140 days.

Monday of this week was the 70th day of the 79th regular session and therefore marked the end the first half of the session. Let's take a moment to see how the session is going.

3484 bills and 1072 resolutions were filed in the House. Because of the 60 day rule discussed in the March 11th column, relatively few additional bills would be expected for the remainder of the session. Of the bills filed in the first half, 192 received favorable committee votes and 27 of those went on to engrossment. [The process of engrossment was discussed in the March 18th column.]

1787 bills and 500 resolutions were filed in the Senate in the first half. Of the bills, 152 received favorable committee votes and 45 of those went on to engrossment.

Only 1 joint resolution was approved by its originating chamber during the first half: Sen. John Corona's SJR7 proposing a constitutional amendment authorizing line-of-credit advances under a reverse mortgage. [Resolutions were discussed in the March 4th column.]

No bills or joint resolutions have yet been approved by both houses. 43 concurrent resolutions, all ceremonial in nature, passed both houses in the first half and 35 of those were signed by the governor.

Each house has engrossed pretty substantial measures and passed them to the other chamber. The House, for example, passed HB2 (Public Education and Public School Finance) and HB3 (Property Tax Relief and other Tax Matters). The Senate passed SB5 (Workers' Compensation) and SB6 (Protective Services).

There were also some notable absences. For example, a major Water bill has been expected to be introduced as SB3, but has yet to appear.

Next week's Lens on the Legislature will focus on the process that begins when the 2nd legislative chamber receives an engrossed bill from the originating chamber. Bills that successfully make it through that process are then enrolled. Enrollment is similar to engrossment in that it is the careful preparation of the bill in its final form. In the case of enrollment, however, this occurs after both houses have passed the bill in identical form and the enrolled version is prepared for the signatures of the presiding officers of both houses. Enrollment and engrossment each occur only once for any bill.