Strategic Partnerships, Inc.
Strategic Partnerships, Inc.
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Today is Legislative Day 130. Ten days remain in this legislative session.
Through end of day yesterday, the House has seen 3592 bills (excluding resolutions) filed, of which 180 have been approved by both legislative chambers and 34 have been signed by the Governor. Senators have filed 1892 bills of which 118 have passed both chambers and 63 have been signed by the governor.
Conference committees have now been appointed in major areas (e.g., education, school finance, and workers ' compensation), so the coming week should bring the resolution of major bills and enrollment of about 80% of what will become this session's new laws.
47 of the bills passed so far are effective immediately. They span the gamut from setting the hours of sale and consumption at wineries (SB 571) to modifying the required notice regarding car rental damage waivers (SB359). For the next thirty days (the period through which the governor can sign or veto bills), many readers will want to frequently check the effective immediately link.
Today is the last day for the House to consider local house bills. Sunday is the deadline for the House to print and distribute its last daily calendar with Senate bills and joint resolutions. Other deadlines kick in each day next week.
With so much riding on this last ten days, questions about special sessions arise. Article 3, Section 5(a) of the Texas Constitution allows the Governor to convene special sessions and Section 40 states that "there shall be no legislation upon subjects other than those designated in the proclamation of the Governor calling such session, or presented to them by the Governor; and no such session shall be of longer duration than thirty days."
Of the 78 regular sessions of the Texas Legislature that have previously occurred, 54 have been followed by special sessions and 24 have not. The record was 6 special sessions in 1989-90. The longest stretch without a special session was the decade of the 73rd through the 77th sessions.
The next Insider will be published on Day 137. Since the rules only allow for corrections to be approved on the following Monday (Day 140), that weekend will probably be a very busy time in the capitol.