The Texas Legislature - How It Works

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The Texas Legislature - How It Works

There are 31 members of the Texas Senate and 150 members of the Texas House of Representatives. The regular legislative sessions begin in January every odd-numbered year and convene for not more than 140 days. The governor may call the legislature into special session as deemed appropriate. Special sessions are limited to issues specifically stated in the governor’s call and may meet up to the 30-day maximum.

Legislative Process

Texas Legislature Online
Find a variety of information using the Texas Legislature Online website. Find out which members of the Texas House and Texas Senate represent you or a specific area. You can locate a bill you are looking for during the current or previous legislative sessions, as well as watch live broadcasts from the House and Senate Chambers.

Contact Your Legislator

Legislative Resources
Legislative Reference Library of Texas
The Legislative Reference Library (LRL) performs research for Texas legislators, their staff, and legislative committees. The library also assists the public and other state agencies with legislative research.

Legislative Budget Board
The Legislative Budget Board (LBB) is a permanent joint committee of the Texas Legislature that develops budget and policy recommendations for legislative appropriations, completes fiscal analyses for proposed legislation, and conducts evaluations and reviews to improve the efficiency and performance of state and local operations.

Texas Register
The Texas Register serves as the journal of state agency rulemaking for Texas. Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor’s appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents such as requests for proposals. After adoption, these rulemaking actions are codified into the Texas Administrative Code.

Texas Administrative Code
The Texas Administrative Code is a compilation of all state agency rules in Texas. There are 16 titles in the Texas Administrative Code. Each title represents a subject category and related agencies are assigned to the appropriate title.

Texas Legislative Council
The Texas Legislative Council is a nonpartisan legislative agency that provides bill drafting, computing, research, publishing, and document distribution services to the Texas Legislature and the other legislative agencies. The council also serves as an information resource for state agencies, the citizens of Texas, and others as time and resources allow.

Sunset Advisory Commission
In 1977, the Texas Legislature created the Sunset Advisory Commission to identify and eliminate waste, duplication, and inefficiency in government agencies.