How Texas Makes Laws

Two Houses

The Texas Legislature has two chambers. The Senate has 31 members, elected to four-year terms, with half of the seats on the ballot every two years. The House of Representatives has 150 members, elected to two-year terms (Texas Constitution, Article 3, Sections 2 through 4).

Sessions

The Legislature meets in regular session once every two years. It convenes at noon on the second Tuesday in January of each odd-numbered year (Government Code Section 301.001), and a regular session may last no more than 140 days (Article 3, Section 24).

The 90th Legislature convenes on Tuesday, January 12, 2027. Members and members-elect may begin filing bills for it on Monday, November 9, 2026.

The constitution sets an order of business for a regular session. The first 30 days are for introducing bills, emergency appropriations, and confirming appointments. The next 30 days are for committee hearings. The rest of the session is for acting on bills. Either chamber can change that order by a four-fifths vote (Article 3, Section 5).

Only the governor can call a special session. It may last no more than 30 days and may take up only the subjects the governor names (Article 4, Section 8; Article 3, Section 40). The 89th Legislature held two in the summer of 2025.

How a Bill Becomes Law

Texas makes law only by bill (Article 3, Section 30). The path below follows the Texas Legislative Council's guide, The Legislative Process in Texas.

Filing. Only a legislator can introduce a bill, though the idea can come from anyone. Filing opens on the first Monday after the general election before a session and runs freely through the first 60 days of the session. After that, most bills need four-fifths of the chamber to be introduced. Bills to raise revenue must start in the House.
First reading and referral. The bill's caption is read into the record, and the speaker or the lieutenant governor sends it to a committee.
Committee. No bill can be considered on the floor until a committee has reported on it (Article 3, Section 37). The committee may hold a hearing, amend the bill or write a substitute, and report it out, or it may leave the bill pending. Most bills that lack support end here. The Senate requires a public hearing before a bill can be reported.
The calendar. In the House, the Calendars Committee decides whether and when a reported bill reaches the floor. In the Senate, taking up a bill out of its regular order requires a vote of five-ninths of the members present.
Second and third reading. Debate and most amendments happen on second reading, where a simple majority decides. Third reading is the vote on final passage. The constitution requires readings on three separate days, a rule four-fifths of the chamber can suspend (Article 3, Section 32).
The other chamber. The bill goes to the other house and repeats the same steps. That chamber can pass it as it is, amend it, or reject it.
Agreement. If the second chamber changed the bill, the first chamber can accept the changes or ask for a conference committee: five members from each house. A conference report needs the approval of three conferees from each chamber and must be accepted or rejected as a whole. If the conferees cannot agree, the bill dies.
The governor. The governor has 10 days, not counting Sundays, to sign or veto a bill. For bills that arrive in the last 10 days of the session, the governor has until 20 days after the session ends. A bill the governor neither signs nor vetoes becomes law (Article 4, Section 14).

The governor can veto individual spending items in an appropriations bill and approve the rest. The Legislature can override a veto with a two-thirds vote in each chamber.

Unless two-thirds of each house votes otherwise, a new law takes effect on the 91st day after the session ends (Article 3, Section 39).

Limits on Every Bill

A bill may cover only one subject, except the general appropriations bill (Article 3, Section 35). A bill that fails in either chamber cannot be passed in substance again in the same session (Article 3, Section 34).

The Texas Legislative Council publishes flowcharts of the whole process for House bills and Senate bills.

Sources

Keep Reading

Join the Reading List Donate