I’m just a bill...

Another week has gone by in the Texas legislature, and we had another 400 bills filed between to the legislative bodies. That brings the total number of bills to just under 2,700. We have about a month left to file bills, so that number will continue to jump each week.

With not a lot of substance to cover this week, I thought it would be a good to talk about the calendar process for both the house and senate. After a bill is filed and referred to a committee, it CAN then be scheduled for a public hearing. Only after that hearing can the bill be voted out of the committee. This is where the process changes depending on the body.

In the house, after a bill is reported favorably from the committee it is referred to one of two committees.

If a bill is reported out of committee unanimously, it CAN( important to note it doesn't have to) be referred to the Local & Consent Calendar committee. This committee is designed for bills that have " general agreement as to render improbable any opposition to the consideration and passage thereof." For example, a local highway name change. This committee often votes to set a calendar once a week and is the lighting round of bill passing( watch a house L&C calendar from last session here and fast forward 48min mark). A key thing to know about this calendar is that ANY member can kick a bill off this calendar by pledging to speak for ten minutes or 5+ members given written notice to the committee chair that the intend to oppose the bill.

All other bills that are favorably referred get sent to the Calendars committee. This committee can then vote to assign it to one of 3 Calendars: Emergency, Major State, or General State. Bills are generally taken up in order of their placement on the calendar, however a bill can be postponed to a particular time at the authors request and the next item on the calendar may be taken up. Once that time comes, the bill will be taken up or may be postponed again to a particular time. This committee also have the responsibility for setting any amendment rules or debate limits for the consideration of a bill. If it isn't assigned to a calendar after 30 days, a member can make a motion from the floor, seconded by 5 members and a majority vote to assign it to a calendar.

In the senate, after a bill is reported favorably from committee it is placed directly on the senate regular order of business.

However, do not mistake this as an actual calendar for the day. The senate uses a blocker bill system to regulate the calendar. The blocker bill is the first bill passed out of committee and placed on the calendar but the senate has no intention of quickly addressing. The senate requires bills come up in the order in which they were reported from committee, so they must suspend the rules to move around the blocker bill. As far as I can remember, no senate has ever passed the blocker bill in order to get to another bill on the calendar.

A senator must notify the secretary of the senate that they want to suspend the rules to bring their bill up for a vote. The secretary places the bill on the intent calendar, and the senator must then get agreement from 2/3 (19 if everyone is present) of the senators to suspend the rules and discuss the bill. Bills on the intent calendar are not taken up in any particular order which can make the senate a little more difficult to follow when a particular bill will come up for a vote.

The senate also has a local and consent calendar which serves the same purpose as the house L&C calendar, to address non controversial bills.

I know this weeks article was a little longer than normal, but hopefully helped shed some light on the process of how a bill travels to the floor of each body. You can find the latest calendar for the house and senate here. Till next week!