Editor’s note: This story was part of a series of articles published in the March 4 edition of The Daily Texan.
As the 89th Texas Legislative Session reaches the 45-day mark on Feb. 28, lawmakers have yet to pass a single bill into law. However, the Legislature cannot pass bills until after March 14, or the 60-day mark in the session. Historically, the path to becoming law is long.
Since the start of the session in January 2025, over 4,800 bills have been filed, including some filed before the official start in November 2024. According to the Texas Legislative Reference Library, only about 21% of bills introduced during a regular session have ultimately passed both the Senate and House of Representatives since 2003.
Joshua Blank, director of the Texas Politics Project, said the low success rate is often due to the time constraints within the legislative process.
“If a member had a really great idea for a bill, there just may not be time for that bill,” Blank said. “Most legislation takes multiple sessions to germinate, to develop a constituency and coalition and actually pass.”
Regular sessions of the Texas Legislature are constitutionally limited to 140 days, meaning lawmakers only have a few months, from mid-January following a general election until early June, to consider and pass legislation.
Bills can start in either the House or Senate. After introduction, the bill gets its first reading and is assigned to a committee based on its subject by the presiding officer — the Lieutenant Governor in the Senate or the Speaker of the House.
The Texas Legislative Council said many bills stall at this stage. Once in committee, bills undergo a process of research, hearings, debate and votes to determine if it will be favorably recommended for consideration on the chamber floor. This process cannot even begin until after the first 30 days of the session.
After a bill has passed through committee, it is then placed on a calendar to be scheduled for consideration on the chamber floor. Not all bills make it to the floor, and some die because they are never placed on the calendar for a vote.
If the bill makes it to the floor, it goes through a second reading, where it can be debated and amended by a majority vote. If it passes, it moves to a third reading, where it can be amended again, but only with a two-thirds majority vote. These procedures cannot take place before the 60-day mark unless the Governor designates the bill as an emergency item.
While on the floor, bills are also vulnerable to procedural hurdles which can delay or derail its progress. Blank said bills can “die” when legislators raise constitutional concerns.
If the bill passes one chamber, it is sent to the other chamber, where the process starts again. Both chambers must approve the same version of the bill for it to pass. If there are differences, a conference committee is formed to reconcile them. Once an agreement is reached, the final bill returns to both chambers for another vote.
Once both chambers agree on the final version of the bill, it is sent to the Governor, who has the power to sign it into law or veto it. If the governor vetoes a bill, the Legislature can overturn it with a two-thirds majority vote.
