BLOG: How to Track a Bill

This year’s 88th Legislative Session is well underway, and with the 60-day filing deadline approaching quickly on March 10th, the Texas House of Representatives has been busy at the Capitol filing new bills. You may be asking yourself…

“What happens once a bill is filed? Is there a way to follow its journey through the Capitol?”

You can follow along and monitor its progress throughout the legislative process using the Texas Legislature Online (TLO) – Here’s how you do it.

Once the filing deadline has passed, you can view a complete list of bills filed by the Texas House using a variety of different methods, including checking out the legislative reports provided by TLO. If you are tracking legislation important to you, you can create a personal bill list in My TLO, where you will receive email notifications any time there is a change to your bill of interest.

When you track a certain bill, you can use the TLO’s website to view when it is scheduled for consideration in a committee. If you are unable to attend a committee hearing in person, the Texas House broadcasts all hearings live and archives them for later viewing. If desired, you can also sign up for a mailing list that notifies you when meetings over specific bills are scheduled to take place.

If the bill you are tracking is reported favorably by a committee, the bill will be placed on the House calendar, which is a list of bills and resolutions scheduled to be considered by the full House of Representatives. Bills passed through the House are then considered by the Texas Senate. Once considered and passed by both chambers, the bill is sent to the Governor, who will sign, veto, or allow the bill to become law. All bills passed or vetoed by the Governor are available for viewing on the TLO’s website under legislative reports. If a bill is signed by the Governor or allowed to move on without signature, it will become a law and codified as a statute, completing the legislative process. All statutes in Texas can be viewed and searched for on the Texas Statutes website.

The legislative process can be complex, but the Texas Legislature Online has made it easy to track a bill. As bills are considered throughout the 88th Legislative Session, we encourage you to utilize the TLO’s resources to stay updated on the latest activities happening around the Capitol.