The month of May marks the final stage of the 87th Regular Legislative Session. Every odd-numbered year, the Texas Legislature meets for 140 days to hear, review, and potentially pass various pieces of legislation. This year, the 87th Legislative Session began on January 12th, which puts the final day of session on May 31st this year. For those involved with the legislature, the final day of session is commonly referred to as “Sine Die,” a Latin phrase meaning “without day,” or “without any future date being designated.”
With only two weeks left, we are now entering the final days of the legislative session. That means a few deadlines have come to pass for the legislators and their staff. One of the first such deadlines was on Monday, the 10th of May. This represents the 119th day of session. This day marked the last day for House committees to report out any House Bills that the committees heard throughout the session. The following day, May 11th, was the last House Daily Calendar with House Bills and House Joint Resolutions. That legislation needed to be distributed for a 36-hour layout by 10 p.m. that evening. The 36-hour layout was necessary because May 13th marked the last day that the House can consider all House Bills or House Joint Resolutions on second reading.
On May 14th, the House considered House Bills that were “consent” bills, which had been placed on the Local and Consent Calendar. The consent bills that were set on this calendar were those that should have had no opposition and received no nay votes when they were voted out of committee. As these deadlines continue passing for House Bills, the House members have begun to turn their focus to Senate bills. On Saturday, May 22nd, will represent the 131st day of the session, and it will be the last day for committees to report out any of the Senate Bills or Senate Joint Resolutions. With just a few days left, the House will consider on 2nd reading the Senate Bills and the Senate Joint Resolutions which were placed on the Supplemental or House Daily Calendar.
On the 137th day of session (or May 28th of this year), the House will have to concur or go to conference on any Senate amendments. May 30th will then be the last day for the House to adopt Conference Committee Reports. If the House and Senate do not adopt the report for a piece of legislation, then the measure will fail, and the bill dies. The following day or the 140th day of session, the House and Senate are limited to only making corrections to legislation. Upon the final adjournment on May 31st, the House and Senate will officially end the 87th Regular Session.
If you would like to follow the Texas House and learn more information on news, committees, or other aspects of the legislative body, you can access its website at Texas House of Representatives. The site features live streaming from the House floor, committee hearings as well as access to several other resources. You can also follow the Texas Senate. Governor Greg Abbott’s official website can be found at The Office of the Texas Governor.
If you have questions regarding any of the information mentioned in this week’s article, please do not hesitate to call my Capitol or District Office. Please always feel free to contact my office if you have any questions or issues regarding a Texas state agency, or if you would like to contact my office regarding constituent services. As always, my offices are available at any time to assist with questions, concerns, or comments (Capitol Office, 512-463-0672; District Office, 361-949-4603).
– State Representative Todd Hunter, District 32
Rep. Hunter represents Nueces (Part). He can be contacted at todd.hunter@house.state.tx.us or at 512-463-0672.
