Victor Ortega AUSTIN – Politicians from all over the state are meeting in the Texas Capitol for the 2025 Texas legislature, filing thousands of bills and reviewing important matters like the state budget.
But what is the Texas legislature, and how does it work? Clyde Barrow, UTRGV political science professor, sat down with KVAQ-TV to provide answers.
“As you know, the state government of Texas, like most state governments in the United States, has three branches of government, the legislature, the executive and the judiciary,” Barrow said. “The legislature has two houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives. They’re both elected every 2 years by the voters of the State of Texas, and their main responsibility is to pass laws.”
First established in 1836 under the Republic of Texas, the Texas legislative process is long and fast-paced, and it’s the only state to meet every odd year, starting on the second Tuesday of January.
Other states’ legislatures meet annually.
It’s in this 140-daylong session that state senators and representatives file bills for a slight chance of becoming law.
Some bills may take effect immediately after being passed, while others have to wait until the second half of the year.
“Basically, it starts with a member of the legislature [having] to write and introduce a bill into the legislature. It gets referred to a committee, which may look at it,” Barrow said. “If a committee refers a bill out, it’ll be debated by the full house or senate. They have to pass [the bill] in identical form for it to become law, that rarely happens. So, there’s generally a conference committee with negotiations between the two houses, and if they can then agree upon the exact wording of a bill it goes to the governor who can either sign it or veto it, meaning reject it.”
Committees are comprised of members of the house that are assigned to a particular functional jurisdiction, like public education, agriculture and energy.
Bills that correspond to a particular committee most often get assigned to it, although this is not always the case.
The governor of Texas holds a special position within the legislature, as he’s the one that signs or vetoes bills.
In addition, he has the power to line-item veto, meaning he can exclude any individual provisions in a bill.
Above the governor is the lieutenant governor, who’s the head of the senate which is comprised of 31-members.
“The Lieutenant Governor is elected in a statewide election, just like the governor is,” Barrow described. “And since the Lieutenant Governor controls committee assignments, assignments to committee chairs, has a great deal of influence over what bill gets on the calendar to be voted on, the Lieutenant Governor is really the single most powerful individual in the state when it comes the legislative process.”
The 2025 Texas legislature is set to end on June 2, while the 22nd will be the last day for Gov. Greg Abbott to sign or veto bills.
As this legislative process will continue throughout the year, we’ll be covering any updates surrounding UTRGV and the Rio Grande Valley.
