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28-557: The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature . It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. There are no term limits . The House meets at the State Capitol in Austin . The leadership for the 88th Legislature is as follows: The Speaker of the House is the presiding officer and highest-ranking member of

56-546: A large impact on lawmaking in the state. Only the governor may call the Legislature into special sessions, unlike other states where the legislature may call itself into session. The governor may call as many sessions as desired. For example, Governor Rick Perry called three consecutive sessions to address the 2003 Texas congressional redistricting . The Texas Constitution limits the duration of each special session to 30 days; lawmakers may consider only those issues designated by

84-702: A member of the House, decide on all questions to order, appoint the Speaker Pro Tempore and Temporary Chair, adjourn the House in the event of an emergency, postpone reconvening in the event of an emergency, and sign all bills, joint resolutions, and concurrent resolutions. The administrative duties of the Speaker include having control over the Hall of the House, appointing chair, vice-chair, and members to each standing committee, appointing all conference committees, and directing committees to make interim studies. The Chief Clerk

112-483: A per diem of $ 221 for every day the Legislature is in session (also including any special sessions). That adds up to $ 38,140 a year for a regular session (140 days), with the total pay for a two-year term being $ 45,340. Legislators receive a pension after eight years of service, starting at age 60. Article III, Section 10 of the Texas Constitution requires that 2/3 of a chamber's members be present to constitute

140-484: A quorum for conducting business (this is greater than what is required for the United States Congress, which only requires a simple majority of a chamber's members). This has resulted in several instances where, in an effort to block legislation from passing, a sufficient number of members have fled the state in order to deny a quorum. The most recent of these attempts took place during a 2021 special session of

168-618: Is a bicameral body composed of a 31-member Senate and a 150-member House of Representatives . The state legislature meets at the Capitol in Austin . It is a powerful arm of the Texas government not only because of its power of the purse to control and direct the activities of state government and the strong constitutional connections between it and the Lieutenant Governor of Texas , but also due to Texas's plural executive . The Legislature

196-517: Is determined by seniority and the remaining 1/2 by the Speaker of the House, excluding Procedural Committees the membership of which are wholly chosen by the Speaker). In addition to these committees, there are also six joint committees composed of members of both the State House and Senate : Texas Legislature The Texas Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Texas . It

224-654: Is elected separately from the governor, rather than on the same ticket; it is therefore possible for the governor and lieutenant governor to be from different political parties (which was the case during Governor George W. Bush 's first term and also during Bill Clements 's two non-consecutive terms). The lieutenant governor becomes the governor if the elected governor resigns, dies or is removed from office via impeachment and conviction. Former governor Rick Perry took office upon George W. Bush's resignation on December 21, 2000, ahead of Bush becoming U.S. president . When Perry became lieutenant governor on January 19, 1999, he became

252-528: Is president of the Texas Senate . Unlike with most other states' senates and the U.S. Senate, the lieutenant governor regularly presides over the chamber rather than delegating this function to the president pro tempore or a majority leader . By the rules of the Senate, the lieutenant governor establishes all special and standing committees, appoints all chairpersons and members, and assigns all Senate legislation to

280-592: Is the constitutional successor of the Congress of the Republic of Texas since Texas's 1845 entrance into the Union . The Legislature held its first regular session from February 16 to May 13, 1846. The Legislature has completed its 88th session , and the next session is the 89th session , scheduled to convene on January 14, 2025, at noon ( CST ) after the 2024 Texas elections . The Texas Legislature meets in regular session on

308-537: Is the head of the Chief Clerk's Office which maintains a record of all authors who sign legislation, maintains and distributes membership information to current house members, and forwards copies of legislation to house committee chairs. The Chief Clerk is the primary custodian of all legal documents within House. Additional duties include keeping a record of all progress on a document, attesting all warrants, writs, and subpoenas, receiving and filing all documents received by

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336-497: Is the start of the state's fiscal year). Bills can (and many are) pre-filed before the start of a session: for regular sessions the lower numbers are reserved for bills with high priority by Legislative leadership (with HB1 and SB1 specifically reserved for each chamber's version of the General Appropriations Act, the state's budget and spending authority). Although members are elected on partisan ballots, both houses of

364-419: The 52 absent Democratic members of the House. The bill passed upon the eventual return of enough state Democrats to constitute a quorum in the legislature. The Texas Legislature has five support agencies that are within the legislative branch of state government. Those five agencies are as follows: Lieutenant Governor of Texas Under the provisions of the Texas Constitution , the lieutenant governor

392-448: The House of Representatives has duties as a presiding officer as well as administrative duties. As a presiding officer, the Speaker must enforce, apply, and interpret the rules of the House, call House members to order, lay business in order before the House and receive propositions made by members, refer proposed legislation to a committee, preserve order and decorum, recognize people in the gallery, state and hold votes on questions, vote as

420-589: The House rules do not formally recognize majority or minority leaders. The unofficial leaders are the Republican Caucus Chairman and the Democratic House Leader, both of whom are elected by their respective caucuses. Republicans currently hold a majority of seats in the House. Texas' legislative districts are an example of gerrymandering ; however, requirements in the Texas Constitution are more strict than other states. The Speaker of

448-440: The House. The Speaker's duties include maintaining order within the House, recognizing members during debate, ruling on procedural matters, appointing members to the various committees and sending bills for committee review. The Speaker pro tempore is primarily a ceremonial position, but does, by long-standing tradition, preside over the House during its consideration of local and consent bills. Unlike other state legislatures ,

476-523: The Legislature are officially organized on a nonpartisan basis, with members of both parties serving in leadership positions such as committee chairmanships. As of 2022, a majority of the members of each chamber are members of the Republican Party . The Texas Constitution sets the qualifications for election to each house as follows: State legislators in Texas make $ 600 per month, or $ 7,200 per year, plus

504-459: The Legislature. On July 12, 2021, during a special session, at least 51 Democratic members of the House fled the state in two charter jets bound for Washington, D.C. , in an effort to block Republican-backed election legislation from passing. The lawmakers planned to spend at least three weeks in Washington, running out the clock on the special session, which began July 8. During their time away from

532-503: The bill. After the first special session expired on August 6, Governor Abbott called a second session the next day. State District Judge Brad Urrutia granted a restraining order on August 9 temporarily protecting the absent Democrats from arrest by the state, however this restraining order was overturned by the Texas Supreme Court . On August 10, with the chamber still lacking a quorum, Speaker Dade Phelan issued arrest warrants for

560-532: The budget and policy. The lieutenant governor is also a member of the Legislative Redistricting Board (together with the speaker of the House, attorney general, comptroller, and land commissioner), which is charged with adopting a redistricting plan for the Texas House of Representatives, Texas Senate, or U.S. House of Representatives after the decennial census if the Legislature fails to do so. In

588-432: The case of a vacancy in the lieutenant governor's office, the Senate elects one of its members to act as President of the Senate until the next statewide office election, in effect becoming the lieutenant governor. A senator elected as presiding officer in this way retains their district seat and the voting privileges entailed with his Senate election. The lieutenant governor is sworn in on the third Tuesday every four years,

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616-640: The committee of his choice. The lieutenant governor decides all questions of parliamentary procedure in the Senate. The lieutenant governor also has broad discretion in following Senate procedural rules. The lieutenant governor is an ex officio member of several statutory bodies, including the Legislative Budget Board, the Legislative Council, and the Legislative Audit Committee, which have considerable sway over state programs,

644-449: The first Republican since Albert Jennings Fountain in 1873 to serve as lieutenant governor, and the first Republican to be elected as lieutenant governor since James W. Flanagan in 1869. Texas is one of the few states that vests significant power in the office of lieutenant governor, making it among the most influential. By contrast, the lieutenant governor position in other states has few (if any) legislative responsibilities, akin to

672-570: The governor in his "call," or proclamation convening the special session (though other issues may be added by the Governor during a session). Any bill passed by the Legislature takes effect 90 days after its passage unless two-thirds of each house votes to give the bill either immediate effect or earlier effect. The Legislature may provide for an effective date that is after the 90th day. Under current legislative practice, most bills are given an effective date of September 1 in odd-numbered years (September 1

700-405: The house, and maintaining the electronic information and calendar for documents. When there is a considerable update of the electronic source website, the Chief Clerk is also responsible for noticing House members via email. The committee structure below is valid for the 88th Legislature (numbers in parentheses are the number of committee members; under House rules 1/2 of each committee's membership

728-415: The same as the governor. Dan Patrick has been the lieutenant governor of Texas since January 20, 2015. The term of office was two years from 1846 to 1972. Voters then increased it to four years, effective for the 1974 election. The lieutenant governor assumes the powers of the governor of Texas when the governor is out of the state or otherwise unable to discharge the office. The lieutenant governor

756-501: The second Tuesday in January of each odd-numbered year. The Texas Constitution limits the regular session to 140 calendar days. The lieutenant governor , elected statewide separately from the governor , presides over the Senate, while the Speaker of the House is elected from that body by its members. Both have wide latitude in choosing committee membership in their respective houses and have

784-528: The state legislative chambers, they also advocated for federal voting legislation such as the For the People Act . Governor Abbott stated that representatives, upon return to the state, would be arrested and escorted to the state legislative chambers to fulfill their lawmaking duties. He additionally noted he would use his power to call successive special sessions until such a time as the legislature met quorum to vote on

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