With the elections behind us, we turn from providing a context for you from the campaign’s path to a context of Texas in Capitol as the Legislative Commission in Texas begins. Keeping pace with the context of the Capitol in this legislative session during our study that is being discussed, and the messages we hear from the elected leaders and how their voices affect all of us.
Austin – with the second second session of the eighty -eighth legislative body in Texas behind us, we were interested in knowing the percentage of 378 draft laws submitted by legislators.
After searching on online data from the Legislative Council in Texas WebsiteWe found 11 invisions on the latest special session of 21 days. This is 5.5 % of the total bills provided, although we should note KXAN BillsAnd not other legislation, such as decisions.
This low percentage of bills that were passed is not unusual for a special session. We looked at the percentage of the they were approved during special sessions over the past ten years in the Legislative Commission in Texas, and according to Legislative reference library in TexasIn any other special session, legislators passed more than 5.5 % of the bills provided.
In several sessions, legislators approved zero bills – including the first special session for this year. That session, which started on July 21, 2025, stopped when the Democrats broke the quorum in response to the batch of a republican leadership to redraw the map of Congress in the state.
Two other specials have witnessed over the past decade zero bills. The first special session was suspended in 2021 by resting the quorum on the draft laws related to voting restrictions, and the first special session ended in 2023 also without anything, as Republican lawmakers found themselves blocked on how to move forward in reducing property tax.
When it comes to regular sessions – we found much higher than the bill.
Usually regular sessions are much longer than a special session – 140 days for a regular session for 30 days for a private session – but regular sessions also see more bills provided.
At the regular session of 89 for this year, a little less than 14 % of the 8,719 lawmakers were approved. This is less than the average percentage of bills issued during regular sessions in the past decade. 17 % of bills have passed through regular sessions since 2015.
The next regular session is scheduled to start on January 12, 2027.