Texas Legislature

Article Contents

Term of Office
Structure and Leadership
Regular and Special Sessions
Qualification for Service
Current Makeup
Legislative Process
Salaries of Texas Legislators
Legislative Staff
Legislative Agencies
Official Websites
Recent News Coverage

The Texas Legislature is the law-making organ of state government in Texas. It consists of two parts, or chambers: a 31-member Senate and a 150-member House of Representatives.

The Texas Legislature passes new laws and revises existing ones, sets tax rates and controls the state budget, and provides limited oversight of local governments and the other branches of government. Together with the judiciary and executive branch, the legislature is considered one of three co-equal branches of state government.

The legislature meets at the Capitol building in Austin.

For a bill to become a law in Texas, it must be approved by a majority of members in each chamber of the legislature. It must then be sent to the governor, who may sign it, veto it, or allow it to become law without a signature.

Quick Facts

Year Established: 1846 (preceded by the Congress of Texas, 1836)
Type of Legislature: Bicameral
Seats: 181 (150 representatives, 31 senators)
Party Control:
- Senate: 18 Republicans, 13 Democrats
- House: 85 Republicans, 65 Democrats
House Speaker: Dade Phelan (R)
Lieutenant Governor: Dan Patrick (R)
Last Election: November 2022

The two chambers of the legislature function independently and set their own rules of procedure. There is no hierarchical relationship between them. However, the Senate has the exclusive power to approve or reject appointments made by the governor.

Other powers of the Texas Legislature include proposing constitutional amendments, impeaching officials for misconduct or corruption, appointing certain members of state boards and commissions, redrawing congressional and legislative maps every ten years (redistricting), and establishing the boundaries of district courts.

Term of Office

Members of the Texas Legislature are elected from geographic districts.

House members serve two-year terms.
Senate members serve four-year terms, except at the beginning and end of the 10-year redistricting cycle, when some members serve two-year terms. The Senate has a lottery system to determine which senators serve for how long.

Neither the House of Representatives nor the Senate has term limits.

Structure and Leadership

Lieutenant governor Dan Patrick is one of two co-equal leaders of the Texas Legislature. — Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick

Each chamber of the Texas Legislature has a presiding officer who maintains order, recognizes members to speak during debate, and makes rulings on procedural matters.

The presiding officer in the Texas House is the the Speaker of the House, who is elected by the House members at the start of each regular legislative session. In the Senate, the presiding officer is the Lieutenant Governor, who is elected directly by the voters.

Speaker Dade Phelan is one of two co-equal leaders of the Texas Legislature. — Speaker Dade Phelan

The Speaker and the Lieutenant Governor appoint committee chairpersons and make committee assignments in their respective chambers. The chairs of committees preside over committee meetings where bills are considered at the early stage in the legislative process.

Regular and Special Sessions

The Texas Legislature is a part-time legislative body whose members generally have other occupations and who reside in their home districts, not in Austin. They meet only once every two years for a period of 140 days. This is called a regular session and it takes place from January through May of odd-numbered years.

Apart from that, the legislature cannot meet unless the governor calls a special session, which lasts for a period of 30 days. During the special session the legislature may consider only the agenda set by the governor in his “call,” which is the proclamation convening the session.

The period between regular sessions is called “the interim.” During the time, Texas lawmakers return to their occupations, campaign for reelection, and prepare for the next session.

Although the legislature as a whole may not meet during the interim, individual committees may hold hearings to study a particular issue or to provide oversight of government agencies. Additionally, a permanent standing committee of the legislature, the Legislative Budget Board, has legal powers to make adjustments to the budget during the interim.

Upward looking view of the Texas Capitol rotunda — Senator speaking in the senate chamber

Qualification for Service

The Texas Constitution sets the qualifications for election to the legislature:

a senator must be at least 26 years of age, a Texas resident for five years prior to election, and a resident of the district from which elected for one year.
a representative must be at least 21 years of age, a Texas resident for two years prior to election, and a resident of the district from which elected for one year.

Current Makeup

The two major political parties of Texas, the Republicans and Democrats, control all the seats of the legislature. After the November 2020 general election, Republicans held a 83-67 majority in the House and a 18-13 majority in the Senate for the 2021 regular session.

Membership Profile

Party Affiliation:
- House: 85 Republicans, 65 Democrats
- Senate: 18 Republicans, 13 Democrats
Gender Diversity:
- House: 38 women, 110 men
- Senate: 10 women, 21 men
Ethnic Diversity:
- House: 88 White, 37 Hispanic, 17 Black, 4 Asian (estimate)
- Senate: 22 White, 7 Hispanic, 2 Black
Freshmen: 21 (17 House, 4 Senate)
Ages (both chambers, 1/12/2021): 0 members under 30; 16 members age 30-39; 44 age 40-49; 59 age 50-59: 36 age 60-69; 25 age 70+.

Many bills in the Texas Legislature are passed or rejected in party-line votes. However, other bills attract bipartisan support. The most prolific author of Texas laws is Judith Zaffirini, a Democrat Senator from Laredo.

A notable difference between the Texas Legislature and the U.S. Congress is that the majority party does not control all the committee chairs. These are normally apportioned in a bipartisan way, particularly in the lower chamber. In the House, Speaker Dade Phelan in 2021 appointed 21 Republicans chairs and 13 Democrats. In the Senate, Democrats led two of 15 standing committees in 2021.

Legislative Process

Any senator or representative may propose a new law in the chamber in which they serve. The proposed law, which is called a bill, may be written by the member himself or by an outside interest group or expert. Often, Texas legislators draft their bills with assistance from lawyers at the Texas Legislative Council, a legislative agency with expertise in bill drafting.

For the bill to become a law, it must go through several steps:

Introduction (filing)
Referral to a committee
Consideration and approval by a committee
Placement on a calendar for floor consideration
Second reading
Third reading
Referral to the other chamber
Committee action and floor action in the other chamber
Reconciliation of bill versions between the two chambers
Enrollment
Sent to the governor

A bill becomes a law in Texas whether or not it is signed by the governor, unless he vetoes it. This differs from the U.S. federal system in which a bill must be signed by the president to become law. However, if the governor vetoes the bill, then it does not become law, unless the legislature votes by a two-thirds majority to override the veto.

For more detailed information about the legislative process in Texas, refer to this 16-page guide by the Texas Legislative Council.

Salaries of Texas Legislators

Texas legislators make $600 per month, or $7,200 per year, plus a per diem of $221 for every day the legislature is in session. That adds up to $45,340 for a two-year term in which there is only one a regular session (140 days) and no special sessions.

The lawmakers are entitled to the per diem for each day of session, regardless of whether or not they actually attended that day of the session.

The legislators may also use donated political contributions to pay “reasonable household expenses in Austin,” if they do not ordinarily reside in Austin, according to an advisory opinion by the Texas Ethics Commission.

Texas state legislators are eligible to receive a pension after eight years, starting at age 60.

Legislators are also given use of offices in the Capitol Complex for the duration of their term. Most offices are located in the underground Capitol Extension, which is beneath the north lawn. Senior lawmakers have their offices in the Capitol itself.

Legislative Staff

Each legislator typically hires several staffers who work for that member alone, assisting the member in the performance of his or her duties. Staffers handle communications with constituents and stakeholders, help draft legislation, and give political advice.

Legislative clerks handle the paperwork involved in making new laws.

Common titles for legislative staff include chief of staff, legislative director, general counsel, policy aide, and district director.

Legislators who are committee chairpersons also supervise one or more committee aides who organize committee meetings, and who work for the committee as a whole.

Additionally, the House and Senate each employ staff in a variety of departments that serve the institution as a whole, including House Administration, the Senate Secretary’s Office, the House Research Organization, the Senate Research Center, Publications/Printing, Personnel, Video/Audio Services, and the Journal Clerk.

Legislative Agencies

The Texas Legislature oversees five external support agencies that are part of the legislative branch of government:

Administratively, these agencies are separate from the legislature itself but their boards consist entirely of designated members of the House and Senate.