what happens to a bill when it reaches the full house or senate floor

The Legislative Branch of Authorities

The Texas Constitution divides state government into iii divide just equal branches: the executive branch, headed by the governor; the judicial branch, which consists of the Texas Supreme Court and all state courts; and the legislative branch, headed by the Texas Legislature, which includes the 150 members of the house of representatives and the 31 members of the state senate.

Members of the house of representatives are elected to two-yr terms and represent districts of nearly 167,500 people each. Senators serve 4-year terms and serve about 811,000 people each.

The legislature meets every odd-numbered year to write new laws and to find solutions to the problems facing the land. This coming together fourth dimension, which begins on the 2nd Tuesday in January and lasts 140 days, is called the regular session. The governor can direct the legislature to see at other times also. These meetings, called special sessions, tin last no more than than thirty days and deal only with issues called by the governor.

On the first 24-hour interval of each regular session, the 150 members of the house of representatives choose one of their members to be the speaker of the house. The speaker is the presiding officeholder of the house. He or she maintains order, recognizes members to speak during fence, and rules on procedural matters.

The speaker also appoints the chairs and vice chairs of the committees that study legislation and decides which other representatives volition serve on those committees, subject to seniority rules. There are 31 committees, each of which deals with a different subject area area, and v committees that deal with procedural or administrative matters for the house. About members serve on two or three different committees.

In the senate, the presiding officer is the lieutenant governor, who is non really a member of the senate. The lieutenant governor is the 2d-highest ranking officer of the executive co-operative of government and, like the governor, is chosen for a four-twelvemonth term by popular vote in a statewide election.

The first thing that the speaker of the house and the lieutenant governor ask their respective houses of the legislature to do is to decide on the rules that the legislators will follow during the session. Some legislative procedures are provided for in the state constitution, just additional rules tin be adopted by a firm of the legislature if approved past a majority vote of its members.

One time rules have been adopted, the legislature begins to consider bills.

Introducing a Bill

A representative or senator gets an idea for a nib by listening to the people he or she represents and then working to solve their problem. A pecker may likewise grow out of the recommendations of an interim committee study conducted when the legislature is non in session. The idea is researched to determine what land law needs to exist inverse or created to all-time solve that problem. A nib is and then written by the legislator, ofttimes with legal aid from the Texas Legislative Council, a legislative agency which provides neb drafting services, research assistance, computer support, and other services for legislators.

In one case a nib has been written, information technology is introduced by a fellow member of the house or senate in the member's own chamber. Sometimes, similar bills about a particular upshot are introduced in both houses at the aforementioned time by a representative and senator working together. Still, any nib increasing taxes or raising money for use by the country must get-go in the house of representatives.

House members and senators tin can introduce bills on any subject area during the showtime 60 calendar days of a regular session. Later on sixty days, the introduction of whatever bill other than a local beak or a bill related to an emergency declared by the governor requires the consent of at to the lowest degree four-fifths of the members nowadays and voting in the firm or four-fifths of the membership in the senate.

Afterward a beak has been introduced, a short clarification of the nib, called a caption, is read aloud while the sleeping accommodation is in session then that all of the members are aware of the beak and its subject. This is called the first reading, and it is the bespeak in the process where the presiding officer assigns the bill to a committee. This assignment is announced on the sleeping accommodation floor during the first reading of the bill.

The Committee Process

The chair of each commission decides when the committee will see and which bills will be considered. The house rules allow a firm committee or subcommittee to meet: (1) in a public hearing where testimony is heard and where official action may be taken on bills, resolutions, or other matters; (2) in a formal meeting where the members may discuss and take official action without hearing public testimony; or (three) in a work session for give-and-take of matters before the committee without taking formal activity. In the senate, testimony may be heard and official activity may exist taken at any meeting of a senate commission or subcommittee. Public testimony is near always solicited on bills, allowing citizens the opportunity to present arguments on unlike sides of an event.

A house committee or subcommittee property a public hearing during a legislative session must post notice of the hearing at least five calendar days before the hearing during a regular session and at least 24 hours in advance during a special session. For a formal meeting or a piece of work session, written find must be posted and sent to each fellow member of the committee two hours in advance of the meeting or an announcement must be filed with the journal clerk and read while the house is in session. A senate committee or subcommittee must mail service notice of a meeting at least 24 hours before the coming together.

Afterwards considering a bill, a committee may choose to take no action or may upshot a report on the bill. The commission written report, expressing the commission's recommendations regarding action on a bill, includes a record of the committee'southward vote on the report, the text of the beak as reported past the committee, a detailed beak analysis, and a fiscal note or other impact statement, as necessary. The report is then printed, and a copy is distributed to every member of the business firm or senate.

In the house, a copy of the committee written report is sent to either the Commission on Calendars or the Committee on Local and Consent Calendars for placement on a calendar for consideration by the total house. In the senate, local and noncontroversial bills are scheduled for senate consideration past the Senate Assistants Committee. All other bills in the senate are placed on the regular order of business concern for consideration past the full senate in the order in which the bills were reported from senate committee. A neb on the regular order of business may not be brought up for floor consideration unless the senate sponsor of the pecker has filed a written notice of intent to append the regular order of business for consideration of the pecker.

Floor Action

When a bill comes up for consideration by the total house or senate, it receives its second reading. The bill is read, again past caption merely, and and so debated by the total membership of the sleeping room. Any member may offer an amendment, just it must be canonical by a majority of the members present and voting to be adopted. The members then vote on whether to laissez passer the bill. The beak is then considered by the full torso over again on third reading and final passage. A nib may be amended over again on third reading, but amendments at this stage require a two-thirds majority for adoption. Although the Texas Constitution requires a nib to be read on three separate days in each house earlier it can accept the force of police, this ramble dominion may exist suspended by a four-fifths vote of the house in which the neb is pending. The senate routinely suspends this constitutional provision in order to give a bill an immediate third reading after its second reading consideration. The house, however, rarely suspends this provision, and third reading of a bill in the business firm normally occurs on the day following its second reading consideration.

In either house, a pecker may be passed on a vocalization vote or a record vote. In the house, record votes are tallied by an electronic vote board controlled by buttons on each member's desk. In the senate, record votes are taken past calling the gyre of the members.

If a beak receives a majority vote on third reading, it is considered passed. When a bill is passed in the house where it originated, the bill is engrossed, and a new copy of the nib which incorporates all corrections and amendments is prepared and sent to the opposite sleeping accommodation for consideration. In the 2d business firm, the bill follows basically the same steps it followed in the first house. When the pecker is passed in the opposite house, it is returned to the originating chamber with whatsoever amendments that have been adopted simply fastened to the bill.

Activity on the Other House's Amendments and Briefing Committees

If a bill is returned to the originating chamber with amendments, the originating chamber can either hold to the amendments or asking a briefing committee to piece of work out differences between the house version and the senate version. If the amendments are agreed to, the bill is put in final form, signed past the presiding officers, and sent to the governor.

Conference committees are composed of v members from each house appointed by the presiding officers. Once the conference committee reaches agreement, a briefing committee report is prepared and must exist approved past at to the lowest degree iii of the five conferees from each house. Conference committee reports are voted on in each house and must be canonical or rejected without amendment. If approved by both houses, the bill is signed by the presiding officers and sent to the governor.

Governor's Action

Upon receiving a bill, the governor has x days in which to sign the bill, veto it, or allow it to become constabulary without a signature. If the governor vetoes the bill and the legislature is withal in session, the neb is returned to the house in which it originated with an explanation of the governor'southward objections. A 2-thirds bulk in each house is required to override the veto. If the governor neither vetoes nor signs the bill within 10 days, the bill becomes a law. If a beak is sent to the governor within 10 days of final adjournment, the governor has until twenty days subsequently terminal banishment to sign the bill, veto it, or allow information technology to get law without a signature.

Ramble Amendments

Proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution are in the course of articulation resolutions instead of bills and require a vote of ii-thirds of the entire membership in each house for adoption. Joint resolutions are not sent to the governor for blessing, but are filed directly with the secretary of state. A articulation resolution proposing an amendment to the Texas Constitution does not go constructive until information technology is approved by Texas voters in a full general election.

• More Detailed Information on the Steps in the Legislative Process

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Source: https://www.house.texas.gov/about-us/bill/

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