• Latest Update: 04 March, 2025
• Summary: Willow Park Civics reads widely, deeply, and daily, and then provides an INDEX of blogs, articles, and sources about the activities of the 89th Texas Legislature, whose regular session is scheduled to meet from January 14, 2025, to June 2, 2025.
• Latest post: 24 February 2025
Index: Texas 89th TX Legislative Session, 2025
• Index: • Journals of general issues for the 89th TX Legislative Session • General Legislative Research Resources • Basic Legislative Tutorials
The bicameral, Texas Legislature -- Texas Senate and Texas House of Representatives -- meets every odd-numbered year to pass the laws that regulate certain activities of the inhabitants of the state of Texas.
Willow Park Civics reads widely, deeply, and daily on the activites of the current 89th Texas Legislature.
Journals of general issues for the 89th TX Legislative Session
• Schools: Choice, Safety, Salaries / Latest Update: 25 February 2025
• Finance: Budget
• Taxes: Property Tax
• Energy: Electric, Oil & Gas, Nuclear
• Transportation
• Housing: RealEstate, Rent
• Immigration and Border
• Election Integrity
• Corporate Welfare/Subsidies
• Taxpayer Funded Lobbying
• Gambling
• Law
• Water, Food
• Health
General Legislative Research Resources
• Texas Legislative Council .gov
The Texas Legislative Council is a nonpartisan legislative agency that serves as a source of impartial research and information. Its staff assist legislators in drafting and analyzing proposed legislation and in obtaining information on specific legislative problems and on matters affecting the general welfare of the state. Council staff also handle the printing, processing, and distribution of legislative documents and provide computer support to the legislature and all of the other legislative agencies.
• Analysis of Legislative Enactments
• Process and Procedures
• General Reference
• Policy Issue Publications
• Printed Publications
• Legislative Reference Library .gov, Your partner in legislative research.
• Today's Clips
• Today's Committee Meetings
• Find Bills From Past Sessions
• Find Current or Former Legislators
• Legislative Session Dates
• Index to Sections Affected Index to Sections Affected RSS feed
• Search the library catalog
• Capitol Complex Phone Directory
• Legislative Staff Directory
We represent the 39 public Community Centers throughout Texas that provide services and support for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, serious mental illness, and substance use disorders.
• Texas State political party platforms
Basic Legislative Tutorials
• Communicate with your elected officials; 88th TX Legislative Session
Willow Park Civics Blog, posted 21 May 2023
• Texas Legislature 101: Understanding the state government and how it passes laws, The Texas Tribune, 10 January 2023.
Here’s a rundown of how a bill becomes a law, how the Texas Legislature works and the power players who keep things moving under the Pink Dome.
• Amending the Texas Constitution, Quorum Reduction, Term Limits, Convention of States Among Constitutional Amendments Filed by State Rep. Vasut, The Texan, 23 November 2022
The Texas Constitution is unlike the U.S. Constitution — it’s been amended over 500 times. Its significance for legislators rests in the higher difficulty for repealing an amendment.
For example, in 2019, the Legislature and then voters approved an amendment prohibiting the issuance of a state income tax. Functionally, the amendment raised the legislative number necessary to establish an income tax from a simple majority to a two-thirds majority.
It raises the bar of difficulty to pass whatever policy it addresses; Texas Legislators made clear they not only wanted to prevent an income tax, but to make it that much harder for future legislatures to implement one.
Behind most constitutional amendment proposals is that intention: to cement a certain policy as permanently as possible under the constitutional order.
• Five things to know about the BRE Biennial Revenue Estimate, Comptroller of Texas, January 2025
1. The Texas Constitution requires the Comptroller of Public Accounts to issue the Biennial Revenue Estimate (BRE).
The BRE is a formal statement that outlines the state’s financial standing along with the available revenue the state can expect to have during the next two-year budget period.
To meet that mandate, the Comptroller’s revenue estimating team compiles analyses and projections of the state’s revenue in the BRE, which serves as a pay-as-you-go limit for the Legislature.
2. The BRE is officially released in early January of odd-numbered years, right before the regular session of the Texas Legislature convenes.
Affectionately known as “BRE Monday,” the Comptroller always delivers the estimate the day before the regular legislative session begins. In fact, per the Texas Constitution, the Comptroller must deliver an estimate before session convenes! Lawmakers then use the BRE as a key resource in drafting a state budget for the next two years by the session’s end (sine die) 140 days later.
Commentaires