Texas Bill Filing Opens Monday for the 90th Legislature. Here Is How to Read What Lawmakers File
Legislators and legislators-elect can file bills starting Nov. 9 for the session that opens Jan. 12. Last session's first day brought a record 1,511 filings.
Starting Monday, Texans can begin comparing campaign promises with proposed legislation.
Monday, Nov. 9, is the first day legislators and legislators-elect may file bills for the 90th Texas Legislature, according to the Texas Legislative Council's calendar of dates of interest. The council cites House Rule 8, Section 7 and Senate Rule 7.04(a). The regular session convenes at noon Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2027.
Bills filed in the coming weeks will show what individual lawmakers propose, not what either chamber has agreed to pass.
How prefiling works
The Texas Legislative Reference Library explains the process in its prefiling FAQ:
Prefiling happens the first Monday after the general election in even-numbered years.
Returning members and members-elect may prefile. Members of the public cannot file bills directly, but they can ask their own representative to author one.
The House and Senate rules set no limit on how many bills a member may prefile.
Bills are filed with the chief clerk in the House and the calendar clerk in the Senate, and they are posted publicly on Texas Legislature Online.
The library says its staff creates the record for every measure, logs the sections of law each bill would change, assigns subject codes and checks whether a companion bill was filed in the other chamber.
Expect a flood
The first day is usually busy. For the last session, the library reported that 1,511 bills and resolutions were filed in the House and Senate on the first day of prefiling, Nov. 12, 2024. It called that a record for the first day.
That total includes resolutions as well as bills; it does not mean 1,511 new laws. A filed bill is a proposal, not an enacted law. Bills must clear the legislative process, while the treatment of resolutions depends on their type.
Prefiling also gives Texans time. A bill filed in November can be read, discussed and improved for weeks before lawmakers gather in Austin in January. Citizens who read early have the best chance to ask good questions before committee hearings start and before positions harden.
How to watch
The library lists three ways to follow prefiled bills on Texas Legislature Online:
Look up a specific bill by number.
Choose "Today's Filed Bills" in the General Reports section to see each day's new filings.
Use the Bill Search page to search by subject code.
If you need help finding a bill, the Legislative Reference Library takes calls at (512) 463-1252. Its staff are the same people who log and index each bill as it is filed.
What to look for
Several fights are already lined up. Cities want relief from state limits on local authority, and some want the 2025 housing laws curtailed; we covered that in Texas Housing Laws Face a Local-Control Test as Cities Seek Changes and Advocates Push More Homes.
Read the bills, not the press releases. A bill's caption can sound harmless while the text does something else. Look for the section that changes existing law, and ask who it helps and who pays.
A citizen's job
Self-government did not end on Election Day. It started a new chapter. First Timothy 2:2 tells us to pray "for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty." Praying for lawmakers and watching what they file are not opposites. Both are part of being a faithful citizen.
So bookmark Texas Legislature Online. Find your representative and senator. When a bill comes up that matters to your family, your church or your business, call and say so, politely and plainly. The people who show up early shape what passes later.
