The 88th Texas legislative session is in full swing in Austin, and hundreds of bills have been filed. Here is a guide to finding, tracking, and researching bills and how the legislative process works in Austin.
The best place to begin is on the Texas Legislature Online website. Here is where you can track and research bills that have been filed, find out who your representative is and how to contact them, watch the House and Senate while they are in session, watch committee meetings, and learn about the legislative process in Texas. If you have an issue you are passionate about and would like to testify at a committee hearing, TLO is where you can find out information about when a bill will be heard in a committee. You can also submit your testimony if you are unable to travel to Austin.
Who represents me?
https://wrm.capitol.texas.gov/home – This is the easiest way to find out who represents you in Austin and Washington DC.
Legislative Process
Finding Bills
Finding a bill would seem to be a difficult process considering how many bills are filed each legislative session. On the TLO home page, there is a search widget that allows you to search for bills by text or by bill number. You can search for bills from the current session as well as previous sessions going back to the 71st legislative session.
Republican Party of Texas Legislative Priorities
Every two years at the Republican Party of Texas convention the delegates vote on the top legislative priorities for the next legislative session. The RPT website has great information on the legislative priorities and the progress to getting the legislation passed that supports those priorities. Here are some helpful links to find and track the legislative priorities for the 88th session.
88th Legislative Priority Bill List
Grassroots America We The People have a great web site to deep dive into the Texas House Representatives. It creates transparency in voting and donations to our Representatives.