Legislative Bill Tracker
Tracking the 89th Legislative Session
In the past few years LGBTQIA+ Texans have faced increasing restrictions on private decisions, private actions, and private spaces. Defending the freedom to love, think, feel, and act according to our own conscience is a fight that is bigger than the queer community and requires people from all walks of life to step up. During the last legislative session Equality Texas stopped 96% of the 160 bills that would have restricted freedoms for LGBTQ+ Texans. With your help, we can continue to hold the line for freedom in the Lone Star State.
How Does a Bill Become Law?
The life cycle of a bill: Bill is filed → Referred to House/Senate committee → Committee hearing → Committee sends bill to full chamber → first floor vote → second floor vote → House/Senate passage → Process then starts over in other chamber (House/Senate) → Signed by the Governor.
Bills have to go through both the House and the Senate to be enacted and if it is in the opposite chamber it originated in, it’s moved further along in the process. For example, if the bill originated in the House (ex HB 1), a status of “referred to Senate committee” is further along in the process than “House passage.”
If you would like to learn more about the bill process, keep an eye out for our next Regional Advocacy training on our events page.
How do we decide which bills to track?
Thousands of bills are filed during a legislative session and many of them never make it to the floor of either chamber. We track all bills that have an impact on LGBTQIA+ Texans and their families. Not every bill will get a hearing. When mobilizing to stop a bad bill, we try to be strategic about when we can have the biggest impact.
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