Theere Texas Legislature's 88th Regular Session begins today! The session will run through May 29th, 2023. Here are a few pointers on the basics of the legislative process to help you stay up to date.

Texas House & Senate Members

The Texas House of Representatives has 150 members representing 150 congressional districts, and the Texas Senate has 31 members representing 31 congressional districts. The full list of members, including biographical and contact information, may be viewed on the House’s website and the Senate’s website.

Committee assignments and bills authored or sponsored by a representative can also be found on Texas Legislature Online (TLO), the official site for the Texas Legislature.

Who Represents Me?

Not sure who your representatives are? The Who Represents Me? website allows Texans to find their representatives in both state and federal Congress. You may search by specific address or county.

The Legislative Process

To learn the basics, we recommend starting with these resources:

• The Citizen Handbook: How the Texas Legislature Works is a 30-page guide published by the Texas Senate. It briefly summarizes legislative functions and procedures, defines relevant terminology, and provides advice to the public on how to speak up about issues they find important.
• How to Follow a Bill Using TLO summarizes a bill’s progression through the legislative process.
• Flowcharts illustrating how a bill becomes law are available for both House and Senate bills.
• The Texas Legislative Council’s guide The Legislative Process in Texas explains each step in the legislative process in more detail.

Tracking New Legislation

Broadly speaking, TLO is the best place to track new legislation. It has several tools to help keep you up to speed:

• TLO's General Reports page allows you to see daily bill activity, read the text of filed bills and their analyses, check which bills have been passed, signed, or vetoed by the governor, and more.
• Using MyTLO, you can create custom lists of bills you want to watch, sign up for email alerts, and save searches to your account.
• TxLegis.com is a mobile-friendly version of the website where you can access the latest calendars, agendas, bill status, and view live chamber proceedings on your device.

To find budget information related to the ongoing session, please see the Legislative Budget Board's website for bills, budget estimates, and summaries.

News & Updates

Legislative sessions often have extensive media coverage. Government agencies, local Texas newspapers, and issue advocacy groups may provide their own updates during an ongoing legislative session. Be sure to check their websites and social media for updates.

Here are a few additional places to check for legislative news:

• The Texas House of Representatives compiles Member Press Releases, which are also published on Twitter.
• The Texas Senate compiles Senate-related news, keeps an audiovisual archive of hearings and proceedings, and produces a podcast with weekly summaries in English and Spanish.
• The Legislative Reference Library (LRL)’s daily legislative clipping service provides links to articles about the session from over 30 national and regional news outlets. Note that some of these articles may be behind paywalls.
• The Texas District and County Attorney's Association has a Legislative Updates page with weekly updates, as does the Texas Municipal League.
• The Texas Association of Counties also has a Legislative News page.
• The Texas Tribune and the Texas Observer both have dedicated spaces to covering the 88th session.

Once the session ends, we'll make a list of legislative recaps of the session available on our website.

I’m interested in legislative research. Where do I find more information?

• Texas Legislative Council’s Texas Legislative Information and Resources is a fantastic guide for finding documentation created during the legislative process, with links to websites, publications, and more.
• You may also consult the LRL’s Guide to Researching Legislative History and Intent for research strategies and help with finding resources.
• LRL’s Legislative Archive System allows you to search prior legislation all the way back to 1846 using the bill or session law chapter number.
• TLO’S Statutes by Date page shows the language of a statute on any given day from January 1, 2004, through the 87^th 3^rd Called Legislative Session, 2021. It can help you determine how the law has changed over time.

I have a question about the 88^th Legislative Session. Who do I ask?

LRL’s bill status hotline is open to the public! The hotline can help you do any of the following:

• Check the status of a bill
• Get answers about the legislative process
• Get contact information for members of the Texas House and Senate
• Learn how to find copies of specific bills

The toll-free number if you are in Texas is (877) 824-7038. If you're outside of Texas, please use (512) 463-1252 to contact the LRL hotline.

Additionally, our library can help you with your legislative research question! Send us an e-mail or call us directly through our Ask a Librarian service.