Bills Face Their Fate As The Sun Sets On The 2019 Legislature

Texas Public Radio | By Sierra Juarez

Published May 16, 2019 at 5:45 PM CDT

Ryan Poppe | Texas Public Radio

With less than two weeks left in the 86th legislative session, lawmakers are racing to have their bills considered, passed and sent to Gov. Greg Abbott鈥檚 desk. The fate of much of the proposed legislation will be decided in these final days.

Lawmakers and their staff are in a flurry to meet the final deadlines, said Ellic Sahualla, the chief of staff for Democratic Rep. Joe Moody of El Paso.

鈥淟eading up to deadlines, things always become very tense because obviously these bills are on the line,鈥� Sahualla said. 鈥淭his is where the real drama of session unfolds 鈥� is right at the end.鈥�

This weekend, the House Calendars Committee will make its final calendar for the full body. The calendar is the blueprint for what鈥檚 going to be discussed on the floor, so all legislation that doesn鈥檛 end up on it will die.

鈥淓veryone is trying to make sure that their priority gets through and that the things they鈥檙e concerned about do not,鈥� Sahualla said.

Both the Senate and the House will finish considering all bills on May 22, 2019. This is considered one of the 鈥渉ard鈥� deadlines for the remainder of the session.

Here鈥檚 a more detailed layout of the most to keep an eye on:

May 19, 2019: The House Calendars Committee will release its last daily calendar, meaning that whatever proposals don鈥檛 make it past this step won鈥檛 be passed into law this legislative session.
May 21, 2019: This is the last day that the House will do second readings for Senate bills. The proposals need three readings before they can be passed.
May 22, 2019: The House will wrap up its third reading of Senate bills. On the other side of the aisle, the Senate will finish considering all bills. This day marks the end for the consideration of all bills.
May 27, 2019: Last day of session. The House and Senate will focus on making corrections and performing administrative work.

Even if a bill makes it through these final steps, that doesn鈥檛 mean it will pass into law. There鈥檚 still a possibility the governor will veto the legislation, said James Henson, the director of the Texas Politics Project, which conducts statewide public opinion polls.

鈥淓ven after we go through the nerve wracking process of the end of the session ... those that do get out aren鈥檛 guaranteed success because the governor has not been shy about vetoing legislation that he doesn鈥檛 like,鈥� Henson said.

Last session, the governor that made it to his desk, which Henson said is on the high side historically.

The governor will have up to to sign a bill into law.