Many bills will not make it to the governor's desk or even receive hearings—in 2023, lawmakers filed 13,090 bills during the 140-day regular legislative session and four special sessions, according to the Texas Legislative Reference Library. Just 1,296 became law.
The Legislature reconvenes Jan. 14. The deadline to file most legislation is March 14, the 60th day of the session.
What you need to know
The speaker of the House and the lieutenant governor, who oversees the Senate, will each designate priority bills for the 2025 session. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s office said he would announce 40 legislative priorities.
Senate Bill 1 is reserved for Texas’ 2025-26 budget. SB 2 will be the upper chamber’s school voucher plan, which would give families public funds to pay for private education, Patrick said Nov. 8. Neither bill had been filed as of Nov. 12.
The first 150 House bills will be reserved for “critical legislation that commands broad support of the majority of the Texas House and reflects the priorities uniting lawmakers,” House Speaker Dade Phelan said in a statement.
Phelan, who is in a battle for the speaker’s gavel, did not reveal a list of topics. He said the 150 bills would include Senate priorities and possible emergency items, which are selected by the governor.
Rep. Terri Leo Wilson, R-Galveston, filed the first bill of the day. House Bill 160 would prohibit undocumented immigrants from receiving in-state tuition and require colleges to notify law enforcement if they learn a student is undocumented.
Keep reading to learn about some of the legislation filed Nov. 12. The following information is not comprehensive.
Education
Rep. Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park, filed HB 212, which he said was the first “universal school choice bill” introduced ahead of next year’s session. Under Cain’s proposal, families with children in private schools could be reimbursed for their tuition costs or up to 80% of what the average public school district spends per student on maintenance and operations—whichever is lower. The Texas Comptroller’s Office would administer the program.
The bill does not estimate how much public schools spend on maintenance and operations—which include staff salaries, utility costs and more—although the amount would vary each year.
“Texas parents know what works best for their children, and this legislation puts that belief into action,” Cain said in a social media post. “It’s time we fully recognize that children belong to their parents, not to the government, and empower Texas families with true educational choice.”
The Texas House has repeatedly rejected “school choice” plans, but lawmakers may be on track to approve one in 2025 after several pro-voucher Republicans were elected to the lower chamber this month.
HB 351 by Rep. Vikki Goodwin, D-Austin, would raise the basic allotment—the base amount of state money public schools receive per student—from $6,160 to $7,160 for the 2025-26 school year. The basic allotment would be adjusted for inflation in future years.
Republican Mike Olcott, who was elected to Texas House District 60 on Nov. 5, filed a bill requiring public schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms. HB 1009 is nearly identical to a proposal that failed last year, SB 1515.
Louisiana is the only state to pass a similar Ten Commandments law. A federal judge temporarily blocked the Louisiana law Nov. 12, stating it would allow for unconstitutional “government coercion” of students.
“Texas would have been and should have been the first state in the nation to put the 10 Commandments back in our schools,” Patrick said on social media after Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed the law in June.
Rep. Jared Patterson, R-Frisco, filed HB 183, which would allow Texas parents to ask the State Board of Education to review school library books they believe are inappropriate. Students would not be allowed to check out materials rejected by the SBOE.
In 2023, state lawmakers approved HB 900, another Patterson bill, that would have required book vendors to rate books for sexual content before selling them to schools. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the law in January and declined to rehear the case in April. A portion of the law that updated library collection standards for schools remains in effect.
Democrats from both chambers filed bills aimed at expanding access to pre-K. SB 42, by Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, would require public school districts to offer free pre-K classes for disadvantaged 3 year olds and all children 4 years old and up.
Abortion
Under Texas law, nearly all abortions are banned, except to save a patient’s life or prevent serious injury. The Texas Medical Board adopted guidelines for limited medical exceptions to the law in June, although some physicians and abortion advocates have said the law is unclear, causing doctors to delay or deny care. Doctors who violate the law face jail time, six-figure fines and the revocation of their medical license.
Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, filed two bills aimed at expanding abortion access. HB 257 would allow physicians to perform an abortion to preserve a patient’s “physical or mental health,” including their future fertility, and in the case of a lethal fetal diagnosis. Doctors could use their “best medical judgment,” and decisions could not be reversed by a medical review process, according to the bill text.
HB 395, also by Howard, would allow abortions in cases of rape or incest, which are not currently covered under state law.
Rep. Ana-María Ramos, D-Richardson, filed House Joint Resolution 80, which proposes a constitutional amendment that she said would “restore abortion access.” If approved by lawmakers and voters, the measure would allow patients and their doctors to decide when an abortion is necessary and shield doctors from criminal penalties for performing the procedure.
Most Texas legislation requires a simple majority to pass, but there is a higher bar to get a constitutional amendment on the ballot: joint resolutions must be approved by two-thirds of each chamber, which is 100 votes in the 150-member House and 21 votes in the 31-member Senate.
Rep. Steve Toth, R-The Woodlands, filed HB 991, which would make it a crime to manufacture or distribute medications used to induce an abortion in Texas. This would not include contraceptive medications or devices.
Immigration
Cain also filed HB 354, which would create a “border protection unit” along the Texas-Mexico border. Licensed law enforcement officers and civilians could, after training, arrest migrants for illegally crossing the border. The unit would also oversee the construction and maintenance of Texas’ border wall, according to the bill text.
Gov. Greg Abbott would select the border protection unit’s leader. Similar legislation stalled last session after the two chambers could not agree on certain details.
SB 81, by Sen. Bob Hall, R-Edgewood, would authorize the Texas Department of Public Safety to return undocumented immigrants to Mexico if they are seen entering Texas illegally or arrested near the border during “a state of invasion or imminent danger on the Texas-Mexico border.”
During a 2023 special session, lawmakers passed SB 4, a measure that would allow state and local law enforcement to arrest people suspected of illegally crossing the border and order them to return to Mexico. The law is currently blocked by the 5th Circuit Court after a flurry of judicial rulings this spring.
Rep. Nate Schatzline, R-Fort Worth, proposed creating a state database of undocumented children. Under HB 1072, a DPS employee would detain, collect fingerprints from and conduct a “wellness interview” with children they suspect are in the country unlawfully. The database would be used to “investigate the frequency with which a child... has entered the United States unlawfully through the international border with Mexico,” the bill reads.
A child’s information would be removed from the database after 15 years or once the child gains lawful status in the country.
