Sep
More Bill Analyses Available Through the Texas Legislative Reference Library
This post supplements information found in Chapter 8 of Researching Texas Law.
Electronic availability of many types of legislative materials in Texas has generally been limited to documents produced from 1995 onward. The most easily accessible location for documents produced since the 74th Legislature convened in 1995 is Texas Legislature Online. From this website, a researcher can locate bill files, which include various versions of bills, bill analyses, and fiscal notes. Researchers can also review the history of bills introduced since the 71st Legislature in 1989.
For bills introduced between 1973 and 1993, however, researchers generally have had to access microfiche sources or, more commonly, contact a librarian at the Legislative Reference Library for assistance in retrieving these documents. The LRL provides a useful guide about how to locate Texas legislative history materials, and we frequently direct students and others to this guide for direction.
Some good news for Texas researchers is that the LRL has expanded the availability of some bill analyses. According to information on this page, a research can retrieve electronic copies of bill analyses from the following sources:
House Study Group: 64th (1975) – 69th (1985)
House Research Organization (HRO): 70th (1987) – 80th (2007)
Office of House Bill Analysis: 76th (1999) & 77th (2001)Senate Research Center (SRC): 70th (1987) – 80th (2007)
The House Study Group bill analyses were the predecessors to those now produced by the House Research Organization. These are often more detailed than bill analyses produced by House committees and also include summaries of what supporters and opponents of the relevant bills have said during deliberations. Click here for a representative sample of a two-page bill analysis for H.B. 113, introduced during the 67th Legislature in 1981. The bill provided for the establishment of a career education program, and the analysis provides summaries of both the pros (i.e., arguments that the program would provide adequate preparation of students for the work force) and the cons (i.e., arguments that the federal government would eventually withdraw money, leaving the state to fund the program).
While it will still be necessary to consult the Legislative Reference Library for complete legislative histories prior to 1995, the new database will be helpful in a number of research projects.
