2020 Texas legislative session
For a full list of changes, visit: Changes to state legislative session dates in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, 2020.
Texas: The Texas State Legislature partially suspended legislative activity, effective March 9, 2020, through March 31, 2020.
| Texas State Legislature | |
 | |
| General information | |
| Type: | State legislature |
| Term limits: | None |
| Session start: | No regular legislative session |
| Website: | Official Legislature Page |
| Leadership | |
| Senate President: | Dan Patrick (R) |
| House Speaker: | Dennis Bonnen (R) |
| Structure | |
| Members: | 31 (Senate), 150 (House) |
| Length of term: | 4 years (Senate), 2 years (House) |
| Authority: | Art 3, Texas Constitution |
| Salary: | $7,200/year + per diem |
| Elections | |
| Last election: | November 6, 2018 |
| Next election: | November 3, 2020 |
| Redistricting: | Texas Legislature has control |
Texas held no regular legislative session in 2020.
Partisan control in 2020
- See also: State government trifectas
Texas was one of 21 Republican state government trifectas at the start of 2020 legislative sessions. A state government trifecta occurs when one political party holds the governor's office, a majority in the state Senate, and a majority in the state House. For more information about state government trifectas, click here.
At the start of 2020, Texas was also one of 28 state legislatures where neither party had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers. Veto overrides occur when a legislature votes to reverse a veto issued by an executive such as a governor or the president. If one party has a majority in a state legislature that is large enough to override a gubernatorial veto without any votes from members of the minority party, it is called a veto-proof majority or, sometimes, a supermajority. To read more about veto-proof supermajorities in state legislatures, click here.
Leadership in 2020
Texas State Senate
- Senate president: Dan Patrick (R)
Texas House of Representatives
- Speaker of the House: Dennis Bonnen (R)
Standing legislative committees
A standing committee of a state legislature is a committee that exists on a more-or-less permanent basis, from legislative session to session, that considers and refines legislative bills that fall under the committee's subject matter.
At the beginning of the 2020 legislative session, there were 55 standing committees in Texas' state government, including one joint legislative committees, 18 state Senate committees, and 36 state House committees.
Joint legislative committees
Senate committees
- Administration Committee
- Business & Commerce Committee
- Committee of the Whole Senate
- Criminal Justice Committee
- Education Committee
- Finance Committee
- Health & Human Services Committee
- Jurisprudence Committee
- Local Government Committee
- Natural Resources and Economic Development Committee
- Nominations Committee
- Senate Higher Education Committee
- Senate State Affairs Committee
- Senate Transportation Committee
- Veteran Affairs & Border Security Committee
- Water, Agriculture, & Rural Affairs Committee
House committees
- Agriculture and Livestock Committee
- Appropriations Committee
- Calendars Committee
- Corrections Committee
- Criminal Jurisprudence Committee
- Elections Committee
- Energy Resources Committee
- Environmental Regulation Committee
- General Investigating Committee
- Homeland Security & Public Safety Committee
- House Administration Committee
- House Higher Education Committee
- House State Affairs Committee
- House Transportation Committee
- Human Services Committee
- Insurance Committee
- Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence Committee
- Land & Resource Management Committee
- Licensing & Administrative Procedures Committee
- Local & Consent Calendars Committee
- Natural Resources Committee
- Pensions, Investments and Financial Services Committee
- Public Education Committee
- Public Health Committee
- Redistricting Committee
- Ways & Means Committee
Legislatively referred constitutional amendments
In every state but Delaware, voter approval is required to enact a constitutional amendment. In each state, the legislature has a process for referring constitutional amendments before voters. In 18 states, initiated constitutional amendments can be put on the ballot through a signature petition drive. There are also many other types of statewide measures.
The methods by which the Texas Constitution can be amended:
The Texas Constitution provides one mechanism for amending the state's constitution—legislatively referred constitutional amendments. Texas requires a simple majority vote (50% plus 1) for voters to approve constitutional amendments.
Legislature
According to Article 17, the state Legislature can refer constitutional amendments to the ballot for voters to decide. A two-thirds (66.67%) vote is required during one legislative session for the Texas State Legislature to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot. That amounts to a minimum of 100 votes in the Texas House of Representatives and 21 votes in the Texas State Senate, assuming no vacancies. Amendments do not require the governor's signature to be referred to the ballot.
Historical partisan control
The table below depicts the historical trifecta status of Texas.
Texas Party Control: 1992-2025
Three years of Democratic trifectas • Twenty-three years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.
| Year | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 00 | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Governor | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
| Senate | D | D | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
| House | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
See also
| Elections | Texas State Government | State Legislatures | State Politics |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
 |
 |
External links
Footnotes
