2026 Texas legislative session

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2026 Texas legislative session
General information
Scheduled session start:    No regular legislative session Scheduled session end:    No regular legislative session
Leadership
Senate President Dan Patrick (R) House Speaker Dustin Burrows (R) Majority Leader Senate: N/A House: N/A Minority Leader Senate: N/A House: N/A
Elections
Next Election:    November 3, 2026 Last Election:    November 5, 2024
Previous legislative sessions
2025 • 2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018
Other 2026 legislative sessions
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In 2026, the Texas State Legislature had no regular legislative session scheduled.

The legislators serving in 2026 took office following the 2024 elections. Republicans won a 20-11 majority in the Senate and an 88-62 majority in the House. The party also controlled the governorship, creating a Republican state government trifecta. At the start of 2026, Texas was one of 23 state legislatures where neither party had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers.

At the beginning of the 2026 legislative session:

Republicans held a majority in the Texas state House and state Senate.

Texas was one of 23 Republican state government trifectas.

Texas' governor was Republican Greg Abbott.

Leadership in 2026

See also: Leadership positions in state legislatures

Texas State Senate

• Senate president: Dan Patrick (R)
• Majority leader: N/A
• Minority leader: N/A

Texas House of Representatives

• Speaker of the House: Dustin Burrows (R)
• Majority leader: N/A
• Minority leader: N/A

Partisan control in 2026

See also: State government trifectas

Texas was one of 23 Republican state government trifectas at the start of 2026 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.

Texas was also one of 23 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.

The following tables show the partisan breakdown of the Texas State Legislature in the 2026 legislative session.

Texas State Senate

Partisan composition, Texas State Senate

As of February 2026
Party	Members
Democratic	11
Republican	18
Other	0
Vacancies	2
Total	31

Texas House of Representatives

Partisan composition, Texas House of Representatives

As of February 2026
Party	Members
Democratic	62
Republican	88
Other	0
Vacancies	0
Total	150

Regular session

The list below shows up to 25 pieces of legislation in the 2026 legislative session that most recently passed both chambers of the legislature, were signed by the governor, or were approved by the legislature in a veto override. If no bills are displayed below, no legislation has met these criteria yet in 2026. This information is provided by BillTrack50.

Standing legislative committees

See also: Standing committee and List of committees in Texas state government

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 2026 legislative session, there were 42 standing committees in Texas' state government, including 16 state Senate committees and 26 state House 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:

See also: Article 17 of the Texas Constitution and Laws governing ballot measures in Texas

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

See also: Legislatively referred constitutional amendment

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: 1992-2026
Three years of Democratic trifectas  •  Twenty-four 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	26
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	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	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	R

Historical Senate control

Republicans won control of the Texas State Senate in 1996. In 2024, they won a 20-11 majority.

The table below shows the partisan history of the Texas Senate following every general election from 1992 to 2024. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

Texas State Senate election results: 1992-2024

Year	'92	'94	'96	'98	'00	'02	'04	'06	'08	'10	'12	'14	'16	'18	'20	'22	'24
Democrats	18	17	15	15	15	12	12	11	12	12	12	11	11	12	13	12	11
Republicans	13	14	16	16	16	19	19	20	19	19	19	20	20	19	18	19	20

Historical House control

Republicans won control of the Texas House of Representatives in 2002. In 2024, they won an 88-62 majority.

The table below shows the partisan history of the Texas House following every general election from 1992 to 2024. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

Texas House of Representatives election results: 1992-2024

Year	'92	'94	'96	'98	'00	'02	'04	'06	'08	'10	'12	'14	'16	'18	'20	'22	'24
Democrats	91	89	82	79	78	62	63	69	74	51	55	52	55	67	67	64	62
Republicans	58	61	68	71	72	88	87	81	76	99	95	98	95	83	83	86	88

Analysis

Adopted legislation, 2013-2023

See also: The State Legislative Decade - Texas

In 2024, Ballotpedia released analysis of bills enacted in each state in the preceding decade. The charts and table below detail legislation passed each year by party sponsorship.

See also

Elections	Texas State Government	State Legislatures	State Politics
Texas State Senate elections, 2026 Texas House of Representatives elections, 2026	Texas State Legislature Texas House of Representatives Texas State Senate Governor of Texas Texas Supreme Court	State legislative elections, 2026 State legislative special elections, 2026 State legislative elections, 2024 State legislative elections, 2022	State government trifectas State government triplexes Veto overrides in state legislatures State executives State courts Ballot measures

External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• Texas State Legislature homepage

Footnotes

State legislatures

Legislatures

Alabama (H, S) · Alaska (H, S) · Arizona (H, S) · Arkansas (H, S) · California (A, S) · Colorado (H, S) · Connecticut (H, S) · Delaware (H, S) · Florida (H, S) · Georgia (H, S) · Hawaii (H, S) · Idaho (H, S) · Illinois (H, S) · Indiana (H, S) · Iowa (H, S) · Kansas (H, S) · Kentucky (H, S) · Louisiana (H, S) · Maine (H, S) · Maryland (H, S) · Massachusetts (H, S) · Michigan (H, S) · Minnesota (H, S) · Mississippi (H, S) · Missouri (H, S) · Montana (H, S) · Nebraska · Nevada (A, S) · New Hampshire (H, S) · New Jersey (GA, S) · New Mexico (H, S) · New York (A, S) · North Carolina (H, S) · North Dakota (H, S) · Ohio (H, S) · Oklahoma (H, S) · Oregon (H, S) · Pennsylvania (H, S) · Rhode Island (H, S) · South Carolina (H, S) · South Dakota (H, S) · Tennessee (H, S) · Texas (H, S) · Utah (H, S) · Vermont (H, S) · Virginia (H, S) · Washington (H, S) · West Virginia (H, S) · Wisconsin (A, S) · Wyoming (H, S)

2026

State legislative elections (2026) • State legislative special elections (2026) • Primary dates and filing requirements • 2026 Session Dates

2025

State legislative elections (2025) • State legislative special elections (2025) • Primary dates and filing requirements • 2025 Session Dates

Historical elections

2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011 • 2010 • 2009 • 2008 • 2007 • 2006 • 2005 • 2004 • 2003 • 2002 • 2001 • 2000

Features of state legislatures

How vacancies are filled in state legislatures • States with a full-time legislature • State legislatures with term limits • Comparison of state legislative salaries • When state legislators assume office after a general election • Population represented by state legislators • State constitutional articles governing state legislatures • State legislative sessions • Resign-to-run law • State legislature candidate requirements by state • Official names of state legislatures • State legislative chambers that use multi-member districts • Factors Affecting Competitiveness in State Legislative Elections

State senates

Length of terms of state senators • State senators • Partisan composition of state senates • State senators sorted by year first elected

State houses

Length of terms of state representatives • State representatives • Partisan composition of state houses • State representatives sorted by year first elected

Leadership positions

President of the Senate • President Pro Tempore • Senate Majority Leader • Senate Minority Leader • House Majority Leader • House Minority Leader • State Speaker of the House

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