Criminal defense across Denton County and Collin County

Review of the 86th Legislative Session

The 86 th Legislative Session kicked off the new year when it convened for its biennial session on January 8. Their discussions and debates lasted until May 27, and although thousands of bills were filed (10,877 bills, to be exact), not all of them made the cut. Governor Abbott’s last day to sign or veto bills was June 16. The House and Senate passed 4,581 bills; the Governor signed 1,323 of them but vetoed 58.

If you were not familiar with the process, here is a summary of how everything goes down:

Bills were proposed by the House and Senate. Each bill must have been approved by both chambers. Differences were reconciled by a conference committee.

The bills were then sent to the Texas Governor, Greg Abbott. The governor has the power to sign or veto a bill.

However, if Governor Abbott did not sign nor veto, then the law automatically went into effect.

Some measures failed before they got out of the Legislature.

Most new laws will take effect on September 1. Below is a list of some of a few important bills that were both signed and vetoed this legislative session.

HB 1: $250 billion two-year budget

SB 2: Property tax reform

HB 3: School finance reform

SB 7: Creating a state flood infrastructure fund

SB 11: School safety

SB 12: Teacher pensions fix

HB 16: “Born alive” act

SB 21: Raising the legal age to buy tobacco products from 18 to 21

SB 22: Defunding abortion providers

HB 1545: Rules governing alcohol sales

HB 1631: Banning red-light traffic cameras

SB 1978: Religious freedom aka the “save chickfila bill)

HB 2048: Repealing the Driver Responsibility Program

HB 3809: Extending statute of limitations for sex abuse lawsuits

Abbott vetoed dozens of bills which he described as “good bills gone bad”.

HJR 3: Sales tax increase

SB 9: Elections

SB 13: Lobbying Ban

HB 63: Lessen marijuana penalties

HJR 117: Daylight saving time

SB 549: Scooter regulation

SB 1033: Ban on certain abortions

HB 1139: Intellectual disability and the death penalty

SB 1663: Confederate monuments

HB 2020: Bail reform

SB 2373: Social media

For those who wish to review the passed and failed legislation for themselves, the above information is available here: https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/BillNumber.aspx