Late census data will require special session(s)

The House met briefly Wednesday before adjourning until Feb. 9. As noted previously, House members were asked to submit their committee preferences by Thursday, and committee appointments are likely to be announced in about two weeks. At that point, committee hearings can begin and bills can start moving through the process.

Legislators were informed that complete census data will not be available until this summer. Preliminary information will be released at the end of April, but the detailed information that is necessary to draw new district boundaries for the US House, Texas Senate, Texas House and the State Board of Education are expected several weeks later, possibly in late July or August. This means that the legislature will not be passing redistricting legislation during the regular session, and will meet in one or more special sessions later this year.

NOTE: We do not anticipate providing daily Capitol Updates until lawmakers return to Austin, but in the meantime we will feature occasional important or interesting information related to Capitol activities, including brief descriptions of bills that have been filed so far.